Friday, June 22, 2012

Johanna Rumors Abound!!

What's new in the rumor mill? Sources say Mia Wasikowska & Zoe Aggeliki may be in the running to play the spunky Johanna Mason. Here's what The Playlist had to say:

Sources close to the project tell The Playlist that Mia Wasikowska and model/actress Zoe Aggeliki are in the mix for Johanna Mason. The character becomes a strong ally with Katniss and Peeta during the 75th Hunger Games, but has a testy relationship with Katniss who likens her to an older sister who hates you. She's a fierce competitor who has no family and friends left in District 7 where she hails, with her weapon of choice being an axe. Director Francis Lawrence is keen on finding the right actress to fit the part, and is looking at both big names and lesser known talents.
Both actresses have been in discussions for the part, and we hear that Aggeliki could sign in the coming days, but nothing is certain just yet. Aggeliki may not be a familiar face at the moment, but she'll be seen next summer in "R.I.P.D." and also landed a role in "Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters" as Silena Beauregard. Whoever does snag the role will not only appear in "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" but in "Mockingjay" as well, as Johanna figures strongly in that story as well. Production on 'Catching Fire' begins later this year, and the film will hit theaters on November 22, 2013.

Interesting bit of news, I am glad to see that Lawrence is playing around with both a big name actress and an unknown. Let's see how this plays out, shall we?

Source: The Playlist

Friday, June 15, 2012

Catching Fire: IMAX!

WOOHOO! Catching Fire will be an IMAX release, and even better: some scenes will be shot in IMAX!
Imax is to release Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on its super-sized screens on November 22, 2013.
Imax had success releasing the first Hunger Games film, with a rollout in China on 67 of its giant screens to come later this month. For the second installment of the movie franchise, director Francis Lawrence will use Imax cameras to shoot certain scenes from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which will also be digitally remastered into the Imax format.
"We are thrilled to continue the productive partnership we enjoyed with Imax on the first installment of The Hunger Games," Lionsgate motion picture group co-chairs Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger said Wednesday.
The Imax rollout of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will take place day-and-date with Lionsgate's wide release on November 22, 2013.
Source: THR

Well how about that, Universal CityWalk IMAX? Now you HAVE to schedule Catching Fire into your IMAX lineup!!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

OFFICIAL: Philip Seymour Hoffman Offered Plutarch Heavensbee

It's official! Philip Seymour Hoffman has been offered the role of Plutarch Heavensbee. The question is....will he accept?

Here's what THR had to say:

Philip Seymour Hoffman received an official offer to play Plutarch Heavensbee in Catching Fire, Lionsgate’s sequel to The Hunger Games, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
Hoffman’s name had circled the role for several weeks, but an offer formally went out Monday, the same day the actor ended his 18-year association with his agency, Paradigm.
Heavensbee is the new gamemaker of the life-and-death games, the same position occupied by actor Wes Bentley in the first movie.
Lionsgate, which had no comment, is eyeing a September start for the movie, which Francis Lawrence is set to direct after the departure of Hunger Games director Gary Ross. Jennifer Lawrence will reprise her role as Katniss Everdeen. Hunger Games, released in March, grossed nearly $650 million worldwide.
 Source: THR

Monday, June 11, 2012

RUMOR: Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee?

Oh please let this one be true:

Phillip Seymour Hoffman may have already been offered the role of Plutarch Heavensbee! This has been the first specific casting rumors to come to the party, so it looks like the casting rumor mill is in full swing.

Philip Seymour Hoffman was on the mind of a lot of Hunger Games fans when producers were looking for an actor to play the drunken but eventually endearing mentor Haymitch-- the part that eventually went to Woody Harrelson. But as it turns out, the crew behind the Hunger Games franchise weren't leaving out Hoffman-- they were just biding their time. According to Variety's Jeff Sneider, Hoffman has been offered the role of Plutarch Heavensbee in Catching Fire, the Hunger Games sequel that shoots this fall.

What do you guys think? Would you want Phillip Seymour Hoffman to play Plutarch Heavensbee?

Source: CinemaBlend

Mockingjay Mockup: STORY LINES


Welcome back to another edition of The Mockingjay Mockup! We had planned on talking about story lines and a detailed look at part one, but we don't want to make these posts too long. Hopefully we can post about the details of Part One tomorrow, since we couldn't bring it to you today. After broadly mapping it out in our last post, we will now examine to what extent the many relationships with Katniss should exist in Mockingjay Part One.

ALL THE STORY LINES!

Every movie has an A storyline, B storyline, C, etc. Movies typically have an average of three different story lines (a statistic I totally and completely looked up and is not at all fabricated by me for sake of publishing this on time), all of which usually come together in some form at the end. So what do we have? Very broadly there are two: District 13 and The Capitol/the rest of Panem. But anyone who has read Mockingjay knows that within the District 13 storyline there is an extremely complicated web of relationships that must be dealt with. Well, we counted 8 as far as the important one goes. One might say that it might even be all of them. You're probably wondering, "Well cheese and crackers Jimmy, aren't you supposed to cut some stuff out?" to which we say, most certainly but really…. they're all kind of important! Tiffany and I frequently found ourselves remembering extremely important relationships to the story we missed, making manly guttural noises and saying, "We can't NOT put that in there!" If we were feeling this much anxiety, feelings, and extreme confusion making a simple structural split, we can only imagine  how grueling the actual process will be for the actual film. We salute you, you brave souls, you. So, onto the necessary relationships to be established for the film. I believe the question we should be asking is not what relationship story lines they are going to cut out, but which ones are they going to diminish:
-Prim/Katniss
-Coin/Katniss (conflict)
-Haymitch/Katniss
-Gale/Katniss (friendly conflict)
-Peeta/Katniss
-Finnick/Katniss (Depending on how Finnick is handled in Catching Fire)
-Annie/Finnick story (If not already shown in Catching Fire)
-Snow/Katniss (conflict)

A little daunting, right? Don't forget, we even have to add the Johanna/Katniss relationship in Part 2. Some may look at this and think there's no way to establish all of this in a 2.5 hour movie. Well, we think this is possible. Thanks to The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, we already will have had the time to established these story lines in a way that is not rushed, which is always the danger of movies that have way too many relationships going on. You need time to care about (or despise) these characters if the audience is to be invested. Luckily, we have two movies to accomplish this. That way by the time Mockingjay comes around, you don't need to do too much establishing of these already cemented relationships. The only scenes necessary to be put in Mockingjay Part One will be those that propel the story forward.

So what will be diminished? This is a question even we can't answer. The most we can do it predict and speculate as best we can. Here are story lines we think are sufficient with just a scene or two in part one: Prim/Katniss, Finnick/Katniss, and Haymitch/Katniss. We're betting that there will be at least one scene with Katniss' family. After all, District 13 being establish will include where Katniss sleeps every night. Given what happens toward the end of Mockingjay, Katniss and Prim's relationship MUST be touched upon in part one at least once. Sure, she'll be present here and there throughout the two movies, but we're hoping the one scene they put in is her and Katniss' "Whatever it takes to break you" discussion during the bombing. It is possible they will also keep the scene earlier on in which Prim reminds her of the leverage Katniss has to be the Mockingjay. However, this particular scene may just end up on the cutting room floor.

 As for Finnick's friendship with Katniss, we're hoping they put him in throughout the films since he is such a beloved character (I may cry if they leave out the hilarious underwear scene), but as far as character development scenes, we are hoping that they keep the scene during the bombing where he shows Katniss knot tying and talking about Annie. Should they not explain their love story in Catching Fire, we could see them putting it in this scene. At least we can feel safe in knowing that they will ABSOLUTELY keep in Finnick's propo distraction where we find out his backstory. We've got a sort of rad idea on how to orchestrate this scene as part of Part One's climax.

 Lastly, we've got Haymitch/Katniss, which I'm sure will be a very well established relationship once Catching Fire is released. Keep in mind we're just looking at Haymitch's relationship to Katniss scenes, not all the other necessary Haymitch scenes to the story. So what is to be established? Assuming they don't sneak this scene into the end of Catching Fire, which we doubt, they MUST include their first real discussion about what happened at the end of the Quarter Quell, each recognizing the other's mistake. We're also hoping they also include the part when Haymitch comforts Katniss during the post District 13 bombing propo, giving a reason to break Peeta and the others out. It's a great scene that shows both of their connection to Peeta and each other, but it's possible they might forgo that for time reasons. They can easily come to the conclusion to break them out solely for the sake of needing to free the others from The Capitol's grasp. But, if I think those behind The Hunger Games films are as smart as I think they are, they'll keep that scene in not just for Haymitch's character, but to establish the psychological and emotional toll on Katniss.

