Jennifer Lawrence

Production is underway for “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” and director Bryan Singer is offering fans a behind-the-scenes peek at the action via Twitter, posting pictures of Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Peter Dinklage and more. “Days of Future Past,” due out in July of 2014, picks up after Matthew Vaughn’s 2011 prequel “X-Men: First Class,” which chronicled the mutant superheroes’ origins as young people in the 1960s, discovering and learning to manipulate their powers. “Future Past” aims to bridge the gap between “First Class” and the original “X-Men” film trilogy. Singer, who also directed 2000′s “X-Men” and 2003′s “X2,” on Monday tweeted a photo of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence, who is reprising her role as shape-shifting mutant Raven, better known as Mystique. The snapshot shows Lawrence in full costume — revealing blue body suit and paint with a shock of […]

“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” doesn’t open until Nov. 22, but the official trailer for the new film debuted Sunday night during the MTV Movie Awards, where fan-favorite film “The Avengers” was among the evening’s big winners. “Catching Fire” sees newly minted Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence reprise her starring role as Katniss Everdeen, who finds herself and her fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) returning to the arena for a special champions’ edition of the cruel games, in which teens are pitted against one another in a battle to the death. The not quite two-and-a-half-minute clip begins with Katniss and Peeta being introduced as the victors of the 74th annual Hunger Games, Elizabeth Banks’ garishly adorned Effie Trinket by their side. Donald Sutherland’s sinister President Snow is then glimpsed in conversation with Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Plutarch Heavensbee ruminating […]

Fans of Katniss Everdeen can get a glimpse of District 11 in a new teaser for “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” — emphasis on the word “glimpse.” The snippet of footage — which shows Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, and Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket on the co-champions’ victory tour stop at District 11 — barely runs 10 seconds and was released to promote the full teaser trailer and its April 14 unveiling during the MTV Movie Awards. A teaser for a teaser may sound insignificant (does anyone remember the one-second clip released ahead of the”Star Trek Into Darkness” trailer last fall?), but it’s all part of the “Hunger Games” hype as the Hollywood marketing machine kicks into gear for what is likely to be one of 2013′s biggest hits when it is released Nov. 22. “Catching […]

New character posters for “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” are out, heralding the return of victors Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), as well as revealing a glimpse of some new and returning characters. “Catching Fire” is the second installment in a planned quartet of films based on the bestselling young adult book trilogy by Suzanne Collins; the third book, “Mockingjay,” will be split into two movies. The story follows heroine Katniss, a teenager forced to fight other starving children in a televised battle to the death for the enjoyment of wealthy spectators in Panem, a post-apocalyptic version of North America. The first film in the franchise — last March’s “The Hunger Games” — earned more than $686 million at the worldwide box office. The second book picks up after Katniss’ victory, when a twist of fate (or, […]

Jennifer Lawrence has gone from being “the girl on fire” in “The Hunger Games” to Hollywood’s golden girl for her turn as a neurotic young widow in “Silver Linings Playbook.” She’s considered by many a front-runner for the best-actress Oscar when the 85th annual Academy Awards get underway Sunday night, capping an awards season that has seen Lawrence dominate the top honors — including the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild and Critics Choice awards. Saturday afternoon, she added one more trophy to her collection, picking up top actress honors at the Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica. Oscars 2013: Complete coverage But the Academy Awards voters aren’t swayed by the masses, of course. And Lawrence has plenty of competition heading into the ceremony being held tonight at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Lawrence is competing with Jessica Chastain for […]

Is this a sign of good things to come for “The Hunger Games” franchise? “The Hunger Games” took home a Grammy on Sunday night for “Safe & Sound,” a song on the film’s popular soundtrack. The honors went to Taylor Swift, T. Bone Burnett, John Paul White & Joy Williams in the category of song written for visual media. Now you might be thinking, “Hey, I watched the Grammys. I don’t remember that.” That’s because the honor was given out before the show began on CBS. Many fans found out via Swift’s tweet: WE JUST WON A GRAMMY FOR SAFE AND SOUND!!!!!!!!!!— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) February 10, 2013 The win comes as “The Hunger Games” and its star are on a roll. Jennifer Lawrence (who stars as Katniss Everdeen, of course) has been cleaning up this awards season, racking up dozens […]

“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” — the second installment in the movie franchise based on the young-adult book trilogy by Suzanne Collins — is still more than 10 months away, but fans got their first glimpse of the film Wednesday morning. The first released image from “Catching Fire” shows Katniss Everdeen (reprised by Jennifer Lawrence) and Finnick Odair (newcomer Sam Claflin, of “Snow White and the Huntsman” fame), who aims to break the young archer’s concentration during training. In the books, set in a post-apocalyptic North America called Panem, Katniss is one of 24 tributes forced to compete in a televised fight to the death for the amusement of the wealthy residents of the Capitol. Finnick Odair is introduced in the second book as a former champion and a cocky heartthrob who charms his way through the upper echelons of […]

San Diego’s Comic-Con International is always full of hype and bombast for movies and TV projects designed to appeal to lovers of genre entertainment. But even in the extensive annals of Hall H lore, the 2010 Marvel panel in which the cast of “The Avengers” assembled on a public stage for the first time still holds a special place in the history of the 6,500-seat auditorium. As the wild crowd cheered stars Robert Downey Jr., Clark Gregg, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo, writer-director Joss Whedon departed from the usual script — one in which filmmakers vow that their upcoming movie will be nothing short of awesome — with typical self-deprecating wit. “I am going to blow it,” he said amid the cheers. “I’m not up to it.” No surprise, really. He […]

Not without fanfare, Katniss Everdeen has taken her place in a pop culture lineage of new millennial vintage. Like Harry Potter and Bella Swan before her, the protagonist of “The Hunger Games” transfers from the pages of young-adult fiction to the big screen as nothing less than a pre-engineered box-office phenomenon. And as with all such YA juggernauts, the merits of the first adaptation of novelist Suzanne Collins’ trilogy are debatable (and for many fans, beside the point). Less in doubt is Katniss’ place at the forefront of a growing number of movie characters who happen to be tough young women and who don’t need to be rehabilitated for it. From the no-nonsense muscularity of her name to her peerless skills as an archer, Katniss (portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence) is an avatar of strength and purpose — without the once-requisite “for a […]

You’ve read the books — maybe even twice — and now you’ve seen “The Hunger Games” brought to life on the big screen. If that leaves you, well, hungering for more, North Carolina has an offer for you: Come see it for yourself. Tourism officials here are hoping that the blockbuster, filmed entirely in the Tar Heel State, will spur a new wave of travel by fans eager to see and touch the world of heroine Katniss Everdeen. And it’s helping things along with brochures and a Web campaign touting the Lionsgate film’s locations. Want to see the shanty where Katniss lives? Or the bakery that Peeta Mellark’s family owns? Then visit the Henry River Mill Village outside Charlotte where those scenes were filmed. Or learn survival skills in DuPont State Recreational Forest, where Katniss and her friend Gale Hawthorne […]