Paula Malcomson on Mrs. Everdeen’s First Name
Actress Paula Malcomson, who plays Mrs. Everdeen in The Hunger Games movies, spoke with ET Online about her role and the name she made up for the mother of the Girl on Fire.
“In the first movie, I was doing it for real. I didn’t want to show up and be all pretty. I wanted to go in there and be hungry, be oppressed. I quickly realized I was acting like I was in a different film from the rest of the cast [laughs]. I just think there’s a heaviness that I was bringing that I don’t know if it was the story they were trying to tell in this. But there’s such a great character progression with her. She has this rebirth throughout the series, so I play it out in my head a lot.”
In creating an elaborate backstory for her character, Malcomson also created a first name for her character. “I named her Clara,” she tells ETonline. “I don’t know why, but that just came to me.”
Source: ET Online
clara, that somehow fits actually
I like the name and I love the picture. Shows how much Prim has grown and that they have nicer clothing. This is gonna be good.
I think this photo must be Prim and Mrs. Everdeen looking at Katniss during her wedding photoshoot, what do you guys think? Prim has this look of awe on her face and Mrs. Everdeen looks like a proud mama.
clara! nice name. i think i’ve read a few fanfics use that one before, actually.
@crystal– could be! at least, it definitely looks like they’re seeing her all made up for something (could be the start of the victory tour, too, i guess).
I always thought she would also have a plant/flower name
I like Clara though
Malcomson’s comments about how she interpreted the character in THG, and how her approach to the movie was apparently “heavier” or darker than the others, are very interesting. It does seem that she put more thought into the role than others who played minor roles, and seemed to treat them more as cameos than anything significant.
It also seems that she preferred Lawrence’s take on the series, though maybe she just felt more comfortable on the CF set because most of the actors were adults, versus THG which was described by many people as having a “summer camp” atmosphere.
Wow, now that she unofficially named Katniss’ mom Clara that sounds great
Clara Everdeen, I have to admit, it has a nice ring to it. That’s also the nickname my sister gave to her instrument. Clara the clarinet and Clara Everdeen.
I really like the name Clara, and as a few of you have mentioned it does fit – it is a somewhat ‘old fashioned’ name and fits in with her merchant class upbringing. I wonder if it will take off now in the fandom? Hehe
Even though it’s not her fault this totally makes up for the whole “Mrs Everdeen is the mystery character” in my head.
@Crystal – The looks on their faces certainly fit with that, or is it the brave faces they are trying to put on after the announcement that Katniss is back in the games? Mrs.. I mean Clara
Everdeen seems to have something like a towel in her hands.
@Satsuma – I was excited to read that bit about playing it a bit darker, if everyone else brings that level of understanding to their characters for CF we are going to end up with a terrific film.
I suppose the CF set gives her more to do really as well.
When I first saw is post, I thought “she probably named her something stupid like jane” but Clara is awesome and perfect! Go Paula
I think Paula would have fit her too, funnily enough.
It also makes sense that Mrs. Everdeen has a “heaviness” to her character, since she is someone who’s recovering from clinical depression. I really hope they keep her confrontation with Katniss over Gale in the CF movie.
Eh? I think she will come up with some plant or flower name, like.. Lily? Because Prim is from Primrose or Cinna from Cinnamon. But yeah, Clara is good.
And Paula as Mrs. Everdeen nailed it. She represented what is like living in District 12, under Capitol tyrany. Living in fear, starving, when she lost her husband it become too much for her facing the reality.
Cinna is a roman name, just like the rest of the Capitol citizens have Roman names.
I like he name Clara. It suits her.
On HG Fireside Chat, someone brought up that Clara Barton is famous as the founder of the American Red Cross, and this seems fitting as a name a family of apothecaries/healers would name a child. Clara is a variant of Clair/Clare, which is a Roman one meaning “clear” or Bright”.
Also, many of the merchant names seem to have connections to Biblical figures or Saint names (such as Peeta being very close to St. Peter). And St. Clare of Assisi, a follower of St. Francis of Assisi, left behind a privileged life to found an order of nuns called the “Poor Clares”. While St. Clare and St. Francis weren’t romantically involved, he did inspire her to leave her rich family for a life of poverty and service to others. So the name makes sense…though I suspect Ms. Malcolmson just thought it sounded good!
Oh,I like it! My name is also Clara.
Cinna actually came from a Roman writer (or was he an artist? I remember learning about him in Latin class..) but he actually got mistaken for another Cinna, and they killed him because they tought he was the other Cinna.
I love Clara! Perfect name! And she is supposed to be heavy. Especially at the end of the franchise nearly every character will have PTS (Post Traumatic Stress). I dont know about you but I am excited to see how the characters will psychologically develop in the movies. Im really excited to see the tributes like Johanna and Finnick in the movies and wonder how Jena and Claflin will portray them. I mean its pretty hard to play someone who looks normal on the outside and is very traumatised on the inside.. Peeta and Katniss by now prob have some psychological issues too. Anyway, I could go on and on about this, but hearing Paula say this makes me excited, cause she understands that her character is psychologically so complex, as is every character.
Oh, sorry I don’t have Latin class at school, so I don’t know. I just thought Cinna name somehow suit cinnamon. =)
More info on Cinna: He is a character from the Shakespeare play “Julius Caesar”, which was taught in most high schools when I was growing up. There are actually two Cinnas in the play. One takes part in the plot to kill Caesar. Another is innocent, but is lynched by a mob after he unfortunately tells him his name is Cinna, although he is “Cinna the poet, not Cinna the conspirator”.
Also, per wikipedia: “Cinna the conspirator” was actually Caesar’s brother-in-law, Cornelius Cinna. (his sister Cornelia was Caesar’s first wife, though she died years before Caesar.) There was also a historical “Cinna the poet”, Helvius Cinna, though whether he actually was killed by a mob who thought he was the other Cinna, is open to question.
Clara Everdeen—nice ring to it, and it’s so fitting!
That goes really well. Clara Everdeen