SPOILERS: Fans Count Down To 'The Hunger Games'

by UInterviewMarch 19, 2012, 12:00 amNews >

The wait for the film adaptation of The Hunger Games, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth, has been building up for months, but the release of the most anticipated movie yet this year is now less than a week away, and the stars can’t stop talking about it.

Fans of the Suzanne Collins novels know what to expect from Katniss (Lawrence) and Peeta (Hutcherson) as they fight for their very survival in the treacherous arena where only one of the 24 chosen tributes is supposed to emerge victorious … and alive. “It’s about rebellion, really, and political oppression and propaganda,” said Wes Bentley, who plays gamemaker Seneca Crane, the person responsible for designing the death trap of an arena. “It’s very sophisticated, about one girl who starts with this fire in her, and it’s about her family and then becomes so much bigger,” Bentley told New York’s Daily News.

Katniss being “the girl who was on fire” is both literal and metaphorical, as her stylist Cinna (played by Lenny Kravitz in one of the movie’s most anticipated performances) lights her up with synthetic fire when she is introduced to the world as the tribute from the coal mining district. But it’s Katniss’ inner fire that’s responsible for her winding up in the arena in the first place, as she volunteers to take her younger sister’s place in the gladiatorial-style games, knowing that her training as a hunter and archer better suits her for survival.

And what hugely popular story would be complete without a love triangle? Katniss is consistently torn between Peeta, her ally / opponent in the games, and Gale (Hemsworth), her childhood friend who taught her to hunt and is left behind in District 12 to help take care of her family in her doomed absence. The Hunger Games is a commentary about many social injustices, but it’s also a love story. “He can’t help himself,” Hutcherson told MTV about his character’s feelings for the tough-as-nails Katniss, who can only survive the games if he doesn’t. “He’s just head-over heels and hopelessly in love.”