New York Magazine's Interview with Francis Lawrence

New York Magazine published an article on the recent surge in popularity of the Young Adult genre. In addition to several others, Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence was included in those being interviewed - and of course, there are a couple bits about the upcoming film.

A few popular YA books have struggled recently as film adaptations, like Mortal Instruments and Beautiful Creatures. Why does Hunger Games work?
Author Suzanne Collins was raised in a military family, so she grew up learning about the consequences of war. Even though it’s sort of an alternate world, it’s still relatable.

You have all these pedigree actors coming in, from Philip Seymour Hoffman in Catching Fire to Julianne Moore in Mockingjay. You could have had no-name actors, and the fans would have accepted that.
If you can have Philip Seymour Hoffman, get Philip Seymour Hoffman! And he loved the books, so he signed on. Same with Jeffrey Wright. Same with Julianne. If you can just get those amazing actors, then that’s 80 percent of my job.

The first film skimped a little on showing us the strategy behind the Katniss-Peeta love story. 
I felt the same. I felt the love story in general was, um, a bit buried in the first one. I wanted to bring the love story to the surface. And when I say love story, I mean the triangle.

Vanity Fair's Interview with Francis Lawrence

Vanity Fair.com has an interview with Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence. It also includes several beautiful photos of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss (in her wedding gown!), as well as images of Gale, Finnick, Peeta, and Effie. These are, in part, from the October issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

“One of the big overarching themes for all the books is this idea of the consequences of war, and one of the unfortunate consequences of war is post-traumatic stress,” explains Francis Lawrence, who directed The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, out this November. (His previous films include I Am Legend and Water for Elephants.) In the new movie, not only have young leads Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson aged nearly two years, but also their characters, Katniss and Peeta, have returned to their home district haunted by what they’ve seen and done. “That’s one of the first things you see in the movie,” the director adds. “They’re changed people because of having been in the Games.”

New Portrait of Francis Lawrence at Cannes

The Hollywood Reporter just released 50 never before seen portraits of celebrities at the Cannes Film Festival and Francis Lawrence was among them:

Francis Lawrence was in Cannes to promote The Hunger Games: Catching Fire to international buyers. The sequel to The Hunger Games will see the return of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, the strong-willed girl who won the deadly games in the first installment.

Scans of 'Catching Fire' Article In Empire Magazine July 2013 Issue

Empire Magazine has a feature in their July 2013 Issue called, "Hungry For More? Director Francis Lawrence on Katniss' Return in Catching Fire." Here are the magazine scans:

 

Francis Lawrence Gives New 'Catching Fire' Details

Francis Lawrence, Jennifer Lawrence, and Josh Hutcherson on the Catching Fire set in Hawaii

The July issue of Empire Magazine has a brand new still of Effie and Peeta, along with an interview with Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence. Lawrence talks about the scope of the movie and the theme of the trilogy being the consequence of war:

The tone and scope of Catching Fire

“Everything opens up in this one … I think that without the second and the third book, the first movie would feel like a relatively small story, but the mythology opens up and the stakes ratchet up. You realise that this is about so much more than one person and that a whole country and a rebellion and loads of people’s lives are at stake.”

Revisiting the Games and Tributes

“Any time leading up to the Games you’re gonna go to the Capitol, go through training, go through the chariots and the interviews. So we had to be really vigilant about how to make those moments feel different. These tributes are like war veterans. One of the great things about all the books is just the theme of the consequences of war. All these people, and they how it all in different ways, have some form of PTSD, and the ones that you get to know, you start to see the cracks in their veneer. And once we got into the arena – ours is tropical so the geography was wildly different – it was easy.”

Thanks to The Hob.org for the details! 

Francis Lawrence Talks Taking On 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'

Francis Lawrence spoke with MTV News as part of their preview of the hottest films of 2013. He talked about taking the reigns from Gary Ross, the massive responsibility of casting Finnick, and the challenges of filming in paradise.

From MTV:

On Taking Over For Gary Ross:

"I liked what Gary did a lot, but I have a different style than he does," Lawrence explained. "So it was very easy for me to come in the room and sit down with the people involved in the movie and sort of say, 'Here's what I like about what Gary did that I would latch on to and hold onto and embrace, and here's the way I would do it differently.' The trickier thing, honestly for me, was sort of stepping into a world, and there's crew members that were on the first movie, obviously an entire cast, all the people that are returning that I inherited. I was nervous about what they were going to feel... I think everybody in general was really gracious and worked really hard and ended up being really fun to work with. I think there were a couple of people that were really bummed that Gary wasn't doing it, and it had less to do with the choice of me coming on than just Gary not doing it. They signed on with Gary; they're friends with Gary; they like Gary. And I think there was definitely some sadness there."

On Finding Finnick:

"[Claflin] is very athletic, which is great. He's in great shape. He's very charismatic," Lawrence said. "But I was also looking in the long term. There's kind of a rouge-like quality to him in this book. And long term, he's actually an emotional character and a very loyal character and a character who's in love; a character who experienced quite a lot of sadness. And he was really able to tap into that, as well as being really charming and sexy and handsome as hell."

On Shooting The Arena Scenes:

"The arena stuff is pretty tricky... just because the sort of center of the arena where the cornucopia exists and the water and the spokes. The circular beach with the jungle around it doesn't exist, so we have to sort of piece it all together," he explained. "And you know even though shooting in Hawaii sounds like a lot of fun, it's pretty tricky when you're in the beach and waves and tides. Our set got washed away one day by the tide, and then... shooting in the jungle where there's bugs and mud and rain. The days are short, so you don't have much time, and you're starting to lug around 100-pound IMAX cameras."

Francis also has some great insight into Haymitch's character and talks about the editing process. Read the article in it's entirety HERE.