Character Piece: Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) In The Hunger Games
As Shailene Woodley continues to fight the good fight in The Divergent Series: Allegiant, we look back at the character that was an undeniable influence upon her.
Since the Hunger Games franchise kicked off, these films – 2012’s The Hunger Games, 2013’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, 2014’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, and now The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 – have become much more than just simple movies to their loyal army of fans.
Based on Suzanne Collins’ hugely popular books, they carry messages of hope and self-determination, and stand as a plea for decency and equality in the face of oppression, with their ugly, dystopian world a frightening mirror image of our own. Their bow-and-arrow wielding heroine, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), meanwhile, has become an aspirational figurehead for young girls high on her innate strength and fierce brand of self-possession.
Though a number of young performers rumbled for the role, it famously went to Jennifer Lawrence, the Oscar nominated star of the acclaimed 2010 indie, Winter’s Bone, who had turned heads with her stunning, full-bodied turn as Ree Dolly, a tenacious Missouri teenager who goes on a life-threatening odyssey to protect her family.
“When I saw Winter’s Bone, I was pretty sure that this was the girl,” director, Gary Ross – who helmed the first Hunger Games, but handed over the reins for the remaining entries to Francis Lawrence – told FilmInk in 2012. “When I met with her, I was more sure, and then when she auditioned, there was just no doubt in my mind. In fact, if it hadn’t been Jen, I don’t know what I would have done. I didn’t have a second choice. Someone like Jennifer Lawrence only comes by once a generation. She’s that special.”
Jennifer Lawrence and Katniss Everdeen helped kick-start a mini-revolution when it comes to cinema itself. Though The Twilight Saga launched today’s current craze of adapting Young Adult fiction for the screen, it was The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen and Jennifer Lawrence that proved two things: that there was a large audience for female action heroes, and that a female performer could carry a major franchise.
Tellingly, while male-driven Young Adult action series (and potential series) have performed solidly (The Maze Runner) and disappointingly (Ender’s Game), those with females at their centre have engaged with audiences on a far greater level. The Divergent series – which continues this week with Allegiant – undeniably owes much to the frightening world of The Hunger Games and its defiant heroine.
The role of Katniss Everdeen is certainly a once-in-a-lifetime one, and Jennifer Lawrence truly made it her own. How did the actress feel when she shot her final on the Hunger Games franchise? “Oh my God, it was awful,” the actress shrieks. “We were really crying, and then Josh and Liam and I just held each other for three hours. It was really sad.
But I kept my hunting jacket, my leather jacket, and my boots, and I’m working on getting my bow back,” she laughs. “I’m not relieved that it’s finished. We’ve finished, but I don’t feel finished. I love doing these movies. I’m sad to not have them to go back to. And as for acting, I couldn’t do anything else. That’s what keeps me sane. It’s the only thing that I can do, and I would not be happy if I wasn’t doing it unless I have to do it. So whatever comes with that – whatever bad things – was just meant to be, because I can’t not be acting.”
