Sam Claflin on 'Catching Fire' - "This saga occupies an important place in the hearts of millions of people."

In a new interview, Sam Claflin spoke with Italian magazine, Grazia, about 'Catching Fire,' Finnick Odair and his friendship with Jennifer Lawrence. And he finally REALLY confirmed the wedding! Congrats Sam and Laura!

He was chosen for one of the most coveted roles in Hollywood and still can't believe it. Sam Claflin will portray Finnick Odair, a key figure in three highly anticipated sequels of the The Hunger Games saga. Not bad for an actor who, in just three years of his career, has starred opposite Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz in Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides, and with Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart in Snow White and the Huntsman. Sam, 27, is perhaps the only movie star who blushes and lowers his eyes when he speaks about himself, however, he does not contain his excitement when we mention his marriage to actress Laura Haddock, one of the protagonists of the series tv Da Vinci's Demons.

We meet him in Los Angeles to talk about the new Hunger Games, and it's only been a week since the wedding. The British actor proudly shows his wedding ring: "I flew in from London for this interview, at the climax of the honeymoon!" He says. "But in the end, it is not so bad to stay a couple of days here in California, on the shores of the ocean."

GRAZIA: When you were chosen for the role of Finnick, the Hunger Games fans unleashed on the internet. Did you expect that?

Sam: "No, I had not the slightest idea of ​​what people were interested in for the casting of  the Hunger Games. Then I started to get messages on Twitter: many congratulations, some negative reactions, some even a little extreme. I was amazed: I discovered that this saga occupies an important place in the hearts of millions of people."

GRAZIA: The main reaction was: surprise ...

SAM: "I was the first to be surprised! Finnick is described in the books as a kind of divinity: he's beautiful, he's a great warrior ...

At the casting, before me, in came a guy, one of the most handsome men I've ever seen. At that point I thought I had no chance. Instead, I had myself underestimated the fact that we actors, by definition, we are able to transform according to the role."

GRAZIA: In fact, you put on a lot of muscle in no time. How did you do it?

SAM: "Chicken and asparagus for three months in a row and hours of daily training. I've always been an athlete, but not a fan of the gym, on the contrary, I always look for an excuse to avoid it ... Now we will shoot the two sequels of the film and for one whole year, I will not have the opportunity to avoid the daily training. My wife will be glad to see me in such good shape."

GRAZIA: What is Jennifer Lawrence like, the star of the "Hunger Games"? Did it go to her head since she won the Oscar?

SAM: "On the contrary, she's a very open girl and likes to make jokes all the time. Jennifer is amazing as an actress and as a person. In recent months she has become a great friend of mine. "

GRAZIA: So it's because you're friends that she said in an interview that you're a very attractive guy?

SAM: "Who, me? (Blushes) It is not true, it was a joke: it's a stereotype that Americans have of us Brits, they say that we talk in such a gracious way that it makes us sexy. I'm actually very shy. I get embarrassed even when someone I do not know starts a casual conversation with me in a store. My wife and I have recently bought a puppy, and when I walk her, it's a disaster: anyone who sees her, approaches, caresses her and starts to chat with me. In fact, look at how cute"(pulls out his phone and shows me the picture of the puppy)

Of course, when The Hunger Games: Catching Fire comes out this fall,  the fans are going to chase his autograph ... Perhaps, only then, Sam Claflin will understand that he has become a star.

For your information: His puppy's name is Rosie.

Thanks to our friends Sam Claflin Fans for the tip and the translation by Sam Claflin Italia!

'Mockingjay Part 1' Scouting Locations & Hiring Crew In Georgia

Fan-made poster by the brilliant nikola-nikart

Access Atlanta says location scouts have been into the north Georgia mountains searching for suitable filming locations for Mockingjay Part 1. The article also says that the film is currently looking to fill crew positions and to email your resume to mockingjayresume@gmail.com. No word on talent casting - yet!

Sam Claflin Talks Finnick & 'Catching Fire' With Elle

Sam Claflin recently chatted with ELLE Magazine to discuss his role as Finnick Odair in Catching Fire:

 

Amid all the YA dystopian literature that’s captivated scores of teens and teens-at-heart, there’s hardly been a character so beloved by fans than Finnick Odair of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games series. A previous Hunger Games victor who’s brought back into the arena to compete with other past champions, including Katniss and Peeta, Finnick is tall, tan, and beautiful. Thusly, the role presented certain challenges to producers when it came to casting for Catching Fire, the second installment in the HG movie trilogy, out in November. But, in a race that included hunks such as Armie Hammer, Taylor Kitsch and Garrett Hedlund, who should prevail? That would be Sam Claflin, perhaps marginally known for enduring but less-weighty roles in films like Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Snow White and The Huntsman. Fans certainly voiced their concerns about the relative newcomer, but once production photos of Claflin—dyed, tanned, buff—surfaced on the Internet, their fears were quickly quashed. Now, the 27-year-old Brit is poised for international superstardom in one of the most popular franchises of all time.

ELLE: Hello, Sam! Let’s get to it. You’ve said in previous interviews that when you went in for your first Catching Fire audition, you didn’t know what the role was for. How could that be?

Sam Claflin: I was sent over a script and there was no title to what I was reading. It was just two scenes with a character called “Finnick” and a mini-character breakdown. I started reading the scene and saw the name Katniss, and I’d just recently seen The Hunger Games, so I thought, “OK, is this a connection?” But I didn’t know it was a trilogy. I just thought it was a one-time film. So I typed Finnick Odair” into Google an all these book and fan pages came up and I was kind of like, “whoa.” So I just went through all of it and did as much research as I could the night before.

ELLE: And how did that first casting interview go?

SC: I thought I had a pretty good idea of who the character was, but I was pretty off. I thought he was just kind of a bad guy. And obviously he’s kind of painted in that light in the beginning, so I honed in on the fact that he was mysterious and untrustworthy as much as I could. But thank God Frances [Lawrence] was there for my recall because he directed me in a very different way than I was expecting the second time.

ELLE: How so?

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New 'Catching Fire' Stills From The 2014 NECA Wall Calendar

There are some new stills floating around right off NECA's upcoming 2014 Catching Fire Wall Calendar. I wish we could tell you the direct source (we first found this on tumblr posted by mrpink627). Looks like they've included a few new stills and a few we've already seen. 

Anyone else adore Katniss' outfit as much as I do?

It looks like Cinna sees someone coming. Chilling!Order the NECA Catching Fire 2014 wall calendar HERE. 

Stephanie Leigh Schlund Attends Superstars For Hope Event

Our lovely Cashmere, Stephanie Leigh Schlund, attended the Superstars for Hope event on August 15th. The event was sponsored by E! and WWE and was a benefit for the Make A Wish foundation. It's so much fun to see our new cast members on the red carpet!

Lenny Kravitz: 'Catching Fire' was like "Going Back To Summer Camp"

Lenny Kravitz spoke with Moviefone while promoting The Butler, and he gave us a few tidbits about Catching Fire.

I was at the Catching Fire panel at Comic-Con this year, where you brought up something really interesting: that younger kids are now recognizing you as Lenny Kravitz the actor and not Lenny Kravitz the musician.
Yeah, it first started on a street in Paris. This little kid came up to me and said "Oh, Lenny. Oh, my god! I love your work." I am thinking, You're seven. I was like, "Oh, really, you have the records?" And he said, "No, Hunger Games. I have been getting more of that. A guy came up to my table recently and said, "My daughter would really like a picture with you." Over walks a nine-year-old who has no idea.

So are you finding time to record music, too?
I just finished an album while I was doing Catching Fire -- I had no plan to do this; I was in Atlanta and I like to work in my own studio -- I went in the studio and ended up recording an album at night. So I would be filming Catching Fire all day, go to the studio, work all night, either get no sleep or get an hour or two, and then go right back to work. I did that for, like, three weeks.

How do you think that affected your creative output for each -- doing two things at once and not getting sleep?
It worked! It really did. I should've been so tired. I mean, I was tired but I was so charged creatively that it just worked.

Did you have more confidence going into Catching Fire, since this was your second Hunger Games?
Well, it was really fun. It was like going back to summer camp a second year and seeing all your friends again. The cast, we really have a great chemistry together -- we really dig each other. We have a new director, Francis Lawrence, so there's an unknown there. But from the first day, it was great. He took charge and was wonderful to work with. We had a lot of fun, as we did on the first one. I am looking forward to seeing it myself.

Jena Malone on Her Transformation to Johanna Mason in 'Catching Fire'

Photo by Jena Malone

Jena Malone talked with Vogue about getting into her character, Johanna Mason both physically and mentally.

the hardest thing about being Johanna was finding a way to carry her energy in my body for sixteen hours a day. She has this anger that is always bubbling at the surface.

 

To whip her into shape for her role as Johanna Mason, the cunning District 7 tribute in the second installment of The Hunger Games trilogy (due out in November), actress Jena Malone required a fleet of fitness pros: A stunt team to provide her with the martial arts training she’d need for the film’s challenging action sequences—shot across land and water in Hawaii earlier this year—and a personal trainer to sculpt her body into a formidable fighting machine. “She has this intensity,” says Malone of her character’s steely physical and mental fortitude. “She can walk into a room and stare you to death.”
 
With that in mind, on-set makeup artist Nikoletta Skarlatos gave Johanna extreme lashes and heavily shadowed lids in shades of “warrior” green and gold for her early scenes in Panem’s Capitol; the choppy brunette bob she adopts later in the wild, on the other hand, was Malone’s own handiwork. “I cut it [myself],” she admits with a laugh.
 
Now that shooting has finally wrapped, the 28-year-old actress is currently back home in Los Angeles, where she has recently finished work on another project: Paul Thomas Anderson’s forthcoming Inherent Vice, a film that has ushered in yet another beauty transformation this summer—her newly honey-blonde hair. 

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Happy Birthday To Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence, our amazing Katniss, our favorite goofball, our imaginary BFF (or is that just me) turns 23 today. From all of us at PanemPropaganda, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEN!