It seems people can’t get enough of cheering on District 12 and choosing between Teem Peeta or Team Gale. “The Hunger Games” has maintained its top spot in the box office and has brought in more than $250 million in its second week of release. Executive Producer Robin Bissell says he believes that the reason it has been so successful is because people can relate to a story struggle and survival.
“Everybody likes an underdog story,” Bissell says. “This particular one I think is exceptional because it’s not just about a girl who is oppressed and she becomes a rebel and gets through it, it’s more complex. She transforms as a human being in the middle of the worst possible circumstances anyone could be in, and that’s pretty amazing as a story.”
“The Hunger Games” is about a post-apocalyptic United States called Panem that is split into 12 districts, the lead characters coming from District 12. A rebellion rose by 13 districts against the Capitol, which crushed the rebellion as well as District 13. The Capitol decided that every year from then on, every district must give them a boy and girl to be put in an arena and fight to their deaths until a victor remains. The main heroes, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, are chosen as the District 12 tributes and are sent to the games to see who will survive. These characters were already well known to the millions who have read the novel, and Bissell says choosing the cast was easier than he could’ve imagined.
“Some great names came in and some great people read for the role, and a lot of people were good, but Jennifer Lawrence walked in the room and it was obvious immediately before she even started reading the scene,” Bissell says. “For Josh (Hutcherson) and Liam (Hemsworth), it was the same way. I can almost tell you when the three of them walked in at different times during those days that we were reading boys for Peeta, boys for Gale and girls for Katniss, it was pretty evident right away.”
Bissell says picking other roles in the film was also clear. He worked with his good friend Elizabeth Banks, who plays Effie Trinket, while producing “Seabiscuit.” Bissell also worked with Stanley Tucci when producing “The Tale of Despereaux.”
Talks about filming of the rest of the popular trilogy has already started. Bissell says they started talking about the second film and hired a screen writer to start the first draft while they were still finishing “The Hunger Games.”
“I guess Lionsgate six to eight months ago announced that they want to release the second one November 2013, that’s all I know,” Bissell says. “As far as the third book into two movies, I’ve heard that as well. I don’t know whether that’s 100 percent. It seems to work for other franchises so I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened.”
“The Hunger Games” took many months of filming and editing, but when asked what the hardest part of Bissell’s job was, he says it was letting go of the film.
“You always wish you had more time to make the movie,” Bissell says. “But what happens with great creative people is that when you get a lot of them together like we had on this movie, they solve problems creatively and good things generally come out of that. So for me, the hardest part of this movie was to get to the end and say, ‘Oh, well that’s it,’ and letting it go that last day when we reel for the last time.”
Bissell describes the movie as “captivating,” assuring that it will not disappoint. “The Hunger Games” is now playing in theaters everywhere.