'Catching Fire' Director Francis Lawrence Talks of Inspiration For His Latest Movie
'Catching Fire' Director Francis Lawrence reveals that he was inspired by a recently-concluded TV series while filming the latest installment of 'The Hunger Games' series.
The director spoke to Mike Ryan of The Huffington Post about the latest movie, particularly how he got inspiration after binge-watching 'Breaking Bad.'
"I became really obsessed with "Breaking Bad" while we were making this and binge-watched the entire series up until these last eight episodes while we were making 'Catching Fire.'" Francis tells Mike. "And the more I watched those episodes, I just became sort of convinced that you can do that kind of stuff with movies, too. I know it's weird because TV people used to always look at movies for inspiration, and now, suddenly, we're looking at some great TV shows as inspiration."
Francis also says he was also inspired by his prior movies in filming 'Catching Fire.'
"I think the thing is, technically, 'I Am Legend' helped, because we were under the gun. It was a quick prep. It was a big movie. It has loads of effects. So there's a lot of technicalities and big world building." Francis says further.
He also admits that "Water for Elephants," which he also directed, helped him in the romantic aspect of the second installment of the movie franchise. "After the movie came out, I sort of saw the way people sort of perceived the movie and perceived the relationship -- and I learned quite a lot about what I intended and what I think people took away from the movie and how those didn't quite meet up. So, I think having been through that really helped with my presentation of their love triangle in this movie and what I was trying to portray."
When asked about how this movie will be different from the first which was directed by Gary Ross, Francis says, "I'm going to definitely have a different style at least visually than Gary does. But, I think all of my choices were not about trying to do something different, but rather just how do I tell this story in the best way possible."
Francis finally comments the running joke about how he was 'related' to the film's lead star Jennifer Lawrence.
"(O)ccasionally, Jennifer will just turn to me and say, 'You know what? We don't talk enough about our last name.' She'll say that. I mean, we constantly joke, because in every single article, it says, 'Francis Lawrence, no relation' -- of course, because it never says, 'Jennifer Lawrence, no relation.' And we say that when we do press conferences, the card in front of my seat should just say No relation.'"
When Mike Suggested that Francis should also adapt the same monicker as Jennifer, he says "Somebody did, on my trailer on the first movie, put a nickname where I was 'Flawrence and the Machine.'"