Earlier today we published the first part of our interview with Elizabeth Banks and Liam Hemsworth for The Hunger Games.
In what may be the last piece of Hunger Games coverage we publish for a while (although we doubt it), the second part of the interview covers the enjoyment they got from working with Woody Harrelson, dressing up in Lenny Kravitz’ tour wardrobe and their anticipation for the sequels.
For all of our coverage of The Hunger Games click here, and you can read our review of the film here.
The marketing for this has been brilliant, not going down the love triangle route, but emphasising Katniss’ bravery. How do you feel about getting men to see this film, because that’s always a concern?
LIAM HEMSWORTH: Yeah, I think it’s great that you have a young woman who is the most courageous character in the books. I’m all about it. I’m a guy and I’m a fan of the books, and I think the movie is one of the most powerful films I’ve seen. I think regardless of whether it’s a girl or a guy you have so many strong characters in these books that you care about, and they’re going through horrific situations you want them to get out of. I don’t think it really matters.
ELIZABETH BANKS: Nobody asks me if I care about going to see a guy-fronted film!
How was working with Woody Harrelson?
EB: I’m in love with him.
LH: Me too!
EB: Everyone is in love with Woody! He’s very loveable! [laughs] He’s the great Haymitch. I’d never met him, but we had mutual friends. We started telling each other very crass jokes within four minutes of meeting each other. He really made me laugh with a very off-colour joke that I cannot repeat to the media. And he was sort of shocked over how giggly I got over this material. So we became fast friends!
I read that Lenny Kravitz’s hotel room was party central?
EG: Lenny was preparing for his world tour at the time, so he had his entire band in town at the time, and also all of his clothes for the tour. All his clothes were on racks in his room, and he was very generous in letting us try on his clothes! He has the best wardrobe of anyone in the world!
I gather you’re a big fan of the books, and there have been tweaks for the film – how do you as a Hunger Games fangirl feel about that?
EB: I think the essence of the books is in the movie and that’s the most important thing. If there is anything as a fan I was missing, it would be really hard to say. We can’t ever be in Katniss’ brain like we are in the books, or see how she feels, but Jennifer does such a great job of conveying everything with her face – it’s amazing, with her eyes. I loved the Avoxes. To me they really represented the brutality of the Capitol. You get that in the movies anyway, so it’s great, but I felt like they were really cool characters.
What are you looking forward to in the sequels?
LH: There’s some pretty crazy stuff in the third book!
EB: I can’t even imagine the bunker they live in!
LH: The third book is wild and crazy, so for that to be a movie will be extreme.
EB Intense.
LH: That’s when the whole uprising is, so if we get to shoot that…
Are you filming the sequels back to back?
EB: The rumour is that it’s one movie at a time.
LH: We haven’t shot anything else yet.
EB: No one’s even read it.
There’s now a tradition for the final book of a franchise to be split into two movies – have you been contracted for three or four pictures?
EB: Can we confirm or deny that? [At this point there is a pause for a moment, as both Banks and Hemsworth look to the publicist, sat in the corner of the room.] I don’t believe we can confirm nor deny that! I can confirm there are three books! I don’t know how many movies.
Did you have any concerns about the way the violence was going to be handled, whether it was going to be watered down?
EB: I have total faith in Gary. All my conversations with him, and knowing how passionate he was about the material, I knew that he was… we knew we were making a PG-13 movie, so it’s important to remember that. Tone was something that was discussed constantly on set; how to preserve as much as we could to delineate the stakes of the movie – that this is life or death – and that the Hunger Games are brutal and horrifying. But at the same time, protect the audience as well. I think it’s a great balance. I don’t want [kids] to be desensitised. I hope it’s a great conversation starter about where we’re at with the media now.
LH: Most of these kids going into the arena are scared – they don’t want to be in there. The select few are there because it’s glorified, but the violence isn’t glorified in any way. It’s not like you go “hurrah!” when someone is killed. It’s pretty horrific, with young children who are scared.
EB: And you feel every death. It’s not completely senseless, like gunplay in a big action movie, where there’s 30 people dead on the street and no one even thinks about it.
How was it going from The Hunger Games to The Expendables 2?
LH: A whole different world. It was pretty crazy to be on set with all those guys I’ve grew up with. Those guys are actually pretty calm and professional, and there’s never any drama on set. We just turn up and do it and it’s great. Just to see how they are as people and actors. It was a very cool experience.
The Reaping is an incredible scene. Can you describe the atmosphere on the set that day?
EB: It was a hundred degrees.
LH: Over a hundred degrees, and the first shot of the day was 10am or something, and it was literally “action” then “cut” because a young extra had collapsed on the ground. That proceeded to happen over three days!
EB: They were dropping like flies! There was a lot of hydrating these kids. Effie is in her full regalia the whole time I stood on stage in the sun. So they were kind enough to put me in this weird room. Our trailers were not close, so I had to stay close to set. They put me in this backstage area, and brought in an air conditioning unit and they blew it directly on me. The air conditioning unit had the temperature on it, and it never got below 87 Fahrenheit! Even with that, in a room 3′ by 6′, it was always hovering around 90 degrees! My full body was drenched – I would stand up and sweat would be pouring into this puddle. Good times.
