Francis Lawrence and Elizabeth Banks to Be Honored at Cinema Con

Francis Lawrence and Elizabeth Banks will be honored with "Director of the Year" and "Breakthrough Filmmaker of the Year" at Cinema Con on April 23rd. The 5th annual the convention of The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), will be held April 20 – 23, 2015, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. 

Mitch Neuhauser, Managing Director of CinemaCon says of Francis Lawrence's "Director of the Year" honor :

"Since making his feature film debut ten years ago, Francis Lawrence has mesmerized moviegoing audiences with his own unique and inventive style," noted Neuhauser. "A true visionary, Lawrence is sure to captivate audiences next fall when ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2,’ the eagerly anticipated finale of the box-office franchise, hits our theaters. We couldn’t think of a more deserving director and are thrilled to be honoring him with the ‘CinemaCon® Director of the Year Award.’"

On Elizabeth Banks' "Breakthrough Filmmaker of the Year" award: 

"One of Hollywood’s most versatile actresses and a force to be reckoned with behind the scenes at Brownstone Productions, Elizabeth Banks draws some of her cast’s finest performances to date as she helms "Pitch Perfect 2," noted Neuhauser. "Elizabeth is already a well-deserving CinemaCon honoree for her talents as a performer, and we could not be more excited to honor her as the ’CinemaCon Breakthrough Filmmaker of the Year’ as she makes the transition behind the camera to direct her first feature.’"

Lawrence and Banks will be presented with their special honors at the "CinemaCon Big Screen Achievement Awards" ceremony on Thursday, April 23, at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. There hasn't been any official annoucement of a Mockingjay Part 2 presentation at Cinema Con this year, but since 2 of the Mockingjay family are already attending, we can only hope.

In 2013, Francis Lawrence, Elizabeth Banks and Liam Hemsworth did a Catching Fire presentation at the Lionsgate panel, showing attendees the (already released) teaser trailer and talking about the film.  

Elizabeth Banks on How Effie Inspires Her Wardrobe, Katniss & Gratitude

Elizabeth Banks recently spoke to Marie Claire about her involvement in the #ThankList project and, of course, Effie and The Hunger Games popped into the conversation.

 

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 will come out in November. It was the last film where you got to play Effie. Did you take anything as a souvenir?

"I have a pair of Alexander McQueen shoes that are amazing, that are like really classically Alexander McQueen, too. You would know them on site, like 'Oh yeah, that's them.' So I love that. But really, I just took, like, more confidence in my dressing. Do you know what I mean? Like, 'Why am I wearing this Monique Lhuillier today?' Probably because of Effie. I would just be wearing a black dress otherwise."

Effie's first fitting for Catching Fire. Image from @mztsummerville on instagram

Yes, she is definitely a character who is not afraid of color.

"She really taught me a lot about my body and what looks good on me and dressing for fun. All of it was such an amazing collaboration. I mean, we created a little fashion icon. It was very much a collaborative, creative experience that I'm not probably soon to have again."

Who is your favorite Hunger Games character, personally?

"Well, Katniss is my favorite. Katniss first, then Effie second. But yes, Katniss, of course, she's the moral center and the heart and the soul of the whole series and she kicks ass and so as a woman audience member, as a reader, as a mother, I'm just so thrilled to see that character succeed."

It seems like that were kind of in this upswing in Hollywood in regards to these badass heroines.

"I think we're in a really great time right now. There were articles in The New York Times and Variety about how the big blockbusters have some real competition from some movies that were really made for the 'ladies,' which I think is really interesting."

When looking at these two very different movies [Mockingjay Part 2 and Pitch Perfect 2], what's been your favorite scene to film?

"Effie is amazing but it's not particularly fun to play her. It's very uncomfortable to film that character and they're pretty dark films, the subject matter is intense, and so the word 'fun' is not one I easily associate with the shooting of those movies. I had a lot of fun off the set with the cast and crew. Pitch Perfect 2, those scenes are super fun. It's just me and John Michael Higgins, and we've been friends for so long we just have the best time. Anything I do with him is some of my favorite stuff."

So what drew you to the #ThankList project?

"Well, I'm a fan of Barbara Kopple and she made these really beautiful, short films that are extremely moving. They can be viewed at ThankList.com, and they just drew me in in a really deep way, I mean you gotta break out the tissues when you're watching these videos, they're incredible.

And so, when they called me and said, you know, we're trying to promote this attitude of gratitude, fostering a culture of gratitude online especially, I loved the messaging. I really felt like it's all about connectedness and connectivity with other people. So even with American Greetings, they're looking at a time in the world right now where people don't send those cards as much, but people still have a need for that connectedness. And the connectivity really mattered to me. And I felt like, if there's a way for me to convince people to call their mom and say, 'Thank you for being my mom,' that's cool with me."

There was that Oscars speech by JK Simmons where it was a similar sentiment—"Call your mother!"

"Exactly, great moment. I also have a blog I really try for positivity at all times in that blog. And I just think there's so much negativity in the world and bullying and hate speech that it felt really easy to get behind something that promotes civility and gratitude and love."

Who are YOU grateful for? Share your own #thanklist at AmericanGreetings.com. 

Happy Birthday Francis Lawrence!

Happy Birthday to our fearless leader, director Francis Lawrence. We're SO lucky to have your vision and talent guiding our beloved The Hunger Games films!

Natalie Dormer Covers Self Magazine

 

Natalie Dormer is Self Magazine's April 2015 cover star. Inside the issue, she talks about how she balanced her crazy Mockingjay Part 1 and 2 shooting schedule with training for the London marathon, and how the training actually enhanced her performance as Cressida:

Natalie Dormer doesn’t scare easily. She once shaved her head for a role. She has a tattoo on the inside of her left forearm that reads: FEAR IS THE MIND-KILLER. As Margaery Tyrell on Game of Thrones, she held her own against King Joffrey—one of the biggest psychopaths ever to appear on television—then married him.

But even someone as bold as Dormer wondered what she’d gotten herself into when she signed on to run her first marathon. It was 2013, and she had just agreed to play Cressida, the semiautomatic weapon–toting PR girl turned warrior, in the Hunger Games franchise. The role required her to report for work at 5 a.m. every day, so that half of her head could be shaved and an intricate fake tattoo could be applied to her scalp. Then, after 12-hour days of shooting battle scenes, she’d spend another hour working out at night, alternating between running the hilly streets of Atlanta—where filming took place—and doing interval sessions at a local gym. All of this was to prep for the April 2014 London marathon. “I actually look back on it now and think, F—ing hell, how did I do that?” she says.

It’s a reasonable question—for those who aren’t acquainted with the 33-year-old actress’s unstoppable drive. After all, she’d never competed in a race that long before. She signed up to run in London before she knew that The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1 and Part 2 shooting schedule would require her to report to set before dawn. “My way of surviving it was a nap at lunch,” she says. The schedule and exercise regimen both seemed like crazy ideas at first, but in hindsight her plan was serendipitous. “In Mockingjay—Part 2, I’m basically running around in heavy armor while carrying a semiautomatic rifle,” she says of the film that will hit theaters this fall. “I don’t know how I would have kept up with [costars] Liam Hemsworth or Sam Claflin if I hadn’t been in the best cardiovascular shape of my life.”

It was important for Dormer to find quick ways to embody each of those characters, because her packed filming schedule didn’t allow her much time to ease her way in. Once filming of the fourth season of Game of Thrones wrapped in Europe in fall 2013, she jetted straight to Atlanta for back-to-back shoots of Mockingjay—Part 1 and Part 2, which took nine months to complete. Then, after just a few days off, she flew back to Europe and put on her Rapunzel-like Margaery wig to begin filming the fifth season of Thrones, which premieres April 12.

Elizabeth Banks on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon

It's hard to believe that last might marked Elizabeth Banks' first-ever appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. She seems like the perfect Fallon guest, no? Check it out:

In other Liz news, she's just been named Cinema Con's Breakthrough Filmmaker of the Year for her work directing Pitch Perfect 2! Elizabeth will collect her honor at the annual theater industry trade show in April.

Sam Claflin in GQ

Sam Claflin has a short and sweet little fashion feature in April GQ but he also talks getting that Finnick glow ("I was never sure whether to leave underwear on or take underwear off in the tanning bed.") plus The Riot Club:

Perhaps no demographic has benefited more from the rise of teen-movie franchises than young Brits. Twilight's Robert Pattinson, Theo James of Divergent, the Hemsworth brothers (Aussie, but same deal). The latest in the invasion is Sam Claflin, best known to American audiences as Finnick Odair from the last couple of Hunger Games. When we meet Finnick in the second film, he looks like a SoCal bro who "forgot" to put on a shirt. In the latest, the third, Mockingjay, Part I (try to keep up), he's in gulag grays and suffering PTSD but somehow no less winning.


Claflin, who got into acting at 16 after giving up his dreams of soccer, says that after The Hunger Games he was eager to play something other than a hunk with a trident. In this spring's The Riot Club, a satire about a fictitious dining club at Oxford, he's a one-percenter who gets to unironically scream lines like "I am sick to fucking death of poor people!" and throw his champagne glass at the wall. Despite the regal jawline and tousled locks, Claflin himself grew up working- class. What he found most surprising about these societies wasn't simply how money can buy you out of anything, but also how thuggish these groups of supposed gentlemen can be. There's a moment in the film when someone insinuates that they're acting no better than schoolkids with bricks. "My character takes huge offense because We're gentlemen, we've got money—we're not thugs. But it's basically just gang culture in the upper class." The Hunger Games also treads in class warfare, though the chief concern playing Finnick, Claflin admits, was that "I was never sure whether to leave underwear on or take underwear off in the tanning bed." 

 

Willow Shields and Mark Ballas Crush The Argentine Tango on DWTS

Youngest-ever contestant on Dancing With The Stars? Age is just a number, baby! Willow Shields and her partner Mark Ballas absolutely killed in week 2 of Dancing With The Stars. Saddled with an Argentine Tango (translation: REALLY, REALLY hard) they delivered a mature, yet still very age-appropriate performance to “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye. Watch:

 

The performance earned Willow and Mark a score of all 8s from the judges - 32 of a possible 40 score. But the judges are only 50% of the score. We need to vote! 

Let's help Willow get to the top! Be sure to vote while the show airs in your time zone and for an hour after the show airs by phone at 1-855-234-5612. You can vote at ABC.com (you'll need to create an account), or on the Dancing with the Stars FB page from 8pm EST Mon until 8pm EST Tuesday. Every vote counts! 

Celebrating 3 Years of 'The Hunger Games' Films

Can you believe it's been THREE years since the premiere of The Hunger Games? I remember March 23, 2012 very specifically. We had just started this site a month before, and were very eagerly awaiting the film's arrival in theaters. I saw the movie twice on opening day and then went back to the theater to see it twice the next day too. It was a thrill to see a book that I loved so much adapted SO beautifully on screen. 

Remember these little babies??

What has #3Yearsof TheHungerGames meant to us? Here are a few highlights:

Jennifer Lawrence went from fairly unknown indie it-girl to the biggest movie star on the planet.

Josh Hutcherson broke our hearts as Peeta Mellark (and continues to do so).

 

We got to experience that a Hollywood franchise can stay true to the source material and fans, respect the intelligence of its audience AND actually be incredibly entertaining and successful!  

We experienced the shock of losing director Gary Ross, and the delight in realizing what a gift director Francis Lawrence would be.

We lost a member of the family.

Image courtesy HungerGamesLessons.com

The Hunger Games franchise broke records:

The Hunger Games was the #1 film 4 weeks in a row.

All 3 movies have held the #1 opening weekend spot for 2 or more weeks.

The Hunger Games is currently the 14th most successful franchise in history - with the LEAST number of films, mind you, and we're not finished! It is also the ONLY franchise with a true female lead, besides Twilight.

Catching Fire was the #1 movie of 2013

Mockingjay Part 1 was very nearly the #1 movie of 2014 (darn you, limited release American Sniper!)

Catching Fire is in the top 10 domestic box office grosses of all time.

And the list goes on.....

We fell in love with the commitment and talent of our director, producers, writers, and amazing crew.

Producers Jon Kilik, Nina Jacobson, author Suzanne Collins and screenwriter Peter Craig

Production Designer Phil Messina and Director Francis Lawrence

We fell in love with our cast over and over. 

We got to know YOU, our followers, friends, fellow fansites and THG family, who laugh, cry and freak out with us every day. 

Sandy from My Hunger Games, Tiffany from MJ.net and Molly from PanemPropaganda meeting (and geeking out over) Josh HutchersonAnd now we're in the countdown to the end of our beloved films!

What are your favorite memories from the last 3 years of The Hunger Games? Let us know in the comments! 

The Fire Will Burn Forever!