Nina Jacobson teases Epilogue

Today, producer Nina Jacobson teased the filming of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2's epilogue at sunrise.

With what is probably one of the last pickups of the movie, filming is really winding down for the movies. We've got high hopes for these feels-inducing final moments of the movie.

35 Totally Rad Facts from the Mockingjay Part 1 Special Features

HAPPY MOCKINGJAY PART 1 BLU-RAY RELEASE DAY!!!

We hope you all are already enjoying your Mockingjay Part 1 Blu-Ray/DVDs today and whether you are enjoying it by yourself or with friends, we hope it's a RAD experience. The special features in particular are the best that's ever been released so we really want to encourage you guys to enjoy the Making Of documentary and/or the audio commentary from Francis and Nina.

If you don't plan on buying your own and you live in the US remember you guys can enter our giveaways on Instagram and/or our Blu-Ray review page.

Also, if you DO have the Blu-Ray and want to know how to access the easter egg, you can check that out HERE.

The Special Features on the Blu-Ray are VERY informative and for the lazy, but really because we felt like it, we've compiled a list of the most awesome tidbits of info we learned from watching the documentary and the audio commentary. Enjoy!



1. Julianne Moore read the books and sought out the role of Coin specifically.

2.  Mockingjay Part 1 & 2 were filmed all at once.

3. Julianne Moore is a big reason why Coin will have such a drastic character arc in the films.

4. The machines in the control room and other places in District 13 are NASA inspired.

5. Sets for the most part are 100% real, only the extensions are blue screen.

6. Francis went out of the way to make sure the film did not look digital by using smoke, soft lighting, and old lenses.

7. The Bunker staircase is mostly real and pretty long. They built a whole structure to hold it outside the studio, and only the very bottom of it is green screen to extend the effect further.

8. The Bunker set had 100+ real beds installed to add depth to the bombing scene.

9. The Art Department grew 8,000-10,000 plants for the District 13 Hydroponics Department, which isn’t even in the final cut of the film.

10. Wes Chatham and Elden Henson created their own form of sign language, which can be seen in the background of certain scenes.

11. Robert Knepper who plays Antonius is Production Designer Phil Messina’s neighbor.

12. Kurt & Bart wanted to steer away from a superhero look and more of a soldier look for the Mockingjay outfit.

13. The Mockingjay outfit breastplate is actually an iridescent blue referencing a Mockingjay’s wings.

14. The Mockingjay outfit inspiration stems from Japanese archers.

15. The Mockingjay outfit wings were modeled like armor and hold the quiver in place.

16. Cinna’s sketchbook is actually the Kurt & Bart's conceptual design for the Mockingjay outfit.

17. 80-90 prosthetic charred corpses were made for the District 12 scenes.

18. Extensive prosthetic makeup for all the extras in the District 8 hospital scene was such a large scale that it required an exorbitant amount of organization.

19. The Make-Up department worried about the rating of the film due to some prosthetic pieces being so gory.

20. The Hanging Tree scene was shot in an actual Quarry to reflect it taking place in District 12.

21. Half of the District 8 action sequence was shot in Atlanta, half in Germany. The shots inside the factory take place in Germany.

22. 28 giant loom machines were flown in from India for the District 8 factory scenes in Germany.

23. In order to achieve a realistic hovercraft physical effect, a craft was built and suspended by a crane with the actors inside. This part of the documentary is actually really fascinating and a little suspenseful. We HIGHLY recommend seeing it for yourself.

24. For the Tribute Center rescue scene, stuntmen repelled down the entire 500 feet of the Marriot hotel. Mahershala and Liam repelled down the last 100 feet to achieve the full effect.

