She’s conflicted to some degree about her relationship with Prim because she couldn’t save Rue. Why? Because everything associated with him except some very early childhood memories are associated with the Games. She’s completely pushed Peeta to arm’s length, you know? She’s trying to stay away from him. And in the beginning you can see she’s practicing avoidance.

Suzanne Collins: She’s got a lot of classic post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. And pretty quickly she has flashbacks to the games, within minutes of the opening. She’s still disturbed by things, and can’t get certain thoughts and images out of her head.

I think that was one of the things that really interested me most about the material and about this book was that we get to start to see the kind of effects that the games have on people, the effects that violence has on people.įL: Even though she’s in the place she loves in the forest, I think that there’s a look to her, I would call it the thousand-yard stare. How is she different now?įrancis Lawrence: Well, Katniss is different because she’s been through the games. This first installment starts with Collins and Lawrence describing the mental state of our favorite heroine…Ĭompare Katniss at the beginning of Hunger Games and Katniss at the beginning of this movie. The interview has been divided into five parts, running Monday through Friday. 22, TIME book critic Lev Grossman recently sat down for a long and wide-ranging conversation with Hunger Games creator-writer Suzanne Collins and Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence. Follow The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opening in theaters on Friday, Nov.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins