‘Hunger Games’ director confirms first R-rated cuts for any film since Catching Fire
Summary
- The hunger Games In order to reach a wider audience, the films had to be changed to a PG-13 rating despite their initial R-rated cuts.
- The explicit violence in the films may not be crucial to conveying the political and social message, but it does add to the impact of the story.
- The real battles in The hunger Games are fought outside the arena with strategy rather than relying solely on brute force, reflecting the complex war between the rebels and the Capitol.
The hunger Games Movies contain a high level of violence due to their plots, but it could have been even more violent than Francis Lawrence reveals that all of the films he directed had an R-rated first cut. The first Hunger Games The film, released in 2012, was directed by Gary Ross. Despite the good response from the fans of the saga and the good performance at the box office, the director did not return for the second part. Lawrence’s arrival for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire marked a before and after for the franchise and this film is considered by most fans to be the best of the entire saga. The filmmaker also returned for mockingjaywhich was split into two parts and reconvened by Lionsgate The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakesthe prequel, which hits theaters next week.
The main plot of the saga focuses on the annual celebration of an event in which young people between the ages of 12 and 18 are randomly selected to fight to the death in a mysterious arena until only one survives. And while explicit violence is not important in conveying the film’s political and social message, it does make a difference in making the story have a real impact. And Lawrence knows it.
In an interview with Jake’s takesThe director confessed that the original cuts of the films are rated R, but were modified to conform to PG-13 and reach a wider audience:
“The truth is, every Hunger Games movie I’ve done has been rated R at first. And we always have to turn it back a few inches, an inch back and an inch forward, and go back and forth with the MPAA to kind of nudge it back to PG-13. So I always approach the idea that we have to be PG-13, but we always end up getting an R first and having to scale it back by inches.”
Why “The Hunger Games” doesn’t actually need an R rating
Over and beyond The hunger Games Books are considered part of the young adult genre, meaning a large portion of readers may still be teenagers and wouldn’t be able to see the films if they had an R rating. The little violence that the films show is more than enough to achieve the desired effect.
The real battles in The hunger Games are not played in the arena of the games, but outside the arena and with strategy rather than brute force. In catch fireDuring one of the conversations that Plutarch Heavensvee and President Snow have during Peeta and Katniss’s promotional tour of the districts, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character says, “It’s movements and countermoves, and that’s all we have to look at.” One sentence , which describes very well how the war between the rebels of Panem and the Capitol really unfolds.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which hits theaters November 17th, will be PG-13 like the rest of the films. Check out our review here and watch the trailer below.
