Explaining "The Hunger Games"
By: Raphael Seth, NBCNC
Updated: March 23, 2012
Kids prepare for battle in a teenage wasteland in "The Hunger Games".
The highly-anticipated adaptation of the dystopian tome features Jennifer Lawrence as backwoods bow hunter Katniss Everdeen.
The movie has drawn so much hype, Lawrence was afraid it would be a stigma on her career, a big consideration for the actress who received an Oscar nomination for "Winter's Bone" at age 19.
"I was worried that it would kind of overcome me as an actor," she said. "That's always a fear for an actor to be too well known for just one role."
Co-star Josh Hutcherson also worried about unbridled fame, despite a Hollywood track record of more than a dozen films.
The two actors represent "District 12" in the future ruins of North America.
They're among two dozen teens called "tributes" are forced to fight to the death at the pleasure of the president.
Producers expect "The Hunger Games" to follow the same book-to-blockbuster trajectory as "Harry Potter" and "Twilight", but any further comparisons to wizards or lovesick vampires end there.
One thing that seems a sure bet are sequels.
"The Hunger Games" book is part of a three-story set.
The highly-anticipated adaptation of the dystopian tome features Jennifer Lawrence as backwoods bow hunter Katniss Everdeen.
The movie has drawn so much hype, Lawrence was afraid it would be a stigma on her career, a big consideration for the actress who received an Oscar nomination for "Winter's Bone" at age 19.
"I was worried that it would kind of overcome me as an actor," she said. "That's always a fear for an actor to be too well known for just one role."
Co-star Josh Hutcherson also worried about unbridled fame, despite a Hollywood track record of more than a dozen films.
The two actors represent "District 12" in the future ruins of North America.
They're among two dozen teens called "tributes" are forced to fight to the death at the pleasure of the president.
Producers expect "The Hunger Games" to follow the same book-to-blockbuster trajectory as "Harry Potter" and "Twilight", but any further comparisons to wizards or lovesick vampires end there.
One thing that seems a sure bet are sequels.
"The Hunger Games" book is part of a three-story set.
