More Hints at the DVD/Blu-Ray Extras!

As we get closer to the home entertainment release of Mockingjay Part 2 and the first 4- film collection, we’re finding out more about what extras are in store for us. HitFix has a new trailer with some details on the 4-film collection, and we’re excited.

• 12 Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes from The Hunger Games
• 6 Deleted Scenes from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Including 1 Never Before Seen
• 9 Deleted Scenes from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
• 2 All-New Featurettes: “Picturing Panem” and “Capitol Cuisine”
• 70 Additional Featurettes (Blu-ray); 69 Additional Special Featurettes (DVD)
• Audio Commentaries, Music Videos and More

The trailer HitFix has up is definitely worth a look, for some glamour shots of the oh-so-pretty art included in the collection, and hints at what some of this new extra content will be. The very quick shot of little Prim running through the forest definitely caught our eye.

Can it be? The mysterious scene of Prim in a tribute costume that we’ve wondered about since seeing some BTS shots from the Hunger Games DVD? Looks like we’ll finally get to see it. (That’s 1 thing to mark off our wish list -woo!).  With 12 never-before-seen deleted scenes from the first movie, we’re really excited about what other surprises are in store. Catching Fire has only one never-before-seen one, so place your guesses on what that is (Morphling painting Peeta’s arm is my bet, though if I can only have one, my heart wants the Katniss & Peeta rooftop scene BECAUSE IT’S IMPORTANT).

Inevitably, there is going to be repetition with the extras if you’ve owned earlier versions of the movies, but it looks like they’re putting in just enough new stuff to make us NEED this.

Yes, we’d already seen this shot of the last day of filming in earlier home entertainment promo material, but it’s too cute to not post. Ahhhhhhh.

More sneak peeks please, things are too quiet.

JJ

FINNICK ODAIR IN HIS UNDERWEAR

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is out on Digital HD on February 17th, so the behind-the-scenes clips are starting to roll in. There have been three so far, but we’re only going to take about ONE. Because as great as hair and costumes are, there’s something else involved here.

The infamous Finnick scene from Mockingjay, the book, was cut from the movie. And we understand why! Finnick was so emotionally heavy in this movie that a sudden joke and strip tease may have come off as awfully out of character.

But man, did we miss that scene. It’s funny! …And Sam Clafin shirtless, obviously. (We’re not even gonna try to pretend that we didn’t care whether or not we saw Sam shirtless. WE CARED.)

Thankfully, the very first bit of behind-the-scenes goodness we get is all about Sam Claflin’s experience as Finnick. AND THERE IT IS!

He's more than a pretty face. Finnick Odair has a message for President Snow… Own #Mockingjay on Digital HD 2/17!https://t.co/NQYUCzi9il

— The Hunger Games (@TheHungerGames) February 11, 2015

Unfortunately, it’s a brief flash with a District 13 weapons room missile blocking off part of the view. Which makes it really, really hard to screencap. But we sure tried!

:

This confirms something great for us: Even though the deleted scene may not be on the DVD (There’s a possibility that is could be in the announced “Katniss and Boggs walk through District 13” scene mentioned but we doubt it), they’re probably going to discuss the hilarity of that sequence somewhere in there.

Underwear aside, we love Sam. Because he talks about how he still gets nervous coming on to set and feels such a great responsibility to the franchise. And to us, that’s both very modest of him and massively important. Confidence is wonderful and he should have it, but it’s amazing to see just how much he wants to get things right and impress the fanbase.

Also, FINNICK ODAIR IN HIS UNDERWEAR!
The Girl With The Pearl

Mockingjay Still-O-Rama Reactions

Mockingjay is less than two weeks away! Besides press tour interviews galore (and the return to the entire cast seemingly getting sick at once), there’s something else coming in droves: NEW STILLS AND BEHIND THE SCENES IMAGES!

Of course, you don’t just see a still. You see it and you have a reaction. Sometimes it’s just a basic “Oh that’s cool!” or “Meh”, but sometimes it’s something much bigger. So let’s share those more substantial reactions:

Effie’s eyebrows are in a semi-natural state! Now are they gray-ish from years of over-treatment, plucking, etc? Or are we actually supposed to believe that homegirl has naturally light blonde eyebrows? Because as a natural blonde, that does not happen! Wait, what’s Effie’s natural hair color? Does SHE even know?!

WIIIIIIIIIG! It’s like “The Mole” scene from Austin Powers for us at certain points. It’s not a bad wig– it’s actually a good one, hairline-wise and all that jazz. But you started thinking about how shiny and perfectly wavy her hair looks and then OH YEAH IT’S A WIG. Because nobody’s real hair ever stays that nice. We mean, Woody has a wig too but his reflects his character, thus is a total mess.

Is that District 13 schematic just like… their screensaver or something? When they don’t have anything relevant to their missions, is that always just there in the background like “HEY GUYS! THIS IS WHERE WE LIVE!”? We’ve seen a lot of that sucker!

Paylor in contrast to Katniss, Gale, and the film squad is beautiful. She’s got this very salt-to-the-Earth look that’s we’re digging. She is a part of a grassroot rebel movement. They don’t no stinkin’ armor! Okay, they need it, but they don’t have it and they fight anyway. And that is true badassery.

Snow’s office is awesome and all, but there are young people lined up in Capitol clothing in the upper right-hand corner of this photo. Why are they there? Are they supporters? Could they be consorts toted around the city like Finnick and Johanna were? What are you doing to them Snow?!

So you’re telling me that the dude with the cowboy hat and mutton chops is NOT in the movie? DAMMIT! DAMMIT ALL TO HELL! WHY NOT?!

Lessons from the Last Week of Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire filming is winding down as it is the last week of filming, and we’ve gotta to say we’re hopeful for this movie. Not out and out confident, but hopeful nonetheless. In keeping with what we did for the first week of filming, here are Lessons from the Last Week of Catching Fire*:

Under a cut because spoiler pictures!

What the Catching Fire Characters are REALLY Thinking!

Disclaimers, warnings, etc!

First and foremost, SPOILERS AHOY!

Thought of a really fun post, but it involves those Catching Fire set photos that everyones been talking about! To be fair, it is UNDER THE CUT (or further down the page, if you’re already in the full page link!)

Here comes that super repetitive reminder that we’re three. different. writers. with different opinions. For instance, Them There Eyes is really not a fan of these things. However, I’m more lenient. Personal preference: We dig it! These photos have been up on the Internet for days without any sites receiving notifications to remove them, so we’re not secretly, scandalosuly posting them against the will of the mothership. Breathe in, breathe out!

Plus, we’re gonna get hella wicked maaaaad funny with it!

In short: You have been warned. We have explained our position. Nobody is making you look if you don’t want to. QUIT YA BITCHIN.

Ya bitchin’. Quit it.

Willing to check out the rest of the post? Venture UNDER THE CUT!

Lessons from the First Week of Catching Fire

This has been quite a week for Hunger Games fans. Filming had barely started, we had just gotten used to the idea that Catching Fire would be filming, when BAM! photos from the set were already at our fingertips. So let’s reflect back on the lessons we’ve learned from this week.

1) Trust no one.

Ok, this lesson is very specific to me, in that NOT ONE PERSON, not my friends in or outside of fandom, let me know these existed. I’m still feeling the complete and utter sting of betrayal. Only several hours after the fact was I able to finally open my computer and just so happen to come across them.

Obviously, I need new friends.

2) White robes are both completely evil and strangely fashionable.

This feels like part of a photo shoot for a white robe catalogue

Though we were finally able to see what was under some of those robes, we were left guessing a lot of the time because of them. But after looking at them for some time, we kind of got to wanting them for ourselves. You’re lying if you didn’t look at those pictures and think, ‘Man, those robes look comfy.’

Work that robe, PSH.

3) Be careful about standing next to Finnick. You may become a meme.

Courtesy of Shylah from DWTC

Also here’s what Savanna New from HG Fireside Chat had to contribute.

4) Jeffrey Wright is doing his homework.

Beetee plays such an instrumental part in Mockingjay, so we’re glad he’s finding out what he’s gotten into. Or even better, he already knows and is just doing a refresher!

5) We’ve gotta start doing more lunges.

I mean look at these!

How does one get those thighs?

And this is just week one! We hope to learn more lessons in the coming months.

All I want to know is how do I get Meme Guy’s job
Twiffidy

Simon Says.

This isn't a droid you're looking for, this is an award you're looking for!

Hmm, seems that another little bit of news got a little over shadowed last week by the amazing, stupendous, sparkly, yet also a little dark and twisty (just the way we like it), full length trailer! Lionsgate – wait for it – is trying to get its paws on the illustrious Simon Beaufoy (we’ll tell you who he is in a minute!) For what? Why dear, lovely readerly people, to take the first crack at writing the full length script to Catching Fire, that’s what. So, since today is the two-year mark exactly until Catching Fire is slated to be released – it’s all the more fitting to wax philosophic and/or gush over Mr Beaufoy, as well as give props to Lionsgate, Ross and Collins for seeking out someone of his caliber to adapt their – well, baby.

Seriously, Simon Beaufoy?! No really, we simply must gush over the fact that they want to get this guy on board, ‘cause he’s the real deal where it comes to screenplay writing! What’s he done, okay – chronologically (we’ll only name films people would be more likely to have seen), The Full Monty, Blow Dry, Slumdog Millionaire – which he won an Oscar for (eeeee!), 127 Hours, and next up he penned the screenplay to the anticipated Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Can we get ‘hell yeah’? ‘Cause this is exciting news!

The man, the myth - The Simon Beaufoy.

Now, some may be asking why isn’t Collins and Ross taking the helm on this one? Simple, Ross is hell-a busy working on post production on The Hunger Games, and Collins – well no idea what she’s doing, but we’re sure it’s awesome, new series maybe (crossing fingers on that one). Bottom line, Beaufoy gets on board to take the first crack, and Ross and Collins will tweak it to their liking once all things are said and done – and we collectively will jump up and down like crazy people. No, really – we will.

Can we just say it? If they get someone as reputable to pen the first screenplay of what some consider to be the best book in the series (to some it’s The Empire Strikes Back of the series, really), it means that Lionsgate has even more stock invested in the series – because they’re going for quality choice people! Remember way back about a year or so ago when Lionsgate had so and so write the screenplay, we all know the one – yep, the one that changed key elements to the story and scared the shit out of us all? Those were dark days, were they not? Anyway, can’t fault them for wanting to hire a Yorkshire boy (Beaufoy is from Yorkshire)! This gives us über amounts of hope for the future of the series, because they’re no longer shooting for defunct TV writers (not Collins, she’s far from defunct – she’s a freakin’ successful novelist), but more Oscar worthy as well as Oscar bestowed people. A lot of hope is behind this series adaptation, and that hope is in a form of confidence – let’s, er… hope it all comes to fruition.

Our little series that could has come a long way, hasn’t it?

Them There Eyes

The Other Men of The Hunger Games Part Three

Third time’s a charm right? Well here goes part three, hold on to your butts!

Our first man worth mentioning is quite the catch, he’s been in the business for a while now and– okay fine it’s Gary Ross!

Seriously, if you didn’t already recognize him you should have your Hunger Games fan membership card revoked, because Ross is none other than the director of The Hunger Games! Now, we have to say it took the power of suggestion to make us realize how bleeding good-looking this award-winning writer, director and producer is. Ross, you have to agree with us is a stone cold silver fox, and his appeal only increases when you watch his recent Skype interview with MTV, where he gushed and pretty much displayed his true nature i.e. his Hunger Games fan boy-ness. Oh, also the fact that he’s the man who wrote Big and Dave, two of the most charming comedies of the late 80s and mid 90s. This guy wrote a scene where Tom Hanks jumps on a trampoline in a tux– without irony. This is a man who wrote a scene where essentially Ripley from Alien sings a song from Annie, and enjoys it. That’s hot, okay– just is. It should also be addressed that he directed and wrote both Seabiscuit and Pleasantville, two films that while they both seem to air on the side of lightness, they simultaneously deal with quite heavy issues that we all can relate to on some level. Furthermore Pleasantville is notable because of its innovative use of color or better yet its lack of color, as well as multiple homage’s to great films of the past, art criticism, social criticism, not to forget some pretty damn great acting performances. Seriously though, the man’s got a fantastic smile, and that’s key when choosing a director, right?

Our last man, can we just say it out right, is the best looking behind the scenes guy we’ve come across in this painstaking (it was so painful guys, you have no idea) search. That there is Mr. Chad Stahelski, and he’s what can only be termed as tall, dark and handsome. Chad’s a stunt man and stunt coordinator by the way, so obviously he’s likely in fantastic physical shape. Let’s see what might we have seen him in, granted not him him, but him doubling for other people; he’s pretty consistently doubled for Keanu Reeves on several projects including all The Matrix films, on The Crow he doubled for Brandon Lee (awe), he doubled for David Boreanaz on Angel as well. So, now we can all get out our DVD’s and try and pick him out in frame by frame mode. Chad’s sadly not performing any stunts in The Hunger Games though, he is however a stunt coordinator on the project. Other films he’s had the same or similar title on are Killer Elite, Iron Man 2, Speed Racer, 300, V for Vendetta, TRON:Legacy and on two of The Matrix films he was the martial arts stunt coordinator meaning he’s got a specialized background in martial arts– which is decidedly sexy (yeah, we said it). The best project in our opinion that he’s had his hands all over is Serenity, the Joss Whedon project that continued the short-lived and much-loved cult series Firefly. The stunts on that film are something to be in awe of, notably Nathan Fillion’s because he did a lot of his own including a pretty visceral face plant right into a glass floor (he did it more than once, he may have chipped his cheekbone), and Summer Glau– wow Summer Glau, can’t say much about her physical work in that film other than wow. Honestly, just knowing Chad had much to do with such a beloved project other than The Hunger Games, well it warms the cockles of our hearts (we’ve got a lot of hearts).

So that’s it! No it’s not, two honorary mentions have to go to two chaps both from the Eastern Seaboard, Mr. Russ Bowen, come on down!

Mark with Leven Rambin. Photo taken from Mark's Twitter.

Russ Bowen is a news caster from North Carolina who during the duration of the filming of The Hunger Games was a wealth of knowledge and tid bits where it came to everything and all he could get his hands on having to do with the film. Russ has been mentioned here before, but we thought it was high time it was addressed that not only is he an enthusiastic unintentional member of the fan community, but he’s not too hard on the eyes either, and the accent–that’s just a bonus.

Lastly we have to mention someone who spent large chunks of his time on The Hunger Games set this summer. Mr. Mark Reardon, aka Alexander Ludwig’s good friend, house mate and fellow USC student. Mark has no official credits on the film, but it’s been feigned to multiple times that he participated in the film in one way shape or form. Our guess is he may have been an extra or a stand in for someone, but you’re guess is as good as ours! Either way, Mark’s a fit bloke, (good-looking) and engages with fans on a semi regular basis. So in all those capacities it’s felt that he’s worth mentioning.

That’s it guys, time to go back to our lives. Lives? What are lives?

Them There Eyes

The Other Men of The Hunger Games Part Two

So we stepped back a bit last week and relished in a banana wielding Liam Hemsworth, but most importantly the spotlight was finally on some of the illustrious men who have had their hands all over and up in what will hopefully become one of the best book to film adaptations in history. Grand assumption, but be aware they have Harry Potter/Gone With the Wind sized shoes to fill. Today we’re doin’ a bit of the same, yet not because we have two more men folk to be all gob smacked over, as well as go off our heads over how handsome, smart and talented they are. Are you ready? ‘Kay fine, if you’re not then just don’t stick your hands outside the car when it’s moving, that gives us anxiety!

Mmm hmm, that’s Steven Soderbergh. Yeah, we know he’s not conventionally handsome, he’s what some of us would even term nerd-sexy. Well– we would anyway. Soderbergh is a film director, and now some of you are going, “huh, who’s he?” And we’re sitting over here crying. Actually he’s got 34 directing credits to his name, including Sex Lies and Video Tape (the first one of his some of us saw! God, we’re old), Traffic, Out of Sight, Full Frontal (come on, David Duchovny asking for sexual favors from a massage therapist, what’s not to like?), Solaris, all the Ocean’s films, and currently his film Contagion starring Matt Damon is in theatres and getting high marks. To round out the good points to his career he’s also got 32 producer credits and 9 writer credits.

What’s his connection to The Hunger Games though? Easy, about two months ago it was rumored that he was on board to be the second unit director on the project, and then some people started throwing parties in their heads, because they wanted him to direct the whole damn movie before Ross came on board (what, no one else did that? We feel so lonely now). Anyway, the rumor was confirmed and Mr. Sexy-Soderbergh was on for helping his buddy, Mr. Gary Ross out on his little-movie-that-could. Now wait just a second there, what’s a second unit director? Oh, it’s the director of the second unit scenes, i.e. scenes in which the principle cast do not appear. Usually an other director takes on this role (also someone cheaper as well), but Ross and Soderbergh are good friends, so Ross asked and Soderbergh said it would be a fun to do so he did it (collective yay!). This actually turns out to not be something odd for Ross to ask of him, because Soderbergh did some second unit directing on Ross’ 1998 film Pleasantville. All this info we gotta say, has almost entirely redeemed Soderbergh for the horrible experience that Che was. Seriously, he came to one of our cities to do a screening and a q & a. The theatre was packed to the walls, the couple in front of us kept whispering suggestively to each other, and part of the screen was blocked by a pipe and of course, that couples ever-joining heads. It was painful, we left early and got crepes smothered in chocolate, because if we’d stayed for the q & a session we probably would have yelled at Mr. Soderbergh for making such a painfully boring four hour film, and possibly about the annoying couple. So, yes directing bits and pieces of The Hunger Games puts him back on the list of directors that will never include Michael Bay! He should be very very proud.

John Collins (no relation to the cocktail Tom, we checked) looks like someone who would have been on the high school football team, we have no idea what position he would have played, because frankly we don’t know anything about football, so yeah there’s that. Now though, not only does he look like someone we would not be apposed to conversing with whilst sipping on a tiny straw dunked inside a glass of something with vodka or gin in it, but he’s the supervising art director on our favorite obsession. Collins, we have to admit, is sort of in the beginning stages of building his career, so the titles he has connected to his name aren’t the most stellar of pieces. In fact, we don’t even really want to share them ‘cause we’d likely never want to see them. Okay fine we’ll throw you a bone, or three; Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Grandma’s Boy, and Click. See, told ‘ya they aren’t the tops, but people have to start somewhere right? But, yeah still worthy of conversation and our respect in the morning! Oh, man– he’s so never calling us after sharing that imagined cocktail break. Cheers to the other men of the Hunger Games! The Best is yet to come!

Them There Eyes

The Other Men of The Hunger Games Part One

Let’s take a step back for a second and address yet again the nagging, annoying, irritating word that keeps cropping up when it comes to the men of The Hunger Games— hotties (we’re lookin’ at you E! Online! Don’t you look away, we see you painting your nails over there!). There we said it, and we have actually said it in real life about many a person, usually people of the opposite sex if you must know, we may have possibly even said it about Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Lenny Kravitz, and yes dare we admit it– Alexander Ludwig. What, the guy’s a bona fide Abercrombie model? That’s never a bad thing, unless you’re shopping with one of our mothers who seriously thinks their advertisements are just a shade away from pornography (oh, mommy, if you only knew what real porn looked like). Although today, today of days, we’re not going to focus on the men of The Hunger Games that have graced those glossy magazine covers, and shiny shiny gossip blogs. Today the focus is on the other men of The Hunger Games, the ones who have been eligible to vote in their respective countries for longer than say– 2 years (Kravitz is exempt, he’s almost 50, don’t tell him that though. And we don’t mean he can’t vote, he so can vote!). Friends, today it’s about the men behind the scenes, two of them actually, because the list’s actually pretty long, so it’ll be brought to you in installments for your reading pleasure, also viewing ‘cause there’s pictures, or shall we call them visual aids?

Now, we could go in an order starting with the men with most noteworthy careers, or we could be totally petty and shallow and go straight for the meat and potatoes of the issue at hand– the hot ones, and trust us there are hot ones working their magic behind the scenes on this very very anticipated film. Okay okay, hot ones if you have an open mind, and get that people over the age of 35 can be just as attractive as a 21 year-old Australian guy whose favourite past time is surfing, or that one 19 year-old with the abs of amazingness, whose visage is gracing shopping bags that make our mothers nervous. Fine, let’s go from least attractive to most, it’s only fitting!

That there to the right of Mr. Eastwood (anybody else flash on Lea Thompson in Back to the Future Part Three saying that name in her faux Irish accent, when they see the name Mr. Eastwood?), is Mr. Tom Stern. Stern’s all right to look at, we could even venture to call him a Silver Fox, but we’re not quite there yet. Stern, he may not be worthy of a double take, but if we were over the age of 45, we’d possibly find him to be a very acceptable dinner companion, and considering he’s 65 years-old that could mean he may know how to dance, as many of the baby boomer generation seem to magically have that ability. He may very well have also seen the Beatles perform live in his life, and we mean all of them, and that’s pretty cool by many peoples standards. Let’s see, he’s also got all his hair which is a major plus if you’re into that sort of thing. However, his most attractive quality has got to be addressed, he’s had an amazing career so far as a cinematographer and been on the photography and electrical staffs of several films of note, including some of the best films of the last three decades. Starting with the academy award winning American Beauty, then onto Mystic River, Road to Perdition, Million Dollar Baby, and Unforgiven. Perhaps the best title he’s worked on though (wait for it) The Goonies! How hot is that?! We mean just knowing he had a hand in a film that brought us such wonderful things as The Truffle Shuffle, and laughing at a develop mentally disabled and severely neglected abuse victim– that’s golden in our hearts. All kidding aside, we do genuinely love The Goonies, it is in fact golden in our hearts, and we’re also greatly looking forward to another film he’s had his paws on, J. Edgar starring Leonardo Dicaprio. Moving on!

This strapping 46 years young man could be called an Italian Stallion, but that would be weird, so we won’t– is Philip Messina (the one to the right guys!). He is good looking, got a nice smile too, and he’s talented to boot which is always attractive– isn’t it? Messina’s title on The Hunger Games is production designer, and the productions he’s worked on are both big and small, including such films as Traffic; The Sixth Sense, all the Ocean’s 11 films, Erin Brockovich, Solaris, 8 Mile (yes the 8 Mile theme is now stuck in our heads, thank you), Out of Sight, Mermaids, (anyone who’s never seen this film needs to Netflix it now, it’s got Christina Ricci at age nine and Michael Schoeffling, aka Jake Ryan from Sixteen Candles in it), and best of all, the cherry on top so to speak, the cult series Freaks and Geeks. You have to agree the man’s ability to design productions that resonate and stay with us for decades (think Sixth Sense, people. Also, for some of us… Traffic, Solaris, Out of Sight and Mermaids), is something special, and you have to admit that it’s certifiably hot as well.

We could go on, but the list goes on and on a bit, and who could stand the onslaught of all that mature hotness?! Think of it this way, it only gets better after these two talented men, or perhaps just think we’re saving the best for last. Until then, let us relish in the most porn-y photo we could find including a Hunger Games cast member. Hold onto your hats, if you’re wearing one that is!

Them There Eyes