The Hunger artist
By ED SYMKUS | March 20, 2012
BEVERLY HILLS — Gary Ross has not directed a lot of movies. True, he's got a pile of produced scripts on his résumé, and was Oscar-nominated for writing Big and Dave, but The Hunger Games, based on the Suzanne Collins novel about a dystopia in which young people are sacrificed in futuristic gladiatorial contests, is only the third film he's helmed (after Pleasantville and Seabiscuit). Still, not so shabby considering the fact that the film has been tracked to open bigger than Twilight. His Hollywood cohort, from producers to actors, aren't surprised that this relatively inexperienced director will showcase what may be one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood history. He learned a lot hanging around the sets of Big and Dave. And he has an affinity for actors, having trained as one with Stella Adler. But mostly, making big movie franchises is in his blood: his father, Arthur Ross, wrote the scripts for Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Creature Walks Among Us.THE HUNGER GAMES IS THE HOTTEST PROPERTY IN HOLLYWOOD. HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED? I heard that they were making this movie, and my agent said, "Why don't you read the book?" My kids had read it, and I remembered them being engrossed in it. So I sat down at 10 o'clock one night and started to read, and by 1 o'clock I finished the book and said, I'm in. I was completely engaged in the narrative and [the heroine] Katniss, and the situation was so wonderfully different and off-kilter. And I knew instantly how I wanted to do it. I could immediately see the movie.
DID YOU KNOW THEN THAT IT HAD THIS HUGE APPEAL? WHY IS IT SUCH A SENSATION? The book has a lot on its mind. I thought it was interesting in terms of what it said about how we may devolve as a culture. About the excesses of this culture, about the one percent — how they've become grotesque in their indulgences, and how they were using modern media as an instrument of political control. Spectacle as an instrument of political control. You know that Roman line, "Give them bread and circuses." So this is their circus. But at the same time, you have this character story, which is this girl discovering and fighting to preserve her own humanity, and, "Even if I die I'm not gonna let them turn me into the beast that they want me to be." That act of simple defiance is the thing that sparks revolution. I think this is a really resonant and relevant and very timely story.
ARE YOU WORRIED THAT THE 30 MILLION PEOPLE WHO HAVE BOUGHT THE BOOKS ARE ALSO VISUALIZING THIS AS A MOVIE? That's a great point. There's 30 million movies out there. A lot of people say, "Oh my God, what are the fans gonna expect?" But what's nice is that you see all those images harmonizing into one now. People have been exposed to this material. Fans know who we've cast, they've seen the trailer, they know what it's gonna look like. So these things tend to coalesce.
Related:
Heart keeps beating, Jodie Foster sticks up for Mel, In Bridesmaids, Kristen's women act like women, More 
- Heart keeps beating
Storytelling is largely about character, and writer Thomas Cobb came up with a doozy when he conceived Bad Blake.
- Jodie Foster sticks up for Mel
This week sees the premiere of The Beaver, Jodie Foster's third directorial effort and Mel Gibson's first role since we were all apprised of his peculiar phone demeanor. I spoke with Foster about the film at the Ritz Carlton.
- In Bridesmaids, Kristen's women act like women
Diehard fans of Saturday Night Live took heart when Kristen Wiig appeared in the cast in 2005.
- Mike Mills on Beginners' lessons
It's not like talking pets never appear in the movies, but when it happens twice in the same year, it seems suspicious.
- Steve James goes back to Chicago
It would be wrong to say that Steve James produced the best documentary of all time and didn't look back.
- Interview: Steve McQueen puts the MPAA ratings system to Shame
Every few years a film challenges the stigma of NC-17.
- Hollywood offers botched operations and altered lives in 2012
Those who got a thrill last spring when the SEALS took out Osama bin Laden will have more of the same covert ass-kicking to look forward to in theaters as we enter 2012.
- The Oscars look back in languor in 2011
This year, perhaps in hopes of diverting audiences with a different format, the Motion Picture Academy has again changed the number of Best Picture nominees.
- Interview: Coolidge Award winner Viggo Mortensen gets analytical
Unlike the Oscars, the Coolidge Awards never disappoint. Meryl Streep, Robert Altman , Jonathan Demme: each in his or her own way has shaped what's best in the movies.
- Review: Dreileben
Taking a cue from Kieslowski's Three Colors by way of the British Red Riding series, this TV trilogy from three German directors of the Berlin School starts out with a creepy aura of dread and mystery and ends with contrived and unsatisfying resolutions.
- The blockbusters bloom early in 2012
In keeping with the winter that never was, summer comes early this year — on movie screens, at least, if not meteorologically — with the big blockbusters that usually wait until Memorial Day now appearing in March.
- Less
Topics:
Features
, Movies, Interviews, art features, More
, Movies, Interviews, art features, The Hunger Games, directors, Gary Ross, Less
