Simon Beaufoy on Susan Collins and ‘The Hunger Games’

Simon Beaufoy is already ‘fine-tuning’ the sequel Catching Fire and had a few things to say on the Hunger Games author, Susan Collins, and on the story itself.

“She’s fascinating,” said Beaufoy [regarding Susan Collins]. “Her dad was a military expert, historian and lecturer and used to be in the forces. It’s fascinating hearing her talk about the thesis for the three novels: The first is about survival, the second is rebellion and the third is about all-out war. She’s very compelling about all of that.”

Beaufoy was impressed by the boldness of Collins’ writing, specifically her treatment of young people. “The books treat teenagers exactly how teenagers want to be treated — with great seriousness. The situations are life and death and we don’t have to sugarcoat that.”

He went on to say that he believes gender matters very little in the “Hunger Games” saga, which, of course, revolves around the experiences of young heroine Katniss Everdeen (played in the film by Jennifer Lawrence).

“What I really love about the books is it isn’t even up for discussion that she’s a girl,” Beaufoy said. “There’s no discussion that she shouldn’t be killing people because she’s a girl, and she shouldn’t be killed because she’s a girl. We’ve done gender politics. This is about life and death. It makes the gender politics seem finicky and not terribly interesting.”

[LA Times]

Tags: Hunger Games, Simon Beaufoy, Susan Collins

Category: Simon Beaufoy