In 'The Hunger Games,' fantasy reflects reality - The Herald | HeraldOnline.com

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In 'The Hunger Games,' fantasy reflects reality - The Herald | HeraldOnline.com Mar 22nd 2012, 18:37 Harry Potter … Bella Swan … Katniss Everdeen? If the bespectacled boy wizard of the "Harry Potter" books and films and the sulky high schooler-turned-vampire-wife of the "Twilight Saga" have long been imprinted in the collective consciousness, is it now time for the teenage heroine of "The Hunger Games" to join them? With the Suzanne Collins book perched atop the children's and young-adult best-seller lists pretty much since its publication in late 2008, and with advance ticket sales for the $100 million Lionsgate film adaptation — opening today— outpacing the inaugural "Harry Potter," there are strong indications that Ms. Everdeen is indeed heading for that rarefied realm of pop iconography. "The film has sold out over 1,000 showtimes," and it represents about three-fourths of ticket sales today, reports Harry Medved of Fandango, the online box-office service. "It's among the top-selling titles on Fandango — ever." But "The Hunger Games," which has its share of fantasy elements, colorfully over-the-top costumes and comically coiffed characters, is in many ways rougher stuff than "Harry Potter" or "Twilight." Collins' books (there are two sequels: "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay") are set in the postapocalyptic ruins of North America, where the capital city of Panem teems with the rich and effete, while many of the outlying 12 districts are home to struggling farmers and coal miners, the hungry, the underclass. And every year, the leaders of each district enter two of its children, a boy and a girl, in the Hunger Games — a nationally televised event in which 24 young "Tributes" fight one another. Fight to the death, until only one remains. Yes, it's kid-lit about the 1 percent vs. the 99, about the weird spectacle of reality TV, about kids killing kids. "There's a sophistication to Suzanne's books," says Wes Bentley, who plays Seneca Crane, the head Gamemaker (think reality-show director) in "The Hunger Games." "In the end, it's about rebellion, government oppression. … And all these kids that are put into the Games, it's not by their choice. It's about survival." In the case of Katniss, played with compelling force by Jennifer Lawrence, it IS a choice: Her younger sister, a pip-squeak in pigtails, is chosen to represent the hard-pressed people of District 12. But Katniss — an ace archer who kills deer and rabbit and squirrel for her family's supper — volunteers to take her place. "It's a human story," says Dayo Okeniyi, the Nigerian-born actor who makes his major-studio debut as Thresh, one of the Tributes favored to win the Games. "Even though it's set in this fantastical world, this surreal future … at its core you are dealing with love and sacrifice and the lengths that you would go to to protect the ones you love. "You can't help but put yourself in the shoes of these characters. You can't help but think, if I were in that situation, would I be as courageous as Katniss? Would I volunteer in my sister's place? If forced to kill or be killed, what would I do?" For Nina Jacobson, the Hollywood veteran who acquired the rights to Collins' trilogy shortly after "The Hunger Games" was published, the mounting anticipation — and hype — are something of a surprise. "I was confident all along that the book deserved" to be a movie," says the producer, reached in London midweek, following "The Hunger Games'" premiere there. "But honestly, everything that has happened in the last two months has exceeded all of my expectations in terms of the amount of excitement that's surrounding it." Jacobson hired Gary Ross, who wrote "Big and directed "Seabiscuit," to work on the screenplay and direct the Lionsgate production — the most expensive in the studio's history. Ross shares the screenplay credit with writer Billy Ray, and with Collins. Jacobson was intent on honoring the author's vision, and Collins was involved at every stage of the production. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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