'The Hunger Games' Director: 'Is it Violent? Yes'
March 1 2012, Published 3:13 p.m. ET
We're finally in the month of March, which means it's almost time for The Hunger Games! The highly anticipated film is this week's Entertainment Weekly cover, and the story goes into some casting details and what we can expect to see on the big screen compared to the book.
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Most importantly, director Gary Ross talks to EW about the film's PG-13 rating.
"Is it violent?" he asks. "Yes. Do we back off from what it is? No, we don't."
Good. We're very glad to hear that!
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EW also speaks with Woody Harrelson, who plays Haymitch, the drunken mentor to Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark's (Josh Hutcherson). Woody reveals that he turned the role down at first and now realizes that would have been a huge career mistake.
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“It was just a stupid thing where I hadn’t read the books yet. I didn’t see that there was enough for me to do in the script," he explains. "But then Gary called me back and said, ‘You got to do this, I don’t have a second choice for the role.’ And of course, flattery always gets the best out of me, so I read the books and really saw the depths of this guy. Holy s***, I would have been bummed to miss this.”
We think he may have been more than just "bummed!"
The Hunger Games hits theaters March 23.
Watch a new TV spot for the movie HERE!