Francis Lawrence Opens Up About 'Catching Fire' To Hero Complex

Francis Lawrence opens up about The Hunger games: Catching Fire in a new article in LA Times Hero Complex. Read on to hear what he has to say and how he, "really liked the book, and I really wanted to make the book."

The color wasn’t finished. The visual effects were not complete. The score, temporary. Yet those details seemed to be of little consequence to director Francis Lawrence, who chose a fine summer day to open up his edit bay and show off his work in progress, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

While other filmmakers might be stressed over the work to be done on such an eagerly awaited film — let alone the inherent pressure of taking over a beloved franchise — the 42-year-old Austrian director gleefully cued up scene after scene of heroine Katniss Everdeen facing the repercussions of having manipulated a government-sanctioned death match in the first film.

Dressed casually in a blue button-down shirt, jeans and sneakers, Lawrence is relaxed, even a little excited by the footage — a fanboy given the keys to the kingdom.

“I really latched on to the themes of the books overall, and I was excited to grow and create this world and cast new people,” Lawrence said.

When Lawrence was hired to direct, Lionsgate Studio had a hard start date just 20 weeks out. But he felt the original script, commissioned by Ross for writer Simon Beaufoy (“Slumdog Millionaire”), was too far afield from the original “Catching Fire” text. So he and Collins spent a weekend in New York poring over the book, creating an outline of all the moments the duo wanted to hit in the film — the after-effects of war, including the post-traumatic stress suffered by Katniss, her fellow survivor Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) and their mentor Haymitch (Woody Harrelson).

With outline in hand, the pair brought in Oscar-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt to rework the script and invent new scenes that articulate the machinations between Snow and his new gameskeeper, Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Coupled with a $140-million budget (far more than the first film’s $80 million), the result is a film with broader scope and scale that expands on author Collins’ themes and the physical world of Panem. Lawrence is hopeful audiences will respond.

I really liked the book, and I really wanted to make the book. I didn’t want to reinvent,” he said. “There is always some true adaptation to be done when you are distilling a 400-page book to a two-hour movie, but I think everybody will be really excited.”