Jesse George

"The first time that Katniss has to go into the cylinder and she goes up into the arena and looks around and sees it for the first time,” says Lawrence. “Knowing that when that trumpet blows she could die. The thing that’s great about her is she’s not a murderer. She’s a hunter, but she’s not a killer. I told Gary, ‘I totally understand if you don’t hire me, but please remember that after Katniss shoots a bow and kills someone her face cannot be badass. It has to be broken.’ She has to be heartbroken because she just took another person’s life. It’s so tempting, especially with a cool, big budget franchise movie, but we have to remember that she’s a 16-year-old girl who’s being forced to do this. These kids are only killing each other because if they don’t, they’ll die. It’s needless, pointless, unjustified violence. So there’s nothing cool about her. It’s not like she looks around the arena and goes ‘Yeah, I got this, I’m going to do this.’ I think she looks around terrified and thinks, ‘Well there are all the million different ways that I can die."

-Jennifer Lawrence

This quote is the reason I have high hopes for the Hunger Games films. Kinda want to hug Jennifer Lawrence for fighting for the role, and the character of the role. Because this is exactly it. She’s not a badass, and what separates Katniss is that she only kills when it’s her only option. She is a broken girl who spent half her life taking care of her family and now has to try and save her own life in an impossible circumstance, as yet another way of taking care of her family. Against crazy odds. Against 23 potential killers. Against a dictatorship. Against freaking EVERYTHING. While trying to remain true to herself. That first kill, and any others after… they are terrible, for her and everyone. What she does to Cato is so stunning at that moment because it reaffirms who she is, right before the end. It’s what connects her to the world outside the arena, in Panem. It’s what makes her the Mockingjay. AND JENNIFER LAWRENCE GETS IT. I love her.

(via melissaanelli)

(Source: maytheodds, via melissaanelli)