25. Jennifer’s take of The Hanging Tree on set is the actual version they used.

26. A quote from Alfred Hitchcock inspired Francis Lawrence to move the split to one with some sort of resolution.

27. The beginning of Mockingjay Part 1 originally started with Katniss’ walk through District 12 like the book

28. The research for District 13 came from past contained civilizations.

29. It was only 10 degrees in the first Hangar scene with Jennifer, Mahershala, and Liam.

30. There were 2 Buttercups: One that was good for holding and one for action such as the crazy cat scene.

31. A blooper reel of Part 1 exists…. somewhere.

32. The first Peeta interview scene originally took place in Coin's office.

33. The VFX team responsible for making Chris Evans skinny in Captain America is the same they used for Peeta and Johanna’s tortured looks.

34. Katniss intervening the broadcast to lure in President Snow was Suzanne Collins' idea.

35. Before the split moved, Katniss in the hospital with the neck brace was to be the first scene in Mockingjay Part 2.

Mockingjay Cast Interview MEGAPOST

There are a LOT of interviews with almost everyone from the cast/crew of Mockingjay! Thanks to our friends from JabberJays.net and QuarterQuell.org for all of these!


Jennifer Lawrence:


Check out interviews with Josh, Natalie, Donald, Elizabeth, Liam, Francis Lawrence and A TON MORE after the jump!

Hunger Games Ice Bucket Challenge

Our friends at Panem Propaganda nominated a few members of our Hunger Games family for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

And guess what! Some have answered the call, donating AND getting an ice bucket dumped on them.

Francis Lawrence:

He nominated our boys Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson and Sam Claflin.

Nina Jacobson:

She challenged Jennifer Lawrence, Jena Malone and Natalie Dormer.

And while not tagged by Panem Propaganda, we have a couple of other Hunger Games actors doing the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Liam Hemsworth:



Liam nominated Josh Hutcherson and Woody Harrelson.

Willow Shields:

Julianne Moore:

Elizabeth Banks:

Alexander Ludwig:

If we see anymore, we will update this post.

Props to Panem Propaganda for starting the nominations, you guys are awesome. It's a great cause, and we love seeing our fandom involved.

Mockingjay Has Wrapped Fliming in Atlanta!

As confirmed by a tweet from producer Nina Jacobson, Mockingjay is officially done filming in Atlanta! The cast and crew are now probably heading to Europe (Berlin maybe???) to finish filming!



Filming is ALMOST OVER, you guys! What scenes do you think they're still yet to film?

@NinaJacobson on Twitter

Waiting for Mockingjay: The Calm Before The Storm

Click for high res

      So guys, I feel like I need to get real here. I've often talked about how The Hunger Games has changed my life and of course all the epic opportunities I've had that comes with running this site. So why did I feel the need to desperately connect with all you lovely folks online in the first place? Reading The Hunger Games trilogy CHANGED ME. But really, it was Mockingjay. Mockingjay is the reason I love this series as much as I do, and if it were up to me I wouldn't change a single word.

     It's possible you've noticed this site's devotion to the third book, as seen in our Mockingjay Mockup. After reading Mockingjay in the double digits, it became clear that Mockingjay was most deserving of splitting into two. The way Suzanne writes is constantly on the move, and so much happens in such a small amount of pages. This is why we wrote the Mockingjay Mockup so we could convince others not only should this happen, but if it did why it was a GOOD thing.

     So here we are at long last waiting patiently for Mockingjay details to come to light. Here's what has come out this past week:

As you guys may know, they have been filming Mockingjay Part 1 & 2 in Atlanta. (If you leave nearby and wanna be an extra, check out CL Casting "Untitled Trilogy" ) So excited to see that Crazy Cat made the cut!

Today, a GREAT article from Variety was released about the upcoming Mockingjay films. Here are some cool tidbits from the article:

Some opportunities when new Mockingjay material might get released:

There will be reveals of the campaign in May at the Cannes film festival and in July at Comic-Con. Until then, Lionsgate is trying to keep specifics under wraps, though director Lawrence allows that the next two films take place in a Panem so devolved as to be barely recognizable.

The fact that Erik Feig is comparing The Hunger Games to Star Wars is a huge sign to me that Lionsgate execs have the right idea about this franchise.

“Not since Luke Skywalker shot into the Death Star has one person had that kind of impact in a franchise film,” asserts Lionsgate production president Erik Feig. “What I really love about how (the 23-year-old Lawrence) plays that character is that Katniss is larger than life and yet she wears her emotions in a very relatable way. She’s not a superhero by any stretch — she’s all too human in the face of extreme conditions — and she faces them with the presence of mind that we all wish we had.” 

Producer Nina Jacobson adds that thematically, the film strikes a nerve with auds. “I was reading a New York Times article on the set about economic inequality, and it made me feel as if we’re becoming more like Panem each year,” she asserts. “The similarities are striking.”

EPIC DETAILS ABOUT INTERNATIONAL FILMING LOCATIONS!!

Lionsgate has even booked Berlin’s massive Templehof Airport — built in 1927, reconstructed by the Nazis as a symbol of supremacy, and closed six years ago — and huge apartment complexes outside Paris for shooting battle scenes. Feig allows that part of the inspiration came from Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” his cinematic recounting of the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam. 

“Kubrick shot the siege in London,” Feig notes. “In a weird way, we love the idea of urban sprawl. So we (looked for) big buildings that have been around forever. We kept coming back to classic war movies, and we started thinking we should look into Europe.” 

Producer Jon Kilik says the “Mockingjay” films mean Lionsgate is moving to the next level. “We are trying to create the reality of a future that’s rooted in the past,” he notes, adding that shooting in Hawaii for “Catching Fire” added to the film’s spectacle. “Those locations are extra-special, and it’s a real reach financially for them,” Kilik says.

That last piece of information is a doozy. Add this to the fact that Mockingjay is Francis Lawrence's favorite, and what an amazing job he did with Catching Fire in a short time frame, all signs point to a great marketing campaign and great films that will respect the book. I can't believe how lucky we are to have these fine people working on this precious trilogy and honoring it how I had always hoped for.

Check out the full Variety article HERE

Catching Fire Variety Roundup!

EXCLUSIVE:‘Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ Cast Photos

Photo by Tim Palen

"...Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen is such a fierce and noble hero..." - Lionsgate Marketing Chief Tim Palen

View the rest of the gallery (with bonus commentary from Tim Palen) here

‘Hunger Games’: Can ‘Catching Fire’ Burn Brighter Than the Original?
Here are some highlights:

In the upcoming “Catching Fire,” Katniss returns for another fight to the death after her Hunger Games victory has sparked a rebellion in the Districts of Panem.

“She really is the reluctant hero,” Lawrence says of her character. “She’s brave, but she’s also scared, and she knows that things may wind up being far worse.”

“She’s not a diva — she’s the anti-diva,” she says of Lawrence. “One of my favorite moments is where she has the wedding dress on for the interview (scene) in ‘Catching Fire.’ It’s a big cumbersome dress, and she fell down, so we played that over and over on the monitors. There’s such a lack of pretense with Jen; she’s more than happy to laugh at herself.”

Read the whole article here

Suzanne Collins Breaks Silence to Support ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’

“I’m thrilled with the work Tim Palen and his marketing team have done on the film,” Collins told Variety via email. “It’s appropriately disturbing and thought-provoking how the campaign promotes ‘Catching Fire’ while simultaneously promoting the Capitol’s punitive forms of entertainment. The stunning image of Katniss in her wedding dress that we use to sell tickets is just the kind of thing the Capitol would use to rev up its audience for the Quarter Quell (the name of the games in “Catching Fire”). That dualistic approach is very much in keeping with the books.

Read the whole article here

Photo by Tim Palen

Photo by Tim Palen

Photo by Tim Palen

Photo by Tim Palen

Photo by Tim Palen

Variety

MTV's Josh Horowitz on the Black Carpet!

We've embedded 7 interviews with Josh Horowitz from MTV! We love him over here so the fact that he got Liam and Josh to talk about Mockingjay is so exciting!

(Hint: Click "Stop Countdown" after the video to avoid autoplay)

Jennifer Lawrence:

Liam Hemsworth:

More after the cut!