Mick OShea - Beyond District 12: The Stars of The Hunger Games

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Sandra, Laura and Tom at Plexus for their assistance in my bringing the book in on time, Rupert Tracy, and Jackie and Richard at P-PR. Thanks also to Tasha Bodacious Babe Cowen and Shannon Mini-Hepburn Stanley, for keeping the tea flowing, and putting up with my mood-swings and frustrations when occasionally stumbling over the dreaded writers block, Paul Young (not the singer) Lisa T-bag Bird, Johnny Carroll, Fi Bartlett and the twins, Debbie Mustapha, Zoe Johnson-Meadows, Martin and Angela Jones, Phil and Nic Williams.

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth have given interviews to many newspapers, magazines, and websites, and these have proved invaluable in chronicling their lives and careers. The author and editors would like to give special thanks to: Vanity Fair, Elle magazine, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Teen Vogue, Flare magazine, Seventeen magazine, Womans Day magazine, Dolly magazine, OK! magazine, Entertainment Weekly, J-14, People magazine, US Weekly, the New York Times, the Louisville Courier-Journal, the Washington Post, The Hollywood Reporter, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Chicago Tribune, the Lexington Herald-Leader, the Herald Sun (Melbourne), the Daily Telegraph (Australia), the National Enquirer, the Globe and Mail (Toronto), CNN.com, MTV.com, thehungergamesmovie.com, thehob. org, mockingjay.net, entertainmentnews.co.uk, cinemablend.com, cellebuzz.com, moviefone.com, adelaidenow.com, dailystar.com, clevvertv.com, jennifer-lawrence.com, imdb.com, popsugar.com.au, deadline.com, aceshowbiz.com, hollywoodlife.com, accesshollywood.com.

Cover photographs by: Getty Images/ WireImage/ Stringer; Rex Features/ BEI/ Photowire. We would like to thank the following for supplying photographs: Marcel Thomas/ Getty Images, Kevin Mazur/ WireImage/ Getty Images; Jon Kopaloff/ FilmMagic/ Getty Images; Alessandra Benedetti/ Corbis; Alessandra Benedetti/ Corbis; Michael Buckner/ Getty Images; Angello Picco/ Rex Features; c.TBS/ Everett/ Rex Features; Startraks Photo/ Rex Features; c.Wild Bunch/ Everett/ Rex Features; Lester Cohen/ WireImage/ Getty Images; Frazer Harrison/ Getty Images; c.Roadside/Everett/ Rex Features; c.Roadside/ Everett/ Rex Features; Steve Granitz/ WireImage/ Getty Images; Alexandra Wyman/ WireImage/ Getty Images; c.Everett Collection/ Rex Features; c.Paramount/ Everett/ Rex Features; Sipa Press/ Rex Features; John Shearer/ Getty Images; Dominique Charriau/ WireImage/ Getty Images; c.20thC.Fox/ Everett/ Rex Features; Murray Close/ Moviepix/ Getty Images; Jeff Kravitz/ FilmMagic/ Getty Images; Donna Ward/ Getty Images; NBCUPHOTOBANK/ Rex Features; Startraks Photo/ Rex Features; Jason Merritt/ FilmMagic/ Getty Images; SGranitz/ WireImage/ Getty Images; John Sciulli/ WireImage/ Getty Images; c.20thC.Fox/ Everett/ Rex Features; c.Columbia/ Everett/ Rex Features; Lisa OConnor/ Zuma/ Corbis; E. Charbonneau/ WireImage/ Getty Images; Jun Sato/ WireImage/ Getty Images; Kevin Winter/ Getty Images; c.Columbia/ Everett/ Rex Features; c.BuenaVist/ Everett/ Rex Features; Stephen Shugerman/ Getty Images; c.20thC.Fox/ Everett/ Rex Features; Jeff Vespa/ WireImage/ Getty Images; Patrick Rideaux/ Rex Features; c.New Line/ Everett/ Rex Features; Universal/ Everett/ Rex Features; Frank Trapper/Corbis; c.Focus/ Everett/ Rex Features; AFP/ Stringer/ Getty Images; Brendon Thorne/ Stringer/ Getty Images; Serge Thomann/ WireImage/ Getty Images; James Devaney/ WireImage/ Getty Images; Luis Ascui/ Getty Images; George Pimentel/ WireImage/ Getty Images; Mark Metcalfe/ Stringer/ Getty Images; c.W.Disney/ Everett/ Rex Features; c.W.Disney/ Everett/ Rex Features; BDG/ Rex Features; Lester Cohen/ WireImage/ Getty Images; Lucas Dawson/ Getty Images; Broadimage/ Rex Features; Graham Denholm/ Stringer/ Getty Images; Matt Baron/ BEI/ Rex Features; Startraks Photo/ Rex Features; Lionsgate Films/ Image Net; Donato Sardella/ WireImage/ Getty Images; Fred Hayes/ Getty Images; Lionsgate Films/ Image Net; Frank Trapper/ Corbis; Jim Smeal/ BEI/ Rex Features; Lionsgate Films/ Image Net; Henry Lamb/ Photowire/ BEI/ Rex Features; Theo Wargo/ WireImage/ Getty Images; Theo Kingma/ Rex Features; Stewart Cook/ Rex Features; Startraks Photo/Rex Features; Lionsgate Films/ Image Net; Ray Tamarra/ Getty Images; Lionsgate Films/ Image Net.

Every effort has been made to acknowledge and trace copyright holders and to contact original sources, and we apologise for any unintentional errors which will be corrected in any future editions of this book.

Jennifer Lawrence shows off her newly brunette locks outside The Late Show with David Letterman in 2011.

I n an unspecified future time, North America has been ravaged by an apocalypse, and a new autocratic nation has risen up out of the smouldering ashes of the former continental United States of America.

Panem, which consists of a fabulously wealthy Capitol and twelve far less opulent satellite districts, lies somewhere within the sprawling 3,000-mile stretch of mountains that Americans had called the Rocky Mountains. But, ruled by systematic oppression and exploitation, the half-starved inhabitants scratching a living within the twelve subjugated districts have no knowledge or understanding of what life was like for their long-forgotten American forebears. While Panems wealthiest and most powerful citizens live in opulent grandeur in the high-tech Capitol, the citizens of the districts live in servitude catering to the Capitols needs.

Though it is never spoken about, there had once been a thirteenth district, supposedly destroyed in retribution for its unruly populace, who dared to rise up in rebellion against the Capitol.

To keep the masses in their subservient place, each and every year, during an event known as the reaping, two adolescents one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen are selected by lottery from each of the twelve districts and taken to the Capitol, where they are forced to participate in the Hunger Games.

Jennifer debuts as Katniss on the May 2011 cover of Entertainment Weekly.

I had read the books before I even knew I would be auditioning for the movie, and was a huge fan of the material. I feel like a fan that gets to dress up.

Jennifer Lawrence

Like the gladiatorial contests fought within Ancient Romes Coliseum, Panems Hunger Games have come to be regarded as the highlight of the Capitols social calendar, with the high and mighty attending the contests dressed in their finery. The Games are also televised on giant screens throughout the twelve districts, and everyone living within the districts is required to watch the proceedings. Two tributes representing their particular district who could well be their own sons, daughters, nieces or nephews are pitted against each other and mutated beasts in a fight to the death, fought in a specially-constructed outdoor arena.