Let's move onto the important story lines. Odds are the Gale/Katniss relationship will get a decent amount of screen time, given how they have set up the Gale/Katniss relationship. Not to mention, Gale is an integral part to Katniss' life and even through all the arguments, is still her right hand man. Depending on what the director of Mockingjay will want to focus on (and what Suzanne has to say about it), we are hoping that a lot of attention goes to Coin's character. Not only because she is a new character, but her conflict with Katniss is probably the most important conflict in Mockingjay. It must be established very early on that something is very unsettling about the way the rebellion handles things, and Coin and Katniss' power struggle. However, the great thing about the book is that this conflict is understated. It should not be established that it is Katniss vs Coin. It needs to be Katniss vs Snow, so that in the conclusion of Part 2, we see what has been under our noses the whole time. Therefore, the Katniss/Snow story line is one that should be greatly displayed. This is the main conflict throughout the story of The Hunger Games, and part one should not disappoint. We expect to see a few glimpses into the war effort in Panem, what Snow might be going through, and of course what Peeta is going through in his cell. Which leads to our final major storyline that in Part One, only exists in a few scenes. We believe that the decision will be made to see what Peeta is going through, as to not lead viewers hanging (especially those who have not read the books, to which I cannot help but say: WORST DECISION EVER!). As for occurrences in the book, we expect all the Peeta scenes to be in there for part one, which is basically all of his television appearances. Each one serves an important purpose to the telling of Mockingjay.

Looks like we're gonna end it here for now, we hope to make the next post very soon. Expect graphs, details, and plot lines abound!

~May your bread be toasty and your arrow fly straight,
Courtney & Tiffany

Check out the other Mockingjay Mockup posts:

Intro

Part 1 Overview

Photos: Meeting of the Lawrences!

Check it out, looks like Jennifer and Francis Lawrence have met and a possible script hand off? Check out these pictures that were taken quite recently in Los Angeles:




#FinnickWatch2012: Has Garret Auditioned for Finnick?

POSSIBLY! Today's Finnick rumor is brought to you by once again, laineygossip.com who claims:


I’m told that Hedlund auditioned for the part of Finnick in Catching Fire for director Francis Lawrence about 10 days ago. It went very well. No final decisions yet but interest in Armie Hammer seems to have waned since Hammer wasn’t as enthusiastic about it as Lawrence was about him. Am told they’re still seeing people. But their priority right now isn’t so much casting as it is about getting the script in better shape.


Source

Very interesting to hear, as ten days ago would put all this "frontrunner" hubbub around the exact same time as Garret allegedly auditioned. Remember folks, this is all heresay. Nothing will be confirmed until the Finnick casting is announced. 





Monday, June 4, 2012

The Mockingjay Mockup: Part I Overview


Welcome back to The Mockingjay Mockup!! If you are just coming to the party you can read all about what our new series entails HERE. For those of you who want the short version, here it is: Tiffany and I (Courtney) thought it would be super nifty if we mapped out the plot structure of splitting Mockingjay into two parts. We really think to not split this into two movies would compromise the integrity of the book, so we researched our butts off and now we are proud to present our weekly series: The Mockingjay Mockup!

Screenwriting 101


To kick off we thought we'd give a little mini lesson about movie structure. BASIC movie structure. Mockingjay is a very complex story alone with multiple storylines and relationships, so it is possible that when the initial drafts are written, they could very well be following an entirely different structure than the one we are following. But we had to map Mockingjay using some kind of model, so we stuck with the basic so as to not confuse ourselves into oblivion.

As you can see from our fancy shmancy graph, we got a three act structure going on, with three major plot points:

Act One
-Turning Point I

Act Two
-Midpoint

Act Three
-Turning Point II

Turning point I is an event that defines what will happen in act 2. The midpoint is often a "no going back" situation, a call to action, or changes the perspective of the rest of the story. Turning point II is what's sometimes called "hero's darkest hour", at any case a definite setback. While there's more than just these to movie structure, we're not going to go into too much detail so as not to bore you guys to tears. But please, allow me one more important point! Just a little ways into the first act, there is a certain event called the Inciting Incident. This is basically the event that sends the entire movie into motion. For example, The Hunger Games Inciting Incident would be when Prim gets reaped. We've only plotted this in Part I since Part II is a continuation, thus no I.I. is needed.

Overview of Mockingjay Part I



Next time on The Mockingjay Mockup we will start filling in the gaps and talk about the importance of these events and what purpose they serve in movie structure. But most importantly, we will also talk about what event that splits the books, and why it's the best way to go. Stay tuned!

The Mockingjay Mockup Introduction

MTV Movie Awards Wrap Up!


Well, the Welcome To District 12 twitter party was a fun time for all, and we thank everyone for the retweets! Beer and brisket was had, and oh one little thing...


THE HUNGER GAMES WON FOUR MOVIE AWARDS!!

That's right! Hunger Games won the most out of anybody which seems like a very awesome start to this new franchise. They took away Best Female Performance, Best Male Performance, Best Fight and Best On-Screen Transformation! HUZZAH!

Since it was such a big press event, naturally we have some cool things to show you!

First off, here is the hilarious short that Jennifer Lawrence appeared in with one of our favorite comedians, Joel McHale:




Get More: MTV Shows


A +, MTV Movie Awards. A+.

Next up, turns out Josh had some cool things to say about meeting with Francis Lawrence:
"I sat down with him a couple of days ago," Hutcherson told me at the MTV Movie Awards. "He's fantastic. He's such a smart guy. He has some great ideas for the movie.
"I just really like where his head is at," he continued. "I really like him a lot."
Most of their chat focused on Peeta.
"We talked about character development in the stories," Hutcherson said. "As you know, the second book is more complicated than the first, so we talked about the narrative. Everything he said was super smart."
Source: E! Online

Here are some random pictures from our twitter party:
Denise offers Katniss hummus on a Peeta chip. GET IT?!!?
Tiffany poses with brisket and beer!

Shenanigans during the commercial break






Sunday, June 3, 2012

The Lost Hunger Games Audition Tapes

Elizabeth Banks spoke with MTV about all the characters that were cut from The Hunger Games and the actors that could have played them. These are their audition tapes:



#MTVHungerGames TWITTER PARTY FEST!!

Today's the day! The MTV Movie Awards are upon us and Welcome To District 12 is hosting a shindig of epic proportions! We will be tweeting up a storm around 8 PST, which is when red carpet begins for us in Los Angeles. We've put a fancy Twitter widget right here to psyche fans up and tweet pictures of the party we're having as it happens.

So please, drop us a line by tweeting us @WTOD12, and may the odds be ever in your favor when it comes to trying to score those Hunger Games prize packs by tweeting #MTVHungerGames and #HungerGamesDVD.

WELCOME TO DISTRICT 12 Twitter (Courtney)
Tiffany's Twitter

[Twitter widget removed since the awards are over!] 

MTV Movie Awards: Jennifer Lawrence Has Something Up Her Sleeve!!

What's going on here? How the hell should we know? Watch the MTV Movie Awards Sunday at 9EST/8 Central/9PST!

That old adage about a picture being worth a thousand words is particularly appropriate for this sneak peek of "Hunger Games" star Jennifer Lawrence's appearance in a short film set to debut during the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday (June 3).
The photo clearly shows Lawrence with an arrow through her head, and given her unimpressed, annoyed expression when the pic was snapped, she doesn't look too pleased about the situation. But not to worry: The arrow through her head is all for the sake of Movie Awards comedy, for which Lawrence was totally game.
MTV News recently caught up with Movie Awards short film producer Jordan Rubin to get the behind-the-scenes scoop about how Lawrence came to be involved.
"The idea generated from this year being the year of archery," Rubin said. "Archery has really come back in a big way, so it seemed like a good thing to do as a jumping-off point for some comedy.
"You have 'The Hunger Games,' Jeremy Renner [as Hawkeye] in 'Avengers,' 'Game of Thrones,' 'Snow White and the Huntsman,' also 'Brave' is coming out," Rubin added. "It's good comedy fodder, and Jen totally got it. We were so happy she made time."

According to Rubin, the short film revolves around an archery coach who is not necessarily liked by a lot of people in the industry. It features Joel McHale and a cameo from Lawrence.
"[Lawrence] was really funny and gave us a lot of different options and was great at the comedy," Rubin said.
Head over to MovieAwards.MTV.com to vote for your favorite flicks now! The 21st annual MTV Movie Awards air live tomorrow at 9 p.m. ET.
Source

HEAD OVER TO THIS POST TO SEE THE SHORT!

Friday, June 1, 2012

MTV Movies Awards: The Hunger Games Twitter Party

Sunday night, it's time to party, Tribute style!

The official Twitter account for The Hunger Games (@TheHungerGames) will be hosting a Twitter Party during the MTV Movie Awards! You can follow along with the hashtag #MTVHungerGames and tweet along while watching the main event.

They will also be giving away two awesome Hunger Games DVD prize packs to fans who host their own Twitter parties with their friends. How awesome is that! To do so, you can get a group of friends together to watch the show, and tweet photos of your Twitter party to #MTVHungerGames and #HungerGamesDVD for a chance to win. You can bet your Welcome to District 12 staff will be having our own Twitter party!

Watch the 2012 MTV Movie Awards on Sunday June 3rd at 9pm ET/PT on MTV. 

Don't forget to vote for The Hunger Games which has been nominated in multiple categories, including Best Movie! Also don't forget to #VoteKatniss for Best Hero!

The Mockingjay Mockup























While everyone has been chatting up a storm about the upcoming release of Catching Fire, we (Courtney and Tiffany) have been researching and discussing something that is in depths of everyone's minds: Will Mockingjay be split into two parts? To this, we happily answer "DEAR GOD, YES!"

We truly believe that putting Mockingjay as one film would without a doubt ruin the integrity of the final chapter of The Hunger Games. It is just completely impossible to do it justice without splitting the book into two films.

In our experience we have come across many individuals who have claimed that it does not warrant the split, one of the reason because "not enough happens". To these people we say, READ IT AGAIN! Go ahead, write down every exciting scene that occurs: every action scene, everything important to the overall arc of the trilogy. We dare you! Because guess what? You bet your tesserae we've done that and then some. We have analyzed every occuring event, what they might take out, what they might put in, and what storylines need to be addressed. Mockingjay is a complex book, and believe it or not, we had to map out part 2 TWICE just to get it right.

So we thought before Mockingjay discussions began, we wanted to set the record straight and hopefully convince those naysayers out there why Mockingjay MUST be split. I mean, who complains about getting an extra film?

So keep an eye out in the upcoming weeks for our new series of posts that we have dubbed, "THE MOCKINGJAY MOCKUP".

-Courtney & Tiffany

#FinnickWatch2012 UPDATE: Is it Armie?

Hold on to your knickers, girls and boys, the rumor mill has just spit out a doozy.

E! News reported the other day that Taylor Kitsch, Garrett Hedlund, and Armie Hammer were on the short list to play Finnick in Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games. Multiple sources tell me that Armie Hammer is far and away the first choice of director Francis Lawrence. That if it were up to him and “if he could start tomorrow with his dream cast, Armie would be Finnick”. At press time, nothing is final. And besides, a lot of people think this might not be the best career move for Hammer anyway. I spoke with a few talent agents who said they’d hesitate before recommending it because it ties him up for two pictures and ‘the question is whether or not he still needs to “break out”. It depends on how you see Armie’s career’.
Source

 While it is exciting that he may be Lawrence's first choice, there are many factors at work that need to be considered on Armie's side that still remains to be seen. Don't get too excited, Armie fans! This is still just a rumor and nothing is official until Lionsgate confirms.

Tee Fury Alert! The Three Finger Salute


Our favorite t-shirt site, TeeFury.com has released another Hunger Games shirt!

It's $10 and only available for 20 more hours!!

CLICK HERE TO BUY