9 Untold Secrets of 'Hunger Games'


The Hollywood Reporter unveiled 9 Hunger Games secrets:
1. JENNIFER LAWRENCE TOOK THREE DAYS TO SAY YES TO THE ROLE OF KATNISS
Numerous actresses were considered for the lead — among them Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) — but Ross never felt he had the right person. Then he met Lawrence, fresh off an Oscar nomination for Winter’s Bone, the 2010 indie release that put her on the map. But Lawrence hesitated, aware this could take her from being respected by her peers to the center of a pop-culture tornado — precisely the fate that had befallen Stewart with Twilight. “It was the middle of the night in England, and I was in bed when I got the call,” she remembers. “And I was so in love with the books and the script, and suddenly it was right in my face — and the size of the decision was terrifying.”
Her mom helped in the decision. "I called my mom and she called me a hypocrite, because when I was doing indie movies and everyone was asking why I didn’t do studio movies, I said, 'The size of the movie doesn’t matter.' And she said, 'Here’s a movie you love and you were thinking of turning it down because of its size.' I thought, 'I don’t want to miss out because I’m scared. Me being scared, I never want that to stop me fromdoing something.' But I knew in my heart that I wanted it — it was about working out all the fears."
2. SO HOW MUCH IS LAWRENCE GETTING PAID?
Lawrence's salary for the first film is a modest $500,000 (about what Stewart received for the first Twilight), plus “escalators,” bonuses based on the movie’s performance.
3. DIRECTOR GARY ROSS AND PRODUCER NINA JACOBSEN HAD STEEP COMPETITION
An Oscar-nominated writer for 1988’s Big and 1993’s Dave, Ross grew up in Hollywood, the son of Arthur A. Ross, writer of Creature From the Black Lagoon. Ross was used to a comfortable life with his wife, producer Allison Thomas (The Tale of Despereaux), writing in the morning, working out in the afternoon and earning several hundred thousand dollars per month as one of Hollywood’s top script doctors. Every film he’d helmed (including 1998’s Pleasantville) had come from his own mind; he’d never had to compete as a director-for-hire — let alone against Sam Mendes (American Beauty) and David Slade (Twilight: Eclipse), who also were salivating after the job. Ross, being paid in the $3-4 million range, fought hard for his right to be behind the camera. " I hadn't seen a piece of material that touched the culture and moved me the same way in a very long time," he explains. "And if you fully commit, you fully commit."And he wasn't alone in his fight for the right to create the world of Panem. Jacobson, who has produced movies such as One Day and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise, obtained the book’s rights against fierce competition from the likes of Ridley Scott.

Read the rest on THR

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