There’s something not quite right about seeing Katniss right by a Cinnabon!
Almost exactly a year ago was the first time I heard about the book series “The Hunger Games” from my dear friend in Jacksonville. She was explaining the first book to me and all I could think was “that is so barbaric!!” . . . yet I was intrigued. I saw the first book on sale at Target shortly after and I picked it up. It sat on my shelf for awhile but finally the odd symbol on the cover could be ignored no more. Once I started, I was hooked!! I bought the other two books in the series and I’ve shared the series with several people I work with. While the books are sometimes depressing, they are also fantastic reads.
I’ve been looking forward to seeing “The Hunger Games” since I heard that the movie was being made. I had heard that fans of the book were unhappy with the casting, but I think Jennifer Lawrence is perfect to play Katniss. I thought she was great as Mystique in “X-Men: First Class”. I haven’t seen “Winter’s Bone” but she earned an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role from her role in the film.
So when I was asked to attend a press event for “The Hunger Games” I was pretty excited. It was a mall tour, and it was also my first mall event. I brought Jasmine Rose along with me and we headed to the Broward Mall in Plantation for the ensuing chaos.
We got there at four. Press check-in was at four-thirty, and the event was scheduled to start at six. We checked in and got our press badges and headed to where the event was taking place, which was near the food court. At first the mall was nice and quiet, but as we got closer to the food court it got a lot louder. But that was nothing compared to the volume of the crowd when the stars of the movie came on the stage. The crowd continued to grow and grow. There were a lot of fans of the books there!!
Before the interview, there was a DJ playing music. It was a lot like before a concert, where they play music and people cheer when they see themselves on the TV screens. In between shots of the crowd, playing on the screens were clips from the upcoming movie. Shortly before the interviews, the DJ played the new Taylor Swift song, “Safe and Sound” (which I didn’t like at first but I will admit that it’s grown on me). Then he played the song again. And then it was time for the stars to come out!!
The cast members that were in attendance were Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss), Alexander Ludwig (Cato), and Amandla Stenberg (Rue). The host of the event (a local radio DJ, I don’t remember his name though) asked questions that had been submitted by fans.
The cast was onstage for about 40 minutes and answered a bunch of questions. I left them out because there were spoilers, and the audio wasn’t really great – but check this short clip out to see what you missed.
AND THERE WAS A COW!
