Some films make history because they are so brilliant or because they occasionally become huge box-office successes. However, some films leave such a lasting impression thanks to the characters they introduce that wind up becoming more ‘iconic’. Such was The Hunger Games films starring Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, and Woody Harrelson, among others.
When Harrelson joined The Hunger Games, he added yet another box office smash to his long list of successful films. As the mentor, Haymitch Abernathy’s personal demons were revealed, he gained depth and his character was something that anyone would want to play.
With all of his swagger and sarcasm, Harrelson seems to be the best choice to play Haymitch.
Despite the character having a wide range of emotions to explore, the Cheers star was hesitant to play the role. He reportedly turned down the role not just once, but twice!
Woody Harrelson Was Not Impressed With His Haymitch Abernathy Role
At first, Woody Harrelson had no desire to contribute to The Hunger Games. Although he found the script of the movie to be generally favorable, he was unable to relate to the story. He did not have a change of heart until he actually spoke with director Gary Ross. The actor once told The Independent:
“I turned it down and they re-offered it and I turned it down again. Then Gary Ross called me and convinced me to do it on the phone. I’d thought the writing was good but it didn’t feel that much to do for me.”
Harrelson was persuaded to take on the role after reading The Hunger Games books by author Suzanne Collins, on which the movies were based:
“I thought Suzanne wrote incredible stories that are the perfect illustration of what’s going in the world, with governments controlled by giant industries.”
In the end, Harrelson agreed to portray Haymitch in all four of the successful movies in the franchise. The actor, 62, told The Huffington Post that Haymitch was one of the most distinctive roles he ever played:
“I think he is a pretty fine character. I can’t think of any other character I have played like him. He is quite a unique character. Also he’s interesting because he’s one thing on the surface but then you find he is a little bit different, further down the road. He has that thing of people not being able to quantify him.”
Woody Harrelson Wanted His Character To Be ‘More Drunk And Debauched’
Woody Harrelson ultimately played Haymitch Abernarthy, a mentor to Jennifer Lawrence‘s Katniss Everdeen. But the Primetime Emmy Award-winning actor admitted that he initially wanted to give Haymitch a bit more layer. To quote him:
“That was kind of a discussion between Gary [Ross, the director] and I, because I always wanted to make Haymitch more drunk and debauched, but Gary wanted to keep a rein on it so that it wasn’t too much like that. In other words there are times when he had to get down to business so, yes, that had to be properly pitched. Me, I am always in general ready to go over the top with it, so it is helpful to have a director like Gary bringing me back.”
Garry Ross, the director, would only remain for the first The Hunger Games movie. Francis Lawrence later helmed the remaining installments in the franchise. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ross claimed that the only reason he left the franchise was that he had too much on his plate.
“Well, it was a very hard decision. I think what people didn’t realize is that I had two jobs. I wrote and I directed, and you do one of those things before you do the other. There was honestly no time to do both well in the three and a half months between movies, so I moved on. I got to make Free State of Jones, which not many people saw but remains one of my favorite pieces of work, so — all good.”
The 2012 film earned more than $694 million, making it the ninth-highest-grossing film of that year. In 2013, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was released.
All four films in The Hunger Games franchise are streaming on DIRECTV.
Source- The Independent
