Director Gary Ross views the action on set.
Jacobson was in London, making another movie, when Ross arrived in town and made reservations for dinner. “We sat down
and we had a two-hour meal in which his understanding of the themes and the characters — the way that Katniss’s point
of view is the heart and soul of the story — was so spot-on,” she says. “He just felt it so deeply. He understood the
epic nature of the story and the intimate nature of the story. He was clear that he didn’t want to make a sentimental
movie, but it was important to him that the action comes from the characters, it doesn’t just happen to the characters.
Gary had great ideas for the movie visually, but we always knew he would come from a character place.”
“Katniss understands the truth so clearly,” Ross says. “That’s why she can’t tolerate tyrants, and that’s what
ultimately gives her the ability to rebel. She lives her own truth and she’s very clear about who she is, about what is
right and what is wrong. Kids hook into this character not just because she’s kick-ass — though she is. They hook into
this character because she’s complicated, too. She’s wrestling with a lot of things that a girl her age would wrestle
with, just under incredibly urgent circumstances.”
Alli Shearmur will never forget her first meeting with Gary Ross about The Hunger Games. “After Gary met with Nina in
London, he came to Lionsgate to convince us he was the right director for the film. Many directors were interested, but
he blew us away with his presentation. He’d made a documentary to show us — interviews with friends of his teenage
children, talking about what The Hunger Games meant to them. He showed examples of the filmmaking style he’d want to
use to tell Katniss’s story. He even brought artwork to show what he imagined the film could look like. It was an
electric presentation.”
Suzanne Collins tells what happened next. “As part of Gary’s creative process, he wrote a subsequent draft which
incorporated his incredible directorial vision of the film. And then he very generously invited me in to work with him
on it. We had an immediate and exhilarating creative connection that brought the script to the first day of shooting.”
“I’ve had great relationships with all the authors I’ve adapted,” Ross says. “But with Suzanne it was very special
because we ended up actual collaborators. It wasn’t just that she was involved — it’s that we became a writing team.
We were always talking, we had a good relationship, but then she came to LA in person. I got her thoughts on the script,
and her thoughts were so good that we began writing together before we even realized it. It was important to me that she
be involved, and it felt so natural and spontaneous that it was a wonderful thing.”
Meanwhile, the cast of the movie was beginning to come together.