A new trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was debuted at Comic-Con today, and it gave us some encouraging new glimpses of the film. There's more unrest in District 12 and more signs of unrest in the other districts after Katniss' unconventional victory last time around. "Something's changed since last year," says her sister Prim. "There's hope."
But we also see more of the Capitol, as well as key scenes like Katniss's interview prior to her second Games; training against the career tribunes who stand as her biggest threats this time, and her first moments in the arena, emerging blinking into a tropical scene and diving from their platforms towards a common goal. Donald Sutherland's President Snow is a much bigger presence, and a seriously scary one, while Elizabeth Banks's Effie Trinket is showing traces of a conscience at last.
"Woo! I don't remember ANY of that!" grins Jennifer Lawrence.
Director Francis Lawrence was joined by Willow Shields, Lenny Kravitz, Jenna Malone, Jeffrey Wright, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson to introduce the film, with J. Lawrence a surprise addition to the line-up.
Where's Katniss now? Says the woman who plays her: "Her life is very different now. She's suffering post-traumatic stress from the Games. She never has to worry about food anymore. She's living in Victor's Village [and] that makes her feel useless in a way. And she's experienced something with Peeta that leaves them understanding each other in a certain way. She's lived most of her life close to Gale, but now Peeta understands bits that Gale can't."
"It's very complicated," says Hutcherson. "Peeta has such strong feelings for Katniss and he expressed them to her and now he learns that it was all an act."
"It's complicated!" says Lawrence, defending her character.
"It's an act!" he rebuts, "But we won't get into this again."
"Cinna is a real cool cat," says Kravitz of his character. "He definitely has a lot of interest in Katniss as a friend, as somebody who really believes in her and cares for her. You'll see how they evolve until his very last scene."
Jennifer Lawrence was asked to compare the Oscars race to the Hunger Games. "Well, the stakes weren't as high," she grins. "But when I first went to the Oscars for Winter's Bone, a film I made when I was 18, it was this whole new world and I didn't feel a part of it, and I had to wear these dresses. In the second book it's more familiar and it's become a part of you, even though you don't really feel like it."
Lawrence also took great delight in describing how snotty and stuffed-up she was while filming her kissing scenes with Hutcherson, especially in one moment involving a resuscitation where Hutcherson got snot all over him apparently.
"I had to have running training, because I run weird," added Lawrence. "There's something called free running or parkour, which I am obviously still not an expert at. But the hardest stunt was still basic running and trying not to hit myself in the face with my bow. Those are my two greatest challenges."
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire hits cinemas in November 22 this year.