December 19, 2008

The Hunger Games

This is one of the best books I've read in a while! While it is aimed for the young adult market, it is suprisingly mature and well wrote. This is one I wouldn't be surprised to see made into a movie and would do very well as a movie. It is the first in a trilogy, but stands well on its own.


Barnes and Noble - "In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival."



Dramatis Personae

From District 12

Samantha Droke as Katniss Everdeen- The narrator of the story and the female tribute from District 12. At age 16, Katniss volunteers to enter the 74th Hunger Games after her sister is chosen to be a Tribute. Her father died in a mine explosion; since then, Katniss has become the primary supporter of her mother and younger sister. She gets food by hunting illegally in the forest outside District 12. Because of this, Katniss has strong survivalist instincts, and is a wonderful archer. Katniss has straight black hair, which she normally pulls back into a long braid, olive skin, and gray eyes. She scored an eleven on the survival test.

Michael Welch as Peeta Mellark- The male tribute from District 12. He is the son of the town's baker, and has two older brothers. On live television, Peeta first confesses his lifelong love of Katniss, having had a crush on her since the time he first heard her sing when they were five years old. He is skilled at camouflaging and baking. He's also a wrestler and lifts weights by carrying 50 pound flour bags. Peeta is of medium height, has a stocky build, "ashy blond hair that falls in waves over his forehead", and blue eyes. scored an 8 on the survival test

Alfred Molina as Haymitch -As of the beginning of the book, he is the only living District 12 winner of the Hunger Games. Because of this, he assumes the role of mentor for both of District 12's tributes. Haymitch is, until Peeta and Katniss force him to sober up, a drunk, because of years of training hopeless tributes. He is described as paunchy and middle-aged. During the Games, he "speaks" to Katniss through his giving of gifts, or lack thereof, though he does not do this for Peeta. Katniss finds herself in dislike of Haymitch, but Peeta says that it is only because they are so alike.

Cheryl Hines as Effie Trinket -The Capitol's "representative" to District 12. She is very unhappy with her post because District 12 is the poorest of the districts, and she wishes to be moved to a better District. This results in her consistently making horrible remarks to Katniss and Peeta, while thinking she is being polite. Effie is almost always bright and bubbly, has a "scary" white grin, and wears a bright pink wig.


Talon Torriero as Gale- Katniss's best friend, whom she met while hunting in the forest four years ago (as of the first book). Gale is the oldest child in his family, and also feels responsible for feeding his two brothers and sister. Katniss thinks Gale can have any girl he wants, which she can tell "by the way girls whisper when he walks by in school." Gale has strong opinions about the Capitol, which he often voices to Katniss in the safety of the woods, and which cause him to have a distaste for those who are better off. He has black hair, olive skin, and gray eyes.

Ryan Simpkins as Primrose Everdeen- Katniss Everdeen's sister. She is, against all odds, picked as the female tribute from District 12 at her first reaping, but Katniss volunteers in her place. Prim is described as being very pretty, with a face "fresh as a raindrop, as lovely as the primrose for which she was named." She has a goat named Lady, which her sister got for her, and a cat named Buttercup. Katniss sees that many people have a fondness for her, genuinely liking her. Prim has light hair and blue eyes, unlike most citizens of District 12.


From Other Districts

Jared Leto as Cinna- Katniss's stylist. Cinna, in comparison to the majority of Capitol residents, looks very normal and natural: his hair is "close cropped" and "appears to be its natural shade of brown", and he has green eyes. He requested the lowest District, though as of now, it is not known why. Throughout the novel, he becomes good friends with Katniss.



Elle Fanning as Rue-The female tribute from District 11. She is twelve years old and has dark brown skin and eyes and is about Prim's, Katniss' younger sister, size. She is given a 7 by the Gamekeepers on her survival skills. She is very knowledgable on plants, showing Katniss the leaves that will draw out Tracker Jacker poison, as well as Mockingjays, whom she loves to sing to. She can also jump from tree to tree.


Jesse Plemons as Cato- The male tribute of District 2 and a Career. His age is unknown. He received a 10 from the Gamemakers. He is large and vicious and is excellant with a sword and spear, as well as being very strong.





Danielle Panabaker as Foxface -She is the female tribute for District 5. Her age, real name, and score is unknown. Foxface is a nickname Katniss gives her. She has red hair. She is very clever and craftly, relying on stealing food from other tributes to survive. ßPin It

45 comments:

Kotter and Fielding Productions said...

Wow. I absolutely loved The Hunger Games as well, and your choices are perfect. Your choices for Peeta, Effie, Gale, Primrose, Cinna, Cato, Foxface -- they were all perfect! Very well done.

Lavandula said...

I can not wait for this movie. I'm just hoping they stay true to the book!

Anonymous said...

My Pick for Katnis:

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm863275776/nm3160727

My pick for peeta is also mike welch!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE your casting especially for Haymitch!
well i dont like the Katniss one but only because im trying to suppress my dreams for playing her in the movie...ehh they'll kill me one day
but other than that BRAVO BRAVO!!!

Unknown said...

all of them are pretty good, especially prim and rue, they're adorable! the only thing is peeta (whom i have a crush on...hehe ;]) i would pick lucas till for him, ashy blonde hair, blue eyes, very white teeth, and a little bit stocky is how they describe him in the book.

Anonymous said...

some people were ok here is who i would pick
jeremy sumpter-Peeta
missy peregrym-katniss
adam lambert-gale
elle fanning-prim
saoirse ronan-rue
kristin chenoweth-effie
randy quaid-haymitch
sara paxton-glimmer
hayden pannetiere-clove
sebastian stan-cato
hayley williams-avox girl
that is all i casted

Anonymous said...

Michael Welch??? HAHAHA!

My Peeta is Alex Pettyfer.

Unknown said...

Yes, yes I agree with the previous post! Pick Alex!!!!!!

kathrynnnnnn said...

yesssss this is perfectttttttt for pretty much everyone!!!!! amazing!
but..
i don't really like rue's choice, maybe someone like abagail breslin or someone that's undiscovered yet a good actress.
i also think adam lambert from american idol would make a great cinna. he has the acting expierience, and as far as i can tell is good at it.
i really really like the choice of michael for peeta. didn't even think of it, and he's a great actor.

Anonymous said...

I like them all, except for Peeta, I think it be Alex, other than that, perfect!

Mrs. Snape said...

my pick for katniss would be Andriane Eleni Rellou
http://c1.endoora.com/Andriane_Eleni_Rellou/
She's like perfect for that part, and I asked my friends and they agreed :D

Anonymous said...

I heard Suzanne Collins was writting the senario so I guess it will be a good movie...
I'd like unknown people to play in the movie...would be better I think. But you have good picks thought.

carolinagirl74 said...

I LOVE your cast. I am not sure about Peeta, though. But, I don't like any picks for him. He needs to have a rounder face, I think. They would have to die Rue's hair. Adam Lambert is my favorite, though. He is definitely better than the Neil Patrick Harris, who other sites are suggesting. I love them all!

carolinagirl74 said...

Adam Lambert as Cinna. NOT Gale. He's too feminine for Gale.

Unknown said...

all perfect except for rue! tue has brown skin and dark brown hair :)) but other than that, i think its all good. btw, are these real actors or are some of them like your friends?

Anonymous said...

i think the Katniss you picked looks kind of old...and no for Peeta and Gale..sorry, i know, every one has their own image of what the characters look like.

This is what I think...

Katniss: Kaya Scodelario
Peeta: Jason Dolley
Gale: Vince Thomas

This is just how i imagined them. She described Peeta with waves of hair just above his blue eyes. Didnt she? When ever i read the book, these are the main people i picture. I dont know why...

Hilary Sweet said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hilary Sweet said...

I think that the casting group is great but I would change Katniss to someone like Samantha Daniell or Dakota Fanning. If you dye eather of the girls hair a chocolate brown, they would be perfect. I wish I could be in this movie but I have no experience. Also like Bailey had said Lucas Till would be a great Peeta. The girls would fall in love with him which would bring a much bigger crowd. Anyway great work.

Chris said...

My pick for katniss is Alexa vega, my pick for peeta would be this hot dude in my gym class lol, haymitch would be Vince Vaughn(not really I hate him), for Effie definantly Meryl Streep! Katnis mom sandra bullock and Abigail Breslin As prim. No no jk I like your choices. Except I really do like Alexa vega as katniss just saying

Katniss said...

I don't really love your Katniss choice. My Katniss choice is actress Shelby Young.

She's the perfect age, is a very good actress but is still "unkown" enough not to make the film all "Hollywood-ish" if you know what I mean.

I made a photo album dedicated to her as Katniss... I'm going to do that with other characters too. Here's the link: http://s1018.photobucket.com/albums/af301/thehungergamesxx/katniss/

The second picture in that album just SCREAMS Katniss to me. Like, right after a fight with another Tribute. So yeah, ch-ch-check it on out :-)

Jill Chipley said...

ok, so the girl u want to play katniss has no eyebrows. great. I want someone new (like maybe me) to play her. and rue is BLACK. not some white little girl. Even in ur description u say dark brown skin. Way to be racist :) and im not black, im white so meh. Umm, for peeta i would chose the guy from the hannah montana movie. he was yummy. and for gale? thats a little harder, but not the guy you chose. he looks too old. but all the others look like i imagined them, so kudos to u.

Anonymous said...

(not trying to be imodest, but i think I would be a fantastic pick for Katniss, I'm the same age range, i hav the experience, and i am an unknown actress, which is what a lot of people think Katniss should be, before you disagree, check out my page on ourfilmspace.com

http://www.ourfilmspace.com/profile/KatherineOConnor

Anonymous said...

katniss-Daveigh Chase
peeta- william moseley
haymitch- liam neeson
prim- elle fanning
rue- sydney park
gale-taylor lautner
avox girl- amy davidson
madge- sarah paxton

Anonymous said...

okay a lot of the people you are choosing are really out of the age range, and i agree with the anonymous person the second above me, she totally looked perfect for the part of Katniss.

DB7thhonors said...

Except for Jared Leto (Amanda PB sends her love; she even spelled your name right), your choices are less than stellar. Good choices coming.

Dr. Brown's 7th period 9th Honors Lit class

Anonymous said...

I think Kaya Scodelario is perfect for Katniss and Hugh Dancy for Cinna. The others are quite okay. Watch my casting video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El47xpTl0_c
I'm so excited about the film!

Olivia P. said...

You guys seem to be forgetting that Rue is supposed to be African-American. Katniss describes her as having "dark eyes and satiny brown skin". So you may want to fix that one

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I did like your casting!
But my Peeta is kind of a younger Patrick Wolf! xP

And I don't know why it happened to be like that, but my Cinna i Robert Pattinson! xD I totally hate him, but he got stuck in my head as Cinna while I read...

Anonymous said...

I loved your choices for Effie, Prim and Cinna especially. They were ALL great. I think that James Lafferty should play Gale.

Anonymous said...

uh HELLO! RUE IS BLACK! or at least she has dark skin and dark hair.

Rue doesn't LOOK like Prim, she just REMINDS Katniss of Prim because of her age and slight build.

How did you people miss this? Elle Fanning, Pshhaw...

p.125: "Thresh, has the same dark skin as Rue"

p.98: "She has bright, dark eyes and satiny brown skin..."

How did so many people miss that???

Anonymous said...

Because we're not all angry little women like yourself and just tried to enjoy the story. take a chill pill missy.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I guess in this day and age "relaxing and enjoying the story" means completely overlooking a significant class/racial subtext in the book. And not actally reading, i.e. selectively ignoring those passages that contradict your "everybody's a hot (white) model in this book" imaginings of things. Yay, youth of America. Turn off your TV's, throw out your trashy superficial magazines and PAY ATTENTION. Authors put things in books for a REASON. Do them the favor, if you like their writing, of NOTICING.

That Insane American said...

Uhh, you casting is all wrong! Especially for the female characters.

Katniss is supposed to have BLACK hair with OLIVE skin. Not CHESTNUT hair with PALE skin.

Rue is dark skinned with dark haur, not blonde and pale.

Prim is 12. And the girl you have looks 6.

MsJess said...

seriously annoys me every time people try to cast a white girl to play Rue.

Anonymous said...

THE HUNGER GAMES IS AWESOME!!!
Katniss Everdeen: Elizabeth Gillies. I think she makes a good Katniss because she can sing well and we can dye her hair and change her eye colour to make her suit Katniss better.
Peeta Mellark: Alex Pettyfer
Haymitch Abernathy: Hugh Laurie
Rue: Rubina Ali or Yara Shahidi
Effie Trinket: Kristen Chenoweth
I can'r find anyone good enough to be a Gale to me. None of the other actors other people have mantioned aretanned enough or are tall with sexy muscles :)

Anonymous said...

your haymitch is PERFECT. i think that the perfect actress for katnis (sorry if im spelling wrong, i didnt read i in englisg) is missy peregrym,i was really surprised to see a commant of someone who thinks like me! and elle fanning would be a great prim. abagail breslin is my rue, i think she's perfect for her.

Anonymous said...

Missy Peregrym is way to old to play 16 year-old Katniss. Missy is in her mid-to-late twenties. Anyway, Katniss is also supposed to be small and slender, and Missy is the complete opposite of that.

I have to say, I disagree with most of your casting. BUt a few of them you got right on the nose, in my opinion. :D Someone said that Elle Fanning is too young - you must have seen an older picture of her. She's 11 now.

Hunger Games Fan said...

Two things:

1) Great choices for Cato amd Effie.

2) If you've been looking for hunger games trivia try this: Hunger Games Trivia and Quizzes at FunTrivia.com

Kimberly Lim said...

Hey, now that you mentioned it, I totally agree to mike welch! But, he needs to work out to look tough for the arena. Right? As for Katniss, your choice is fine, but I also consider Camilla Belle.

Anonymous said...

no way. michael welch is 30. GET A YOUNG PERSON TO PLAY THEM! thats how they screwed up the twilight movies! by picking a 23 year old to play 17 year old!

Anonymous said...

that one girl up there "anonymous" was perfect in her choices, william mosely perfect for peeta.

Alley said...

I disagree with Alex Pettyfer as Peeta. However... he does have a place in THG. I don't have a preference for Katniss, but I do for a few other characters.

Callan McAuliffe- Peeta Mellark
Ethan Peck- Gale Hawthorne
Kristin Chenoweth- Effie Trinket
Sienna Guillory- Mother Everdeen
Bonnie Wright- Foxface
Hugh Laurie- Haymitch
Alex Pettyfer- Finnick Odair
Yara Shahaidi- Rue

It's all I have so far.

Anonymous said...

Seriously. No. Especially Rue. You put up a picture of Elle Fanning next to the description of Rue--from the book--that's the complete opposite. And the rest weren't really spot on, either. Sorry. The annonymous person who listed some ideas above was much more accurate, except for Taylor Lautner. Not a good Gale. I also like the suggestions people made for Elizaeth Gillies and Deveigh Chase for Katniss. To the person who claims that reading for pleasure means you should overlook such details as character descriptions, come on now. Are you just making up your own storyline, too? Let's start thinking about true to age and race actors, at the very least.

Anonymous said...

I think the actors for haymitch and effie are perfect!
but here's what i think the others should be like ;)
Katniss-Elizabeth Gillies. she looks like the kind of person who is mean to people but can be sweet and still kick their ass..like katniss! :D
Gale-Logan Lerman or Drew Roy. hehe theyr both hot. and drew has a stocky build ;)
Peeta-
Prim-elle fanning or the girl from little miss sunshine
Rue-sydney park

Anonymous said...

If you'd complain about a blonde Katniss, then a white Rue should annoy you as well. "Dark brown skin." It's in the book.

 
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