First Look at Katniss and Finnick Suited Up for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Am I the only one who imagined Finnick as older? They look like peers…

Perhaps I read that wrong.

Nope, I imagined him older as well.

I always read him as older, but I don’t think he’s that much older, considering they’re all children in the games and he won only a few years before she did. At most, he’s in his early 20s, but he could be as young as 18. I was shocked to see him so young here, but I actually think it makes it more powerful; he’s still kind of a kid.

Yeah, like almost in his thirties.
Also, why would Katniss have a wet suit on? Finnick’s wearing it because his district is in charge of fishing and such, but since pledges don’t know what the arena will be until they’re dropped in it, why would Katniss prepare for swimming?
Or maybe I’m thinking too hard about this.

He’s older, but I always thought that he was so pretty he looked to be closer to her age.

As far as I remember, they’re all given similar outfits to wear before heading in.

I thought so, too, so I checked, and it seems he won the 65th Hunger Games at age 14, making him 24 at the time of Catching Fire.

I feel like Finnick should be prettier.

Totally. I mean he’s handsome enough, but I just figured Finnick a little more buff.

THIS. Finnick’s insufficient hotness is a problem in my life.

And there’s the rub. Katniss is supposed to be 17 (I believe) making them around 8 years apart. But since she’s being played by a 22 year old, the age difference doesn’t seem so apparent.

Personally, I think Finnick looks too young. When I read the books, I pictured him as looking like he’s in his late-20s. He was 24 in the book, but I imagine that he’d look a tad older due to the stress of his life since and whatever…I dunno. Just doesn’t look right to me.

Yes, or at least more… exotic looking, for lack of a better expression. I feel he shouldn’t look quite so generically Hollywood good-looking, I guess.

This guy is pretty enough, but he looks absolutely nothing like I imagined Finnick.

I can honestly say that I never spend much time imagining how characters look…so, I’m hardly ever disappointed in casting decisions. The occasional question might cross my mind like, “Jennifer Lawrence is a bit too old/white/fit, wonder how they’ll pull that off?” But Rue is cast and she’s a) young and b) of a darker complexion which is what the book called for. …character should be more important than look. Sometimes you get a fantastic crossbreeding of the two (Hugh Jackman, Wolverine), but I will forever withhold judgement until I see the final product.

My only response to the above pictured characters is, “Yep, they’re in costume alright.”

Honestly, I’m wondering (and hoping) if they’re gonna address the sexual abuse that Finnick and other winners went through with the capitol. I have a feeling that they’re gonna cut it out, though..

I was thinking the same thing. He shouldn’t look the same age as Katniss, seeing as he won his hunger games over 5 years prior. Plus, wouldn’t going through something such as that, along with the terrible stuff to follow, age a person a bit?

I always pictured Finnick as a rugged-type handsome man. For whatever reason, I was picturing an Irish-looking brawler type who was just incredibly handsome.
Eh, just me, I guess.

But he’s being played by a 26 year old, so… yeah, I got nothing. Personally, I wanted them to push his Games back 10 years or so and cast Colin Farrell.

Given that he’s a swimmer, and comes from an ocean district, I was picturing something more like this: http://25.media.tumblr.com/55401c3dbffc2c4fa9995ac6c381283e/tumblr_mfehyjxd631ri4qf8o1_500.jpg

That’s still only half the age difference. Also, it seems to me that the difference between a teenager and someone in their mid twenties appears greater than an equal distance between two people in their twenties.

I thought most of that was in the third book – do they bring it up in Catching Fire? It’s been a minute since I read the books. I only point this out because, with Mockingjay being split into two movies, there is a better chance they’ll be able to leave it in and do it justice.

Not necessarily. Remember the setting, and how obsessed the Capital is with looks and self image. All of the tributes (and victors) are given their own team of stylists. Given how popular Finnick is, there is no way Snow and the officials would let him to look anything but perfect. If I remember correctly, I think there was even a procedure they made the boy tributes go through that prevented facial hair from growing, or something.

Look at Katniss’ face? How can you tell she’s irritated? She had that same expression on her face throughout the entire first movie. Jennifer Lawrence’s take on Katniss seems incredibly stoic. Maybe she will facially emote more for the second film.

Yeah, you might be right actually! In fact, I’m pretty sure you’re right. Well, here’s to saving this comment for the third movie, then. I have this /feel/ that they’re gonna skip out on it though.

Although I do usually have quite a clear image of how characters look, I completely understand liberties can be taken with films up to a point. After all, very often it’s open to interpretation.

However I do think that if there is something which is an important and defining characteristic of the character, it should be kept. Finnick is supposed to be very good looking, but that’s obviously to an extent down to personal taste. And his skin tone and hair colour aren’t described in *huge* detail and even then I think there’s always room for change if the actor can play the role well. However I do think there should be something very striking about Finnick’s looks (which now I think about it, is a better term than “exotic” which I used earlier!) – it’s a pretty significant part of his character really. And to me, Sam Claiflin just isn’t interesting looking. He’s clearly a nice looking fellow but there doesn’t seem anything extraordinary about him.

But as you say, character is very important and it may well be that he brings such charm to the role that he’ll sparkle (not literally) and seem like perfect casting. I’m completely unaware of Mr. Claiflin’s previous work so have no clue what he’s like as an actor. I too will withhold final judgement but my first impression is that his looks don’t stand out enough. I will be delighted if I’m proven wrong, which is very likely. After all the filmmakers held off announcing who had this role for long enough so I’m assuming they were careful in their choice.

I feel like he should look less like Bret McKenzie http://www.buddytv.com/articles/Image/bret-mckenzie.jpg http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lLsdaCVk3Kk/SaN4tKcmFAI/AAAAAAAAxiY/hGFr7yUYEI4/BretMckenzie05.jpg Because now I’ll just be sad that he’s not doing the accent.

I always imagined Finnick as a dark skinned Asian but that’s just my head canon

Rue was described as having ‘satiny brown skin’ in the book. I think they, for once, got it on the money. Her ‘look’, or, race, rather, is a very important factor, in an industry that overwhelmingly favors white actors and actresses, and regularly whitewashes characters with little regard to how it affects people of color.

‘Character v.s. appearance’ is not mutually exclusive: you can and should have both.

Spoiler: They are all given wetsuits that are later ripped into shreds and they run around half naked for the rest of the book. I wonder if Hollywood will keep that part. o,o

…I was just going to start reading the third book. Damnit. >_<

I agree that Rue was cast appropriately and said so…the most amazing casting decision to me was for Cinna. Lenny Kravitz is literally the person I was imagining in the role. His acting, well…he looked good.

If whitewashing is your beef, I understand, but I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the very nerdy habit of complaining about every little thing that doesn’t look perfect. I agree that if a character is described as black or Asian, then they should be black or Asian on the big screen, but what everyone is describing for Finnick…this sense of exoticism and beauty…that’s eye of the beholder stuff.

I was trying to avoid mentioning Peeta…but, really, if we’re going to complain about someone not being appropriately pretty, that guy looks like a pug.

He was 15 when he won, so I think Sam’s around the right age. I’m not completely sold on his hotness, but if he’s a good actor I might be proven wrong on that. I was proven wrong on Josh Hutcherson’s Peeta. Hopefully that’ll happen again.

I pictured him older, in his 30′s or something

Ah, I thought you said her complexion was darker than the book called for. If I misunderstood, then that’s my mistake. I’ve seen a lot of “controversy” for her casting and it’s pretty rage-inducing.

Hahaha. I could handle Peeta looking like a pug if he could act, but, no. He’s a pug who cannot act. At all. I’m not sure why he keeps popping up in movies. He’s like a young Sam Worthington.

Sorry but he’s really OFFF as Finick! And its was the only character I actually liked from the 2d book

I had my issues initially but I can’t fault him for being “Not MY Finnick” because he really likes playing the role and having the opportunity to do the films. I’m not crazy about the cover image but I do like the one of him getting all Casanova on Katniss. She isn’t having it and it’s very telling of how they deal with things. Poor guy doesn’t have a happy story either.

As for Sam’s acting, I sort of felt he was the window hangings in the two films I saw him in. He was playing against Johnny Depp and Chris Hemsworth, both of whom have much more noticeable presence than he did. I really genuinely hope he makes me love the Finnick he’s going to portray because he’s too complicated a character to be attractive window dressings again.

I completely understand. That kind of thing, the whole uproar over Rue, everytime someone said, “Well, I didn’t think she was black / she didn’t act black / she was too black,” I wanted to dropship a bunch of white hoods and robes to the commenter, that way he could hold the Klan rally she always wanted to have.

As for Peeta, his wooden countenance for the entirety of the film was pretty annoying, especially since without any expression to ponder, I just kept trying to figure exactly what formula of his eyes, nose, and forehead made him so cartoonish and distracting. Agreed, completely, his “range” is very similar to Sam Worthington’s.

While we’re on the subject of race switcherooisms, Warm Bodies is coming out pretty soon and the character Nora, played in the film by Analeigh Tipton, I’m pretty sure is described as being black…possibly even more often than the one description Rue got in The Hunger Games. So, that should be a thing.

“I was trying to avoid mentioning Peeta…but, really, if we’re going to complain about someone not being appropriately pretty, that guy looks like a pug.”

Hah! Harsh… but fair. I think Peeta was probably the only actor I didn’t feel was quite right for the role. I was happy with everyone else though. I actually thought Lenny Kravitz wasn’t too shoddy! I think that slightly wooden, emotionless delivery kinda worked for Cinna!

I always thought of him as lanky

Oh my. http://24.media.tumblr.com/5829ca50b52deaf04580247e160ad839/tumblr_mmyklgYXZ41r2ckpzo1_500.gif