BAM’s top 10 Oklahoma-connected albums of 2012: “Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound” tops the list
Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound
A version of this story appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Oklahoma artists make memorable music in 2012
Underground heroes, international icons and emerging upstarts all managed to make indelible statements last year on the Sooner State music scene.
Underground heroes, international icons and emerging upstarts all managed to make memorable statements in the Oklahoma music arena in 2012.
The 100th anniversary of Woody Guthrie’s birth turned discerning ears toward Okemah, while the emergence of singer-songwriter John Fullbright kept them there.
Garth Brooks was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame one month and threw his enthusiastic support behind former bandmate Tom Skinner’s self-titled album release the next.
On the national scene, Sooner State-born and bred hitmakers Carrie Underwood and All-American Rejects released LPs that showed marked maturation, while local singer-songwriters Camille Harp and John Calvin left me yearning for more with excellent self-released EPs.
Oklahomans were involved in one of the biggest and best compilation albums of the year, as Tishomingo resident Miranda Lambert and her Pistol Annies contributed a song to the T Bone Burnett-produced soundtrack “The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond.” Sooner State musicians also part of one of the most star-studded and stellar tribute albums of 2012, as Vince Gill, Leon Russell and Ronnie Dunn helped Jamey Johnson with his “Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran.”
Oklahoma music was just so good in 2012 that it was tough for me to limit my list of top LPs to just 10, so check out the honorable mentions at the bottom of the list:
1. Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound “Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound” (SideOneDummy Records): The sophomore LP from the Putnam City High School graduate and her aptly named backing band has stayed on my personal playlist since its release way back in February, and I’ll probably keep the swaggering romp “Little Red Wagon,” the toasty-warm ballad “Old Italian Love Songs,” the foot-stomping rave-up “Jebediah Moonshine’s Friday Night Shack Party” and more in rotation for another 11 months and beyond. The Oklahoma-born and bred chanteuse wasn’t bragging in the album’s opening number: She IS “The Real Thing.”
2. Ray Wylie Hubbard “The Grifter’s Hymnal” (Bordello Records): The 66-year-old Oklahoma-Texas music icon, who was born in Soper, throws down with a raw rock ‘n’ roll album that is by turns rootsy, bluesy and twangy but always uninhibited, a little bit messy and a whole lot ornery. The album opens with “Coricidin Bottle,” a blazing romp that boasts wicked-smart lyrics like “I got a coricidin bottle that I use as slide/And a woman sweet as a Tootsie Roll/When she kissing and licking and cussing and a grindin’/Shakes the mortal coil round my amaranthine soul,” and stays both rowdy or intelligent for a 45 solid minutes. Now that’s rock ‘n’ roll.
3. David Byrne and St. Vincent “Love This Giant” (4AD): We already knew that the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer best known for fronting the Talking Heads and the Tulsa-born singer/songwriter/guitarist also known as Annie Clark were individually capable of creating artful pop-rock. But who knew the divergent experimentalists would make such cohesive collaborators, too? Their deliciously brassy duet album goes down like the musical version of a black and tan, with a full serving of Byrne’s coolly creative world music wanderings and a full serving of St. Vincent’s darkly cerebral guitar rock layered in perfect balance. And all those intricate horns are like the tasty foam topping this heady sonic brew.
4. John Fullbright “From the Ground Up” (Blue Dirt Records/Thirty Tigers): When the Grammy nominees for Best Americana Album were revealed last month, it quickly became clear that one of these things was not like the others. The Okemah-area singer-songwriter and his Kickstarter-funded studio debut will compete against Bonnie Raitt’s “Slipstream,” Mumford & Sons’ “Babel,” The Avett Brothers’ “The Carpenter” and the self-titled debut from The Lumineers also nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy, when the golden gramophones are handed out in February. If we’re judging on musical merits alone, though, I wouldn’t call him an underdog. From the fire-and-brimstone opener “Gawd Above” to the tender piano ballad closer “Song for a Child,” the authentic album Fullbright built proves that he deserves his shot at Grammy glory.
5. JD McPherson “Signs & Signifiers” (Rounder Records rerelease): The Broken Arrow singer-songwriter got a well-warranted opportunity last year to take his free-wheeling brand of retro rock nationwide when Rounder rereleased his celebrated 2010 indie debut. Recorded with vintage microphones into an old 1960’s Berlant 1/4-inch tape machine, under the tutelage of producer/bassist/studio owner Jimmy Sutton, McPherson’s fun fusion of 1950s-inspired rock, old-school R&B and rockabilly still sounds as fresh and classic as ever. Plus, the rerelease gave the Talihina-bred musician the richly deserved chance to reach a national audience, top the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart and appear as the musical guest on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “The Late Show with David Letterman” and “Conan.”
6. The Time Jumpers “The Time Jumpers” (Rounder Records): The 11-piece Western swing supergroup featuring Norman-born and Oklahoma City-bred Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill and many of Nashville’s top session players doesn’t just cover old Bob Wills songs on its studio debut. which garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Country Album. Gill, who only officially joined the group in 2010, wrote or co-wrote five of the album’s nine superb original tracks, along with contributing his considerable chops as a singer and guitarist. His heartbreaker “Three Sides to Every Story,” which has all the hallmarks of an instant country classic.
7. Wanda Jackson “Unfinished Business” (Sugar Hill Records): It’s remarkable enough that the Oklahoma City-based Queen of Rockabilly is still belting in that distinctive voice, touring internationally and recording new albums at the age of 75. But it’s even more impressive that the Maud native continues to push herself musically. In 2011, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer released the barnburner comeback album “The Party Ain’t Over,” produced by respected rocker Jack White, and in 2012, she teamed with acclaimed alt-country singer/songwriter/producer Justin Townes Earle for the fittingly titled “Unfinished Business,” a completely different sonic experience that still sounds just like her. While “The Party Ain’t Over” celebrated Jackson’s rock ‘n’ roll trailblazing with raucous horns, scorching electric guitars and forays into neo-soul, funk and calypso, Jackson and Earle (son of wild-card Texas singer-songwriter Steve Earle) firmly planted their collaboration in her country, rockabilly and gospel roots. Here’s hoping Jackson’s 31st studio album won’t be her last because I can’t wait to hear who she teams with and what they come up with next.
8. Tom Skinner “Tom Skinner” (598 Recordings): Take Garth Brooks’ word for it: The eponymous album from red dirt elder statesman is a “very, VERY special gift” indeed, a warm and inviting showcase for the Bristow native’s vibrant storytelling and convivial voice. Although the Tulsa singer-songwriter’s name often turns up in album credits for the likes of the Red Dirt Rangers, The Great Divide and The Departed, Skinner has rarely recorded himself, preferring the energy of playing live. With his stalwart pal Mike McClure, the frontman of The Great Divide and co-founder of 598 Recordings, and the esteemed Joe Hardy, who has worked with the Georgia Satellites, Steve Earle and ZZ Top, co-producing, Skinner’s eponymous album has the laidback, cozy vibe of a great living room show.
9. Karen Dalton “1966” (Delmore Recordings): From concerts to conferences, all kinds of festivities in 2012 commemorated what would have been folk icon Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday. In contrast, the 75th birthday of folk enigma Karen Dalton, another Sooner State voice silenced too soon, passed with little fanfare last year beyond the release of this collection of impromptu, previously unheard tracks of the Enid-bred singer/musician and her then-husband, guitarist Richard Tucker, rehearsing for a gig at their remote, primitive cabin near Summerville, Colo. With her strange, goose-bump-inducing croon and natural gift as a song interpreter, it’s a shame Dalton — who like Guthrie died at the relatively young age of 55 in New York after spending much of her troubled life rambling and making music — is hardly known outside Bob Dylan’s reference to her in his 2004 biography “Chronicles: Volume One.” Bob the Bard’s praise that “Karen had a voice like Billie Holiday’s and played the guitar like Jimmy Reed” is right on the mark, and her cover of “God Bless the Child” is probably the only one that can hold a candle to Lady Day’s original.
10. Shiny Toy