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Fansite Exclusive: Sam Claflin and Jena Malone On 'Catching Fire'

 

 

One of the coolest things about being a fansite (ok, THE coolest, without a doubt) is that sometimes you get to have amazing experiences like the one we had yesterday morning. We were invited to an exclusive fansite phone interview with Sam Claflin (Finnick) and Jena Malone (Johanna) from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. We actually got to speak to them ON THE PHONE. And they were just as charming, funny and thoughtful as you would have hoped. These two care deeply about the characters that we love so much. Read on and see what your favorite fansites asked Jena and Sam and, more importantly, their insightful and hilarious answers. (deep lunges)

 

Oh, and NBD, but Sam and Jena sang Happy Birthday to our own Samantha at the end of the call. Whatever. (FANGIRL EXPLOSION)

 

PanemPropaganda.com:


When you were working on your roles, did you speak to anyone, or consider for yourself, what kind of background your characters had outside the Games? Things like family or friendships they may have had back in their Districts, and how did that affect the development of your characters?

Jena: Yeah! The book is SO rich, even though it doesn’t go into specifics about what these characters have gone through, you can pick through, and there are sentences that, really, for an actor, are goldmines. It’s like a doorway you go through, and there’s a whole house inside there. Suzanne Collins created stories that, I feel like as an actor, are like candy. There was so much to work with. And Francis was constantly providing us more information. Even just really understanding who these people were, giving us essays on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and all of these different things to research. I feel like we had so much to go in and paint with. It was kind of amazing.

Sam: Lynn Cohen, who plays Mags, and I spent a few weeks during the preparation time discussing our relationship, coming to the decision that she was more of a mother to Finnick. He was kind of an orphan, we decided. She was his mentor when he was in the Games, and everything that happened since, obviously, leading up to Catching Fire, her volunteering for Annie Cresta, etc. Finnick’s past and his history is mentioned in Mockingjay. There is a very, very dark history painted for him, and I got to talk that through, not only with Lynn Cohen, but with Francis, like Jena said, and everyone else as well. It was easy for me to sort of mold ideas.

There is SO much more of this interview after the jump. Please read on....

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VIDEO 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' - Francis Lawrence Talks To MTV's Josh Horowitz

It's starting, it's STARTING! The Hunger Games: Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence sat down with MTV News' Josh Horowitz a while back and we've been anxiously awaiting these interviews ever since. They discussed an amazing amount of Catching Fire goodness: arena, Sam Claflin as Finnick, Everlark, Katniss' wedding dress and so much more! Take a look:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Catching Fire Victory Tour Mall of America Cast Confirmed

The third stop on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Victory Tour is on November 5th at Mall of America in Minneapolis, and we now have the who, what, and when details. Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Bruno Gunn, and Meta Golding will be attending the event at 5:30pm and participating in a Q&A and poster signings.

From The Mall of America Website:

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE National Victory Tour makes a stop in Minneapolis on November 5th. The national tour will include stops in Philadelphia, Miami and Houston as well. Cast members appearing at Mall of America will include Jena Malone (Johanna), Sam Claflin (Finnick), Meta Golding (Enobaria) and Bruno Gunn (Brutus). They will participate in special Q&As with fans, signings, and more in support of the worldwide release of the film in theatres on November 22nd. The tour, in partnership with Cover Girl, offers giveaways and exclusive access for fans. At each event, fans are encouraged to bring a canned food donation and support of our non-profit partners Feeding America and World Food Programme. By following #IgniteTheFight and visiting The Hunger Games website, fans can continue to learn more about way to help end hunger.

If you plan to attend, make sure to read the Official Event Guidelines. And say hello to our site founder Dan McCall while you're there! He'll be attending this Victory Tour stop.

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'Catching Fire' Featured in Total Film December

   Total Film has ANOTHER feature on Catching Fire in their December issue! Last month Francis Lawrence talked about the movie (check it out here) and in the December issue, Francis, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, and Jena Malone open up about the movie and their characters.

Check out the excerpts from the issue below, and be sure to pick up Total Film on your newsstand!

Jennifer Lawrence:

"I've been working ever since, so I don’t feel anything has changed. Well, I definitely get more death threats." (on her life post Oscar win)

"In my opinion, it's such an important statement in these movies, what one voice can do. I mean, all of these people, they only need one person to do something different and then they can say, 'OK, we're not alone, we have a leader.' Also, what I like about her is that she never set out to be this Joan of Arc. She got into the games in the first place to save her sister, and then made it through just to save herself, and that turned into saving Peeta, and now, in the second book, she's got a much larger body of people that are depending on her." 

 

Josh Hutcherson:

"'Catching Fire' is about the slow tension building beneath the surface, with the relationships as well as the rebellion. In this movie you see more of Peeta and Katniss together than you ever did in the first one. It intensifies, the feelings become stronger.

"He's got a fire inside of him in this movie, different to the first. As the Victory Tour goes on, Peeta sees how horrible it is, and when he's put back into the games, he has an anger. This time he's a much more active person in the physicality of the arena." (on Peeta)

"We took the p--- out of each other all day long, just f---ed around," Hutcherson says, before adding, promptly, that everyone was professional and "focused on making the best movie possible for the fans."

In this movie, you see more of Peeta and Katniss together than you ever did in the first one. It intensifies, the feelings become stronger."

"We're so comfortable with each other, such good friends, that there's really not that much romanticism to it. But yeah, she's beautiful and it's a passionate moment and you want to feel real in that moment, so..." (on Jennifer Lawrence)

Sam Claflin:

“My character specifically spends the majority of the film carrying an old woman on his back, in the jungles of Hawaii. When we were in Atlanta doing the cornucopia stuff, all the fighting erupted. I’d been training for months, learning these different fights, and then all of a sudden I was kicking someone really hard into the water! You’re like, ‘Yes! I did that!’ Not that I’m a violent person…”

"Jennifer's very generous and kind, a great role model." (on Jennifer Lawrence)

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'Catching Fire' Feature in Sci Fi Magazine

The Catching Fire interviews we've been waiting for are starting to trickle out. Thanks to our friends at QuarterQuell.org, we've got a look at scans and some of the article from the Catching Fire feature in the December issue of Sci Fi Magazine. Tara Bennett spoke with Francis Lawrence and Jena Malone, and gave a few extra snippets from the article on her blog.

Francis Lawrence on Catching Fire:

“I had never planned on doing a sequel to anything where there is an established world, but part of what I saw in Catching Fire was a large opportunity to create and not just have to go back,” he admits. “This story for me is where everything starts to take off. The characters are very different because they are changed by the games. The world is very different. It’s winter in District 12 and we see different parts of it like the Victor’s Village. We also go to districts we haven’t been to before. The Arena is completely different. I thought there was an opportunity to humanize Effie (Elizabeth Banks) and Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), as well as the opportunity to add new cast.”

“So there was plenty of opportunity for world building, which is something I like to do, but I loved where the story went. I love that the stakes were ratcheted up for the world and I liked where the love triangle started to go”

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Jena Malone on Her Transformation to Johanna Mason in 'Catching Fire'

Photo by Jena Malone
Jena Malone talked with Vogue about getting into her character, Johanna Mason both physically and mentally.
the hardest thing about being Johanna was finding a way to carry her energy in my body for sixteen hours a day. She has this anger that is always bubbling at the surface.
 
To whip her into shape for her role as Johanna Mason, the cunning District 7 tribute in the second installment of The Hunger Games trilogy (due out in November), actress Jena Malone required a fleet of fitness pros: A stunt team to provide her with the martial arts training she’d need for the film’s challenging action sequences—shot across land and water in Hawaii earlier this year—and a personal trainer to sculpt her body into a formidable fighting machine. “She has this intensity,” says Malone of her character’s steely physical and mental fortitude. “She can walk into a room and stare you to death.”
 
With that in mind, on-set makeup artist Nikoletta Skarlatos gave Johanna extreme lashes and heavily shadowed lids in shades of “warrior” green and gold for her early scenes in Panem’s Capitol; the choppy brunette bob she adopts later in the wild, on the other hand, was Malone’s own handiwork. “I cut it [myself],” she admits with a laugh.
 
Now that shooting has finally wrapped, the 28-year-old actress is currently back home in Los Angeles, where she has recently finished work on another project: Paul Thomas Anderson’s forthcoming Inherent Vice, a film that has ushered in yet another beauty transformation this summer—her newly honey-blonde hair. 

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Preview of 'Catching Fire' Cast Interviews With MTV's Josh Horowitz

Image from @joshuahorowitz instagram

"Stoopid good fun with Sam Claflin & Jena Malone today" "Fun awkward moments today with Sam and @MaloneJena"

Josh Horowitz has been tweeting and sharing pictures from his sit-down with Sam Claflin, Jena Malone and Francis Lawrence. We can look forward to some footage soon - maybe a little After Hours?

Image courtest @joshuahorowitz instagram

"Hold on Francis, you're saying they're all trying to KILL each other? I need to start reading these...."

 

Follow Josh on twitter at @joshuahorowitz and instagram @joshuahorowitz

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Jena Malone in LadyGunn Magazine

All photos by Shelby Duncan

Jena Malone has a beautiful feature in the latest LADYGUNN Magazine. She talks about her acting career and gives us some insight into her method, plus she talks about her audition for Catching Fire, "I blew them out of the water." The gorgeous photographs are by Shelby Duncan

LG: Congrats on THE HUNGER GAMES, by the way.

Jena: Thank you! Can’t comment on it yet, but I’m allowed to say how excited I am to be working on it. It’s a fucking dream! My little sister recommended I read it like two years ago and now she is dying.

LG: Nowadays some girls are instant celebrities, whether they deserve it or not, because they played the “Hollywood” game.

Jena: Seriously, you get one film, you hire a publicist and a stylist, all of that, and instantly you look like a celebrity. Where is your voice? Where is your point of view? That’s what made Julia Roberts so interesting when she was younger. And people like Madonna. That’s what makes Meryl Streep interesting every single time she walks out the door. She has a point of view. These other women buy their point of view from stylists or fashion people or agents. But they make far more money than I do. They are getting job offers that I could only dream of. There are some aspects where I wish someone would have just told me when I was a hot-headed 17-year-old, I could have just played the game a little straighter and I would have been able to have more doors open now.

LG: Well, THE HUNGER GAMES, c’mon, that’s a pretty big coup.

Jena: That’s the funny thing, the only reason I got this is because I blew them out of the water in the audition. It wasn’t because I played the game right and wore the sexy skirt, it was because I went in there and really auditioned and they actually had a casting director that wanted to cast real actors. That is not always the case.

LG: Especially in such a large franchise.

Jena: Right, I often see a lot of the younger actors who are like, “What should I do?” Honestly, it’s hard either way. It’s hard to be yourself and it’s hard not to be yourself. Both have a means of making you feel insecure and not sturdy in your job. It’s such a delicate thing. You’ve got to play the game a little bit. Even that’s a stylistic choice, even that’s a persona. It’s all a guise, a dream within a dream, so what’s really the truth of it? It’s far deeper inside, not on the outside. I think that’s what I am learning now. How to appreciate the material aspects that basically form that language of Hollywood without depreciating my internal aspects. 

 

Read the rest of this great article at Ladygunn

 

Thanks to TheHob.org for the tip!

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VIDEO: The 'Catching Fire' Cast Speaks to High5 About The Movie

Interviews of the Catching Fire cast from Comic Con keep popping up all over the place. Here are a couple we haven't seen before from Germany's High5tv. They speak with Jennifer Lawrence, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, Francis Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Lenny Kravitz and Willow Shields. 

Francis Lawrence says there's going to be an HOUR of the arena in the movie (and say goodbye to shaky-cam - hooray)! 

Via our friends at The Hob

 

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Behind The Scenes Photos From Sam Claflin & Jena Malone's Glamour Spread

Behind the scenes photos Glamour Sept 2013

Sam Claflin and Jena Malone have a huge fashion spread in the September 2013 Glamour (see all the HQ scans HERE) and we found some behind the scenes photos and video in the digital edition. Check out some of the extras below. We'll post video here soon. 

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Sam Claflin & Jena Malone Featured in Glamour Magazine

Sam Claflin and Jena Malone are featured in a Glamour Magazine fashion spread in the September 2013 issue entitled, "Win The Style Games." Jena and Sam look fantastic! There's also a ridiculously adorable BTS video that goes along with this article. We'll post it very soon! Scroll down for the article.


From Glamour:

She Says:

Jena Malone has been playing "the brave one" in films like Saved! and Stepmom since she was a kid. Today, at 28, she's fearless once again as Catching Fire's axe-wielding badass Johanna Mason.
Glamour: Those are some really major eyelashes in the movie.
Jena: I wish I could rock them in real life! They were like five inches long.
Glamour: You've had some extreme looks in your own life too.
JM: When I was 18, I shaved my head. I was bald. Then I had a mohawk  - For a job that feel through.  
Glamour: Was your part in The Hunger Games tough to get?
JM: I know they saw every single actress from here 'til Tuesday. They wanted to find someone who didn't just physicalize this character but could also scare people. I don't know what I did - I guess I scared the hell out of them.

He Says:

Sam Claflin's career is the stuff of fairy tales. We met the 27 year-old Brit in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (he played a lusty missionary). Now he's flaunting rippling abs and a blond 'do as District 4's lust object, Finnick Odair. 
Glamour: Was getting this role like it's own Hollywood Hunger Games?
Sam: Finnick is supposed to be this godlike creature, I remember sitting in the audition room and this kid walked in. He was seriously one of the most handsome men I've ever seen. And I was just, NAH, this is never going to happen.
Glamour: How did you transform yourself into an Adonis?
SC: I ate chicken and asparagus every day for three months. My girlfriend was quite happy. 
Glamour: Did you take pics?
SC: I sent my mom photos of myself, really buff. [laughs] That sounds so wrong!

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