Amandla Stenberg Talks Suzanne Collins and Prepping for Her Role as Rue

Publisher’s Weekly writer Karen Springen sat down with 13-year-old Amandla Stenberg to have speaks about her character, meeting Suzanne Collins, and her thoughts about the cast and movie.

(Keep your wits about you – Potential Spoilers Ahead!)

Was Rue your favorite character when you were reading?

Rue and Foxface were my favorite characters, probably because they’re not necessarily bad. I loved Rue because of how musical and sweet she is. Now that I’ve read the book a few times, I actually like the character Clove a lot. She’s very skilled with how she can throw knives. And everyone loves Katniss!

What did you do to get into character and make yourself feel like Rue?

For my audition, I went to Gary’s house. To get prepared, I dressed up like Rue. I wore khakis and a T-shirt, and my mom had rolled around my clothes in the dirt before. And we put twigs in my hair and leaves all over me, and stains were all over my clothes. And I had a little wreath of flowers in my pocket that I thought Rue might have. That was in my pocket as good luck, and also a special rock. Those were my little tokens I thought Rue would have.

How many days was Suzanne Collins on set? And did she give you any pointers on Rue?

She was there for two days in the middle of shooting. It was so amazing to meet her – the creator of all this. We were doing a very traumatic scene, and I was kind of bawling my eyes out. I wasn’t quite sure if this was how Suzanne Collins imagined the scene. And so I talked to her, and she told me just that Rue was trying to be very strong for Katniss. She wanted Katniss to go on, so she tried to be very brave for Katniss. That was very helpful.

Did Suzanne know you were a huge Hunger Games fan before you were cast?

Yes, I told her how much I loved her writing! I’m so glad I had the honor of meeting her. She was very sweet and wrote a note in my book thanking me for my work in the movie. A lot of the other cast members signed it as well. We were signing each other’s copies like yearbooks.

How do you think fans will feel about the film?

I think fans will be very, very pleased with the movie. I know from what I’ve shot and from what I’ve seen, it really stays true to what I thought of the book. It really embodies the feel of the book, and it keeps what is really important in the book about Katniss’s emotions and her survival. That’s really important. They did a fantastic job bringing that to life. Everyone involved is very concerned that the fans are happy with it and that they enjoy it.

I love this girl! She’s so mature and sweet, and has such enthusiasm for her character and the “Hunger Games” series…

Which is only going to make Rue’s death scene that much harder to watch. –sigh-

Who else is going to be stocking up on Kleenex the next few months to prepare for this movie?

Read more of Amandla Stenberg’s interview at Publisher’s Weekly.

Category: Amandla Stenberg, Amandla Stenberg, Rue, Suzanne Collins