It has been nearly five years since the Hunger Games film franchise ended and now, there are talks about making a few prequels. Based on the best-selling young adult books, the movies broke box-office records and introduced star, Jennifer Lawrence, to more mainstream audiences. A big-budget, hours of makeup and CGI, dystopian production design, dyed hair, stinky make-out sessions and what not was involved in the making of the four Hunger Games films.
While you may know everything about these movies on screen, here are 10 little-known behind-the-scenes facts that you might not be aware of.
Katniss Gives A Bad Kiss
Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen and Liam Hemsworth’s Gale Hawthorne have their share of intimate scenes in the first film. But as he jokingly recalled in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the kissing scenes with Lawrence were quite stinky.
Before any make-out scene, she would eat garlic, tuna or anything smelly on purpose. Lawrence, however, doesn’t seem to have any regrets. ‘I gave him fair warning,’ she said in a press conference.
Swear Jar
There was no scope for serious profanity in any of the PG-13 Hunger Games films. But Gary Ross, director and writer of the first film, has said that he used to keep a swear jar on set during shooting.
And Jennifer Lawrence herself was the biggest contributor to this jar. If you look at Lawrence’s other film roles, it wouldn’t come as a surprise. In American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook, she gets to say her fair share of swear words on the screen.
Haymitch Isn’t A Meat Eater
Haymitch Abernathy, an ex-Hunger Games winner and mentor to Katniss, often engages in drunk banter, usually sipping on one wine or similar drinks. Hence, in all scenes involving food, you hardly see Haymitch eating anything. Sometimes, he’s eating a few vegetables but never any meat like the others.
This was done so to suit actor Woody Harrelson’s needs as he has been an active proponent of veganism and avoids the consumption of any meat.
Ed Sheeran Got Rejected
British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran apparently pitched three songs for Catching Fire, the second installment for the series but they all got rejected. On the other hand, the franchise’s soundtracks have featured various artists from differing genres like Lorde, Coldplay, and The Lumineers to name a few.
Fun fact: Ed had earlier tried writing songs for the Twilight series too but faced the same fate. His dreams of being featured in a film soundtrack finally came true with his single I See Fire for The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug.
From Black List To Box Office
Not many producers were ready to be on-board with a film that had a teenage female protagonist but it all changed when The Hunger Games released in 2012. While many know that the screenplay was directly based on Suzanne Collin’s novel, what many forget is that its screenplay wasn’t commissioned by any studio and was on the Blacklist instead.
For the unacquainted, the Black List is an annual survey on some of the most promising motion picture screenplays that haven’t been produced yet. The Hunger Games script was featured in 2010 by the site as one of the ‘most liked’ unproduced scripts. The rest is history.
The Secret Behind Wes Bentley’s Weird Beard
Wes Bentley portrayed Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane in the first film. Even if you don’t know the character’s name, he surely stands out with his bizarre facial hair. One would think he’s wearing a fake beard, or extra pieces of hair were applied to his face.
In reality, it was created in a very skilled manner as it was styled out of Wes’s own real beard. He revealed in a magazine interview how he often sported the weird beard during shopping and other activities when he wasn’t shooting.
A 30,000 Dollar Wig
According to the novels, Katniss Everdeen sports brown hair and this proved to be a task for Jennifer Lawrence who’s a blonde. Instead of dyeing her hair, she opted to wear a wig.
Several expensive wigs of different shades of brown were tried out until a wig worth 30,000 dollars was finalized. Even Katniss’s classic French braid that you see in the film was a part of the wig.
Donald Sutherland Begged To Be The President
A reputed stalwart in Hollywood, one would think Donald Sutherland was readily taken on board to play President Snow. But it turns out Sutherland was never sent the script. Instead, he accidentally read parts of it and found it to be reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s war drama Paths of Glory.
He wrote a whole letter to director Gary Ross explaining why he should get the role. Interestingly, his role lasts less than ten minutes in the first film, although he proves to be a more major character in the sequels.
Borrowed Set Pieces
Some of the consoles in the District 13 Control Centre in Mockingjay- Part 2 have an interesting story. These consoles were first used in the Tom Hanks starring Apollo 13 back in the 90s.
And that’s not all. After the series wrapped filming, these consoles were back to being used in another space-themed drama. They were part of the sets in the biopic Hidden Figures and a careful viewing would reveal that some of the equipment still has ‘Panem’ written on it.
Effie And Haymitch’s Unscripted Kiss
All through the films, fans have been observing a love-hate friendship between Katniss’s mentors Haymitch and Effie. In the final chapter, Mockingjay- Part 2, Haymitch ends up kissing Effie as he says goodbye.
This scene came as a surprise to not just the fans but the crew too as actors Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks improvised it in the moment.
