The Hunger Games

[danceronice]

You are correct - there were no riots in District 11 mentioned in the Hunger Games book, although there was one mentioned in Catching Fire.

I can understand scenes getting left out of the movie, but I wonder why scenes that weren't in a book get added to a movie, or totally changed around. HP's fight with LV is an example - it went from being in the Great Hall with others around to being outside with no witnesses. What was the point in that change?

Books aren't paced like movies. In THAT case, they probably wanted it to look more visually interesting than Voldemort and Harry standing there talking, flinging a couple spells, and boom, end. It works okay on the page but it's not exactly scintillating cinema. Same thing with leaving IN and actually showing fight scenes in the Twilight movies, while in the books, it's pretty much all "Bella was knocked out, there was a fight, Bella blinked, there was a fight and it was over," etc. Even still it's going to be interesting seeing how they manage to make the end of Breaking Dawn even halfway interesting.

With HG they have the problem of getting all the backstory and details that we get from Katniss knowing it into the film without having her do a voiceover. I liked how they used the "TV" format to do it, too, which obviously wouldn't work with every adaptation but fits perfectly in the Hunger Games.

[Rogue]

Books aren't paced like movies. In THAT case, they probably wanted it to look more visually interesting than Voldemort and Harry standing there talking, flinging a couple spells, and boom, end. It works okay on the page but it's not exactly scintillating cinema.

Perhaps, but I actually found the movie version to be much less exciting than what I imagined in my head while reading the book. And if they wanted exciting and visually interesting, then why leave out the part where LV set Neville on fire?

[MarieM]

You have to remember it's a three part movie. That means there will be others to come, and taking thinks from book 2 or 3 and place them in film 1 isn't bad at all since the books are all written by 'katniss's voice'.
In the books, she learns the things later on, while it's more effective in a movie to show what's going on at that same moment.
It makes sense to me anyway.

[vesperholly]

With HG they have the problem of getting all the backstory and details that we get from Katniss knowing it into the film without having her do a voiceover. I liked how they used the "TV" format to do it, too, which obviously wouldn't work with every adaptation but fits perfectly in the Hunger Games.

I just reread the first book this weekend, and Katniss actually has no idea that there's dissent in the other districts. In fact, the point is specifically made about how little the district residents know about each other and what goes on in other districts. She knows via Haymitch that she's pissed off the Gamemakers and angered President Snow, but not that it's tied in to a larger revolutionary movement. That bit is entirely in Catching Fire.

The TV announcers and the Gamemakers room were both great non-book additions. The Snow and Seneca Crane scenes seemed like a giant waste of time, though.

[jl22aries]

Ye gads I LOVE Cuaron. And at first I was just recalling Prisoner of Azkaban and A Little Princess and thought perhaps his style might be a little too whimsical, but then I remembered Children of Men and man that was gritty, so Cuaron could totally pull it off.
Though I do love Ross's vision for Catching Fire (staying away from 3D, not making the movie a cartoony action film, see http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00048737.html ) so just hoping whomever takes over the Dir. chair also shares this vision.

The riot in district 11 made sense to me in the movie. The scene was for me a necessary counterpoint to the hysteria and spectacle of the Capitol audience. Also showed the district populace beginning to react to Katniss's example of defiance, the beginning of Katniss becoming a symbol of independence.

I just finished all three books in a frenzied 2 day readathon and am, as always, pleasantly consoled to hear that so many others reacted similarly to me: I have many problems with the third book. Finished it and thought..."hmm, something is off, am I just fatigued or was something askew in the execution because I am so not feeling anything". Here I am actually hopeful that Collins and the movie makers will have wonderful opportunity to re-execute. For sure they will get to flush out all the details that go missing in book three during Katniss's 'sedations'. That would be nice.

[jl22aries]

Thought the movie did a really wonderful job adapting from the book. Adding the scenes of the Gamekeeper's control room, showing Snow's direct influence and manipulation of the game. And though I think the bread donation from District 11 is a beautiful moment in the book, I think it was a choice scene to cut from the movie. Including it would have meant needing backstory on bread of the districts, too much time with so many time constraints? Ya need to cut something!

And I actually love Harrelson. Hopefully he will amp up the drunk in the next two (three?) movies.

Funny, as I was reading 3, I did suppose they'd want to cut the third movie into two. And for me, as someone mentioned earlier, it would make sense to cut it at the point that Peeta gets rescued. Especially if the rescue mission becomes the movie's climax. But then I wonder if they'll change the mission up to include Katniss, as it would seem anticlimactic to have Katniss holed up on her bed missing all the action.

The casting for Coin will be key. That character is so interesting, and yet SO not flushed out in the book. Coin doesn't get much dialogue, so much will hinge the actor's portrayal of Coin's countenance.

[MarieM]

I wonder what the long version they'll release in DVD will add. Maybe that bread issue ?

[Buzz]

For Coin I think Sigourney Weaver would be wonderful. And I agree with the who said Katniss spends too much time knockout in book 3.

[danceronice]

I wonder what the long version they'll release in DVD will add. Maybe that bread issue ?

I just got the official movie guide, and the food. stylist mentions having to make a couple dozen versions of the District 11 bread before the director liked it, so appparently they filmed it. Hopefully that'll at least make the 'deleted scenes!'

[MarieM]

Yeah I read the same so I'm hoping they really have at least a 30 min more to add to the movie

[Michalle]

Michelle Forbes (from True Blood and Battlestar Galactica) would be a fun choice for Coin - she's already played an Admiral Cain, and it's very much her kind of part. I wish I liked her better in The Killing but that show is so dreary, it drags everyone down, including tons of actors I like from other stuff.

[Artemis@BC]

The TV announcers and the Gamemakers room were both great non-book additions. The Snow and Seneca Crane scenes seemed like a giant waste of time, though.

Agree on a, disagree on b. I think the added Snow scenes set up the tone of the Capital really well, which will become crucial in the later books/movies. Without those scenes, Snow is a meaningless figurehead with no menace. It makes cinematic sense to show that now rather than wait for one-on-one scenes with Katniss in Catching Fire.

Plus any additional Donald Sutherland screen time is a good thing in my book. I read that they actually wrote additional scene for him once he'd agreed to do the part.

As for any "extra" scenes on the DVD ... while the explanations of the bread were interesting in the book, I don't think they're the most important aspects to highlight. For me the biggest thing missing from the film was showing the depth of the disparity between the hand-to-mouth existance in District 12 and the utter decadence of the Capital. They did a good job of showing it in a concise way, particularly the Capital, but there could have been more about the poverty of the district. Ditto for the family backstory of Katniss -- again, they did a really good snapshot, but I wonder if anyone who hadn't read the books would have picked up on depth of the sense of responsibility Katniss felt.

[danceronice]

Michelle Forbes (from True Blood and Battlestar Galactica) would be a fun choice for Coin - she's already played an Admiral Cain, and it's very much her kind of part. I wish I liked her better in The Killing but that show is so dreary, it drags everyone down, including tons of actors I like from other stuff.

Didn't she play Ensign Ro in Star Trek? She could certainly handle cold-blooded extremist (though Ro, ironically enough, was more human despite not being human at all...)

Yes, I find Coin worse than Snow. Though I suppose finding them equally horrible was kind of the point-note that new President Paylor is from one of the Districts who actually revolted, not from 13, and she's setting up a representitive non-totalitarian-dictatorship government that does not involve either to the death reality shows or punitive executions of enemy children just so they can see what it's like, or trying to replace artificially-created disparity and deliberate undereducation, which both the Districts AND Capitol got, cf Katniss's not-very-bright prep team, with artifical equality and drone-like status for everyone but the people in charge. She was also, even as a boots-on-the-ground rebel, less inclined to the kill 'em all and let God sort it out solution than even Gale (who I think is more the typical teen radical given access to actual revolution, who can't quite humanize the other side in any way and just kind of thinks 'cool, we're winning', while Katniss realizes that being 'right' doesn't make them good.)

[genevieve]

Michelle Forbes (from True Blood and Battlestar Galactica) would be a fun choice for Coin

I was going to agree about Sigourney Weaver (who would be a good choice) but OMG YES!!! to Michelle Forbes. I just rewatched the Pegasus episodes of BSG last weekend and her Admiral Cain was fantastic and soooooo Coin (coincidental name similarity? )

Books aren't paced like movies. In THAT case, they probably wanted it to look more visually interesting than Voldemort and Harry standing there talking, flinging a couple spells, and boom, end. It works okay on the page but it's not exactly scintillating cinema.

I thought it was well publicized that Rowling wrote the last couple of HP books specifically with the films in mind. The fight with Voldy was stupid and entirely to amp up the special effects and totally detracted from the story. It was unnecessary.

[michiruwater]

I've actually recently started watched BSG and I think I'm an episode or two at most away from meeting Admiral Cain, so I'm quite curious now

[Artemis@BC]

I'm not sure Coin is "less evil" or "more evil" than Snow. In the books we only see things through Katniss's eyes -- and while she does have the occassional personal encounter with Snow, she (and therefore we) sees Coin's machinations up close and in person. So we know a lot more about Coin by the end than we know about Snow.

I agree Michelle Forbes would be excellent. She’s always been great in everything I’ve seen her do, staring with Engisn Ro, and her great, understated performance in Kalifornia (much more impressive than the over-the-top Juliette Lewis). Funny, though, when I was reading the books I pictured someone somewhat younger …

[Kasey]

Funny, though, when I was reading the books I pictured someone somewhat younger …

I pictured Linda Evans, circa "Dynasty" with the immovable hair....

[MarieM]

Admiral Cain would be FANTASTIC in Coin's shoes. She can do the ice queen bits without a quail

[Buzz]

Just wanted to say that I hope the next movies highlights the growing difference of opinion between Gale and Katniss. And omit the whole digging out the tracker thing with a knife which makes little sense to me since they could see every move and that could sever an artery or something.

[danceronice]

They have to get the tracker out somehow-Johanna did that so when the rebels came they could take Katniss and Beetee without the Gamemakers being able to track them after leaving the arena. I guess they could do it on the 13 hovercraft, but I think the intent in the book is to have Katniss confused and think Johanna (who's axe crazy, after all) has turned on her.