Amandla Stenberg

Interview with Alexander Ludwig, Isabelle Fuhrman and Amandla Stenberg from Collider

At the recent Hunger Games movie press day Collider was able to get a ton of new interviews with the cast members. Here are a few exerts from the interview with Alexander Ludwig, Isabelle Fuhrman and Amandla Stenberg

Collider: what appealed to you about this role and what kind of training did you have to do?

LUDWIG: When I got offered the role of Cato, I jumped on the opportunity just ‘cause I’ve never really had a chance to play a bad guy, and that’s something I’ve always really, really wanted to do. I wanted to experience that really dark side of a person, and Cato is a really, really twisted individual. We worked unbelievably hard. Physically, I wanted Cato to have as big of a physical presence as he did a mental one, in the movie. There was lots of fight training that we had to go through. I worked with an ex-Navy SEAL to bulk up. I did tons of hand-to-hand combat.

Collider: Isabelle, why did you decide to come up with your own backstory for your character?

FUHRMAN: That was just something that I did for the audition. When you read the book, it’s written through Katniss’ eyes and you really get to know who Katniss is, and you understand certain characters and parts of them, but I wanted to develop and figure out Clove’s psyche and where she came from. I wrote a one and a half page backstory, and then I talked to Gary and revised it to make her a little more interesting. I made it that Clove had a really terrible relationship with her parents, who pressured her into being in these Games. She wants to show them up and get home and be able to say, “I did it, and I didn’t need any of your help.” That was my main point for her wanting to win so badly. At the same time, I also kept in mind that the fans are going to be watching this and they have to be happy with it. I’m really excited to see how it’s received.

Collider: Amandla, did you actually spend time up in real trees, or did they make fake ones for you?

STENBERG: I spent some time in both real trees and the trees on the soundstage. I had a custom made harness, so I wouldn’t fall over, and it was actually really fun. There was one time that Jen [Lawrence] and I were in the tree doing a scene, and it was difficult to stay up because you gradually slide down. I found a little space in the tree where I could sit, so that I wouldn’t fall down. It was a little hole in the tree. I was sitting there and they were about to call, “Action!,” and I started sliding down. I yelled out really loudly, so everyone could hear, “Wait, I can’t find my butt hole!” Jen proceeded to make fun of me for that, for the rest of the week.

To read the full interview from Collider  go here

[Source: Collider.com]