Francis Lawrence and Nina Jacobson on Three Characters Cut from ‘Catching Fire’

Katniss fell in love with Peeta through all the small things he did. Problem the small things are cut most of the time. So at the end, Peeta is just the boy with an infatuation and ready to die for her.

Effie with a conscience sounds like an amaaaaazing artistic choice to me! There is so little said about her in the book!

Wow. I wasn’t expecting a Peeta/Gale debate when I clicked on this thread!

Crystal, just curious. You mention the lack of the hurt foot scene in your post, but it’s not in quotations. Is this your assumption, or did something in the article say it’s been cut?

If they didn’t specifically say it was gone than maybe, with movie magic there’s another way to make it still work. For example, while I didn’t like Madge being cut out of HG, I understood, with the limited time they had, substituting Prim as a way to show the closeness of the relationship.

As for the hurt foot scene and the scene that follows, they could allude to Katniss helping D12 folks with “caught” food vs. “bought food” (due to pride issues) and then have her hurt her foot after a hunting expedition. Or they could have Buttercup slip under the fence and have her go after him. There are many ways that would, albeit, be different than the book, but work for the movie.

And, yes, I would prefer the movie be a chapter by chapter retelling of the novel, but I realize that just can’t happen. Bonnie and Twill are minor. They’ll work out a way to get that info. to Katniss. And while I liked the importance of Darius, folks who haven’t read the books wouldn’t know of his absence….

I think by not including Peeta in her list, Nina is taking it as a given that Peeta (like Katniss) is NOT a minor character. Smaller, but important roles like Gale, and Finnick (and to a point) Effie need screen time because so much of the book is in Katniss’s head and without screen time, it is hard to develop them otherwise.

PHEW! Sorry that was so long.

And come on people stop complaining. We all know stuff has to be cut, and as long as Suzanne Collins will keep adding her scriptwriter-skills in these movies, I have faith that the scripts will be great. She knows the fandom better than anyone. She knows the book better than anyone.

@kyo: Gale seems like a stereotype at first, but he’s more of a subverted stereotype. It’s debatable whether he is a Hero at all. I’d argue that his entire arc is gradually uncovering him as an anti-heroic character.

One of the things I like the most about the trilogy is that Suzanne Collins subverted the hell out of so many stereotypes.

@Ivana. Oh what I Meant by Gale is much more a stereotype, it’s because, he is tall, dark hair, handsome, rebellious, short temper, smart, the best friend in love who is to die for. What’s no too love about Gale? At first sight. Of course.

Peeta is at first sight , really different and less easy to show all the subtle things he does. Example: he is extraordinary with the morphling when she dies. He is able to quickly rescue Katniss when she said she knew Lavinia. two examples that show how much Peeta is great but had been and will be probably cut.

I’m excited because we all read the books and know what is going to happen. Since these people have been taken out means that it will be a surprise! I can’t wait to see how they changed this part!

@Crystal – “Suzanne was already out of the picture.” Interesting…I didn’t think about that.

“the talents of Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson…Josh and Jennifer have a very special chemistry with one another.”

What a money quote. Although the THG script only hinted at this, I saw glimpses of something between these two that makes me think they could pull off anything onscreen.* Here’s hoping they get the chance.

*I am in no way implying they have any kind of romantic connection offscreen, just a great friendship and tons of talent that give them the freedom to create something great together.

lol, crystal, you’ll never give up on madge, will you? it’s good, put a smile on my face with that comment.

i was always sure bonnie and twill would be cut, and since the avox subplot was cut from the first movie, i didn’t see much of a point to having darius there, either. so i’m not shocked by these news. looking forward to seeing how the work around their scenes, actually.

i don’t know how is it that every piece of news we get turns into a debate of how peeta is being shafted by lionsgate or how gary ross ruined the first movie, but i figure i’ve spoken my piece about this more than once already. all i’m going to say is: yesterday, everybody was complaining about too much finnick, today it’s too much gale. maybe we’ll get peeta tomorrow? and even if we don’t, i’ll be happy with anything we get. any nitpicks i might have pale in comparison with the fact that the movie is becoming more and more real each day, and i love it.

I’m a bit anxious about what will be cut and what will stay. In fact, it’s the first time I’ll see a movie adpated from the book I read. So I’m nervous as hell.
I watched Hunger games movie before reading the book. I “fell in love ” with Peeta in the movie and was annoyed by Gale. With Gale I was ” wow so handsome guy.” then I’ve seen him made that putty sad face when he saw katniss kisses Peeta and I Thought “What the hell? He is sad, jealous heartbroken because she kissed another guy!!! What a selfish guy, the poor girl is in a game surrounded by horror with a death sentence coming and he is disappointed because she kissed Peeta.

So Gale became an handsome selfish guy . Then I read the books, discover all the cut scenes, I loved Peeta even more and Gale…Well it didn’t change my mind at all. Mockingjay did even worse to his case in my eyes.

@Carla

Totally agree, the fact is the world can never be satisfied

Ugh, I was looking forward to seeing the scene with her hopping the fence…

Ugh, this is really putting a damper on my excitement. I was looking forward to seeing her jump over the fence. I wonder if this means they’re going to cut her having to sneak back into the house and getting caught by the peacekeepers too?

Wow, this film won’t be released for another months. It’s not even edited yet. But already people are criticising it and decrying the lack of Peeta.

May I make a suggestion, that people wait until they actually see the film before they make up their mind about it?

I CAN NOT BELIEVE THIS!!!!

@Crystal – I quoted you only for reference, not because I assumed your statement was fact. If you need more to appease the LG legal eagles, let me know.

I’m seriously hoping that they decided to keep in the 2nd Quarter Quell with young Haymitch and Maysilee. Even just a short segment of it would be nice – just to explain why Haymitch is the way he is. I don’t want him to seem like a “silly alcoholic”, I would like people to realize that he is an alcoholic because of the problems he experienced due to the quarter quell.

@Ea – ooh, nice one. I’d like to see a bit of that along with the murder of his girlfriend and family, since they were all contributing factors to him being what he is.

Then again, Woody took the character in a very different direction – less of a desperate depression – so maybe that backstory wouldn’t make as much sense.

@Ea I know, the 2nd Quarter Quell adds so much depth to Haymitch’s character, but with all the changes they’re making, I’m afraid we won’t see it.

I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this already (I don’t have time to read all the comments) but I think the real gem of this article is this quote: “Once Lawrence came aboard, Jacobson put together her new director with series mastermind Collins to outline the script.” It’s the first we’ve (or at least I’ve) heard of Suzanne being involved and it’s such a huge relief. Seriously it feels like a huge weight has dropped off my shoulders.

Mockingjay is definitely gonna be extremely different from the book… hopefully, it was my least favorite, hehe.

There’s also confirmation in the tablet version that Michael Arndt was indeed involved in “streamlining” the script and enlivening its “emotional core.” So I’m glad of that.

As for Effie….I’ve always figured that she would take on some of the purpose of Katniss’s prep team, as there really doesn’t seem to be time or space to develop them, and it creates a presence for Effie in Mockingjay. I think she and Katniss will become more empathetic towards each other over the course of CF, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Effie who gets mistreated in District 13, instead of the prep team.

Bonnie and Twill were two of the characters I enjoyed learning about in CF. If they’re out, how are they goingto explain the uprising in District 8?? Also Bummer their not showing the scene where she “Jumps” over the barrier..

@Brandon: By actually showing the uprising in D8? It’s a movie, they don’t need characters delivering exposition to Katniss and the audience.

@Kaleiney – “I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Effie who gets mistreated in District 13, instead of the prep team.”

Wow, that is some awesome spec right there. It would tie those loose ends together so beautifully. Keeping my fingers crossed for it.

Hm, I wouldn’t mind seeing Effie in District 13. I think that would work out well.

Anonymous

I don’t understand why people feel like they’ve been cheated out of Peeta or K/P in the first movie. None, and I mean none of the characters in the first movie, even Katniss herself, were as fleshed-out and multi-faceted as they were in the book. There is no reason to complain in particular about the distillation of Peeta’s character when the same was done to every other – these are just the facts of book-to-movie translation.

I also think it’s fairly obvious why Nina Jacobson and Francis Lawrence have been so concerned with showing some Katniss and Gale interaction in this film. The ending of Mockingjay only works if you understand Gale’s character and his relationship with Katniss by that point. Imagine that you know next to nothing about Gale while you’re watching the climax of Mockingjay Part II. [SPOILER ALERT] Gale will come across as a stupid, trigger-happy jerk while Prim’s death will be abrupt, confusing, and pointless. Prim’s death was really only poignant and meaningful because Gale isn’t a bad guy. He’s a young, angry, good-hearted, passionate person, brutally mistreated his entire life and then finally handed weapons whose capacity for destruction he can’t possibly comprehend, ultimately committing the one crime his hatred of which has been his motivation all along: the killing of children. Gale is a victim of Coin’s manipulation just as much as Katniss, Prim, and Snow all are, and Prim’s death at his hands is crucial to the build-up towards Katniss’s greenhouse talk with Snow and the assassination. The first three movies need to nail his character down if the climax of the franchise is to work at all.

ughh, i like the book better than the movie. even though it don’t come out yet, but i can see it now. i wish they put peeta and katniss scene more often. i know that gale is the main character too, but i just don’t like it. *PEETA’s FANGIRL* well, THE LOCKET scene is a MUST.

WHY NO BONNIE and TWILL AND DARIUS!!!! THERE SHOULD BE THOSE THREE AND MADGE AND ANNIE CRESTA!!!!!!!:)

@Anonymous 1:08 – we feel that way because we perceive the movie and characters differently than you do.

That’s some interesting insight about Gale. But how do you figure he couldn’t understand how destructive the weapons were? His planning of the bombing at the end seems to indicate not only comprehension but also intent. Or do you mean it never occurred to him that Prim would be collateral damage in the attack?

I’m not too bothered about them not making the cut. I kind of expected it. But I am disappointed that this also means that Katniss doesn’t hurt herself trying to get over the fence and she isn’t questioned by the peacekeepers when she gets home, and she and Peeta don’t get some nice bonding time while she’s recovering

IF Gale created the bombs with Beetee, only thinking the bombs will kill the bad guys and only them. He is not as smart as I thought. There are always collateral damages. Always. Same for the nut cracker plan but he doesn’t mind collateral damage because for him, only one thing is important : to win.

but them again, Gale is the one “complaining” that he should have volunteer for Peeta to take his place to Get Katniss falling in love with him!!! Yes Gale , the hunger games is such a charming place to go . Really.
Plus the fact he is thinking that if he had volunteer everything would have gone the same way!
Right… I’m sure Haymitch and him would have been so great ” friends”. He would have probably didn’t care about the alcoholic mentor to start.
He would have refuse like Treash to be charming for the capitol and show he is angry with Them them barely talked to them. Worst, since Katniss trust him so much, she probably followed Gale in his plans…Or at the end, they would go separate way , exactely like Haymitch and masylee did. The star cross lovers things? Really with Gale, I don’t believe it. Because he was in a hunger games mode just after the reaping. He was into kill or be killed. Not into ” let’s charm the sponsors by a made up story “.

so when I read that he says he should have volunteer to get katniss’s love. Like he assumes everything would have gone the same… really?

Katniss and Gale talked about rebelling against the capitol etc makes plan a lot of time when they were ” youngers ” but the only one who really got his point to Katniss and ignit a sparks of rebellion in a serious way : was peeta with his famous line ” that he doesn’t want to be a piece in their game and don’t loose himself, and die as himself” Katniss remembers that when she decided to put the flowers around Rue.

End of rant.

Re the cuts: I never expected Bonnie and Twill to make it, since in terms of the plot, their only role was to tell Katniss about the D8 rebellion (which she’s already seen on the mayor’s TV) and to get her to realize that D13 might still exist. Both roles can easily be filled by other characters. SC herself didn’t seem to find them that important, she doesn’t even bother to tell us how they died, which I assume they did, since Katniss never sees them again. Unlike other characters, like Cinna and Madge, where we do find out by the end that they did die.

I am a bit more annoyed that Darius was cut, not because of the Avox part of his storyline, but because he shows us that not all Peacekeepers are bad. The new PK look reminds me of the Star Wars Stormtrooper look, and I am concerned that the average non-fan moviegoer will see them as nameless, faceless cannon fodder types that our heroes can mow down on a battlefield without any moral qualms at all. Which is NOT the approach to warfare endorsed by the books.

Yet, in the book, not only does Darius intervene, another PK, Purnia, convinces Thread to stop by pointing out that this is Gale’s first offense (which is technically true in terms of being “convicted”). Maybe the filmmakers decided to focus on Effie as the “good Capitolite”, but Effie is a civilian, and is never placed on the battlefield.

With the hints both from Jacobson and Elizabeth Banks that Effie will be shown to develop a conscience and question the status quo, I am starting to think that the MJ movie will show her being taken prisoner by D13 along with her prep team. (This would also make Banks and her agent happy by giving her screentime in both MJ movies, instead of just showing up at the end of the last movie for Snow’s execution.)

I do hope the prep team makes it to D13, though, because it’s yet another parallel. That D13 kidnapped Katniss’s prep team and forced them to prep her for propos, which is pretty much the same thing the Capitol did to Peeta’s prep team. Hmm, perhaps in MJ, it will be Portia who is tortured in front of Peeta? (Maybe his prep team, too, but I don’t think they made any appearance in the THG movie).

As for Gale: while I don’t agree with Anonymous (@1:08AM) that Gale is merely a victim of Coin who can use the “I was just following orders” defense to escape all moral culpability for his actions, I do think that his connection to Katniss is important, and not just as a possible lover. He represents an approach to war, love, life, etc., that Katniss does feel drawn to, or “tempted” by, though she later rejects it.

@ Crystal – in your write up above there’s the phrase “With Bonnie and Twill gone, so too is the scene of Katniss scaling a tree and then leaping over District 12′s electrified fence.” As it wasn’t in quotes like the other parts, I was just wondering if it was mentioned elsewhere in the article that we didn’t see, of if you just assume it will be missing.

I’d much rather have had Bonnie& Twill or Darius(would he really have been that hard to work in?) than Madge:(

SPM and Kalainey-
I agree with everything u stated regarding the lack of development for the character of Peeta and hope south that they flesh out his character so much more in CF. Both my daughter and I felt that the way they portrayed Peeta in the movie left him looking so weak and did not develop any of his leader qualities(they only showed a glimpse of this with the I interview with Ceaser).
We only hope that they let Peeta grow up as a character and that his scenes with Katniss be included as they are crucial to CF and his later relationship with her in Mockingjay.

I’m coming into this discussion late and don’t want to belabor this issue any more, but I agree with those fans who feel that Josh/Peeta has been getting short changed at times. The cover with Finnick and Katniss alone made no sense at all–there were plenty of other victors who should have been included-number one should have been Peeta!
Another thing that has pissed us off is the external publicity that has been going on- the EW photos showing for sure but also things such as seating arrangements at the People’s Choice Awards! The seating arrangements for Jen, Josh and Liam seemed to favor Liam and it was sort of obvious that the powers that be told Jen and Josh to let Liam into their little friendship. The two main stars seemed to try to give Liam more stage time.
All in all- I hope that both male characters are fleshed out more in CF than they were in THG.
And SPM-we saw a lot of photos of Jen and Josh filming together so we can only hope Peeta will be in the majority of the movie and will be able to be more developed.

Kyo-love your rants! Agree with all that u said in each statement-especially the one about Katniss being influenced with Peeta noting he didn’t want the government to change him. I thought that Josh and Jen played that scene great in THG-one of my favorites when he looks at her a certain way after saying this and he is leaving to go sleep-and then They show a shot of Jen and have Katniss ponder whst he said-it’s as if she is seeing h for the first time and getting to actualy know what He(Peeta) is really about,
Ok end of rants for me-u are all pronsbly sick of this discussion by now anyway- I’m just coming in on the tail end!

Thanks FcZC. I’m glad someone liked my rand. Oh and I forgot to mention that Gale complained that he wouldn’t be able to compete with Peeta’s suffering to Katniss. This guy is priceless.

@fczc – thanks! I sometimes feel like the old lady yelling “Get off my lawn!” at all the young’uns. And I totally agree about the THG rooftop scene. Josh’s work there was some of the best I’ve seen by any actor, period. That’s one reason I want them to let him off the chain, so to speak.

SPM-yep-I feel that in that one scene on the rooftop in THG he really gave some inkling to her of who Peeta really was-and Jenn (bless her acting abilities too) looked at him like a lightbulb went off and she was seeing Peeta for the first time and in a totally new light.
When I made my daughter view this scene more closely she was totally impressed with both Jenn and Josh and how they could bring out the feelings she had while reading the book with just that one scene.
I also hope that CF allows Jenn and Josh an opportunity to do this again.

so sorry Survival 101 fans have cancelled the filming date. it is not JAN.26. the will start filming in March. we have all so lost one great ACTRESS and friend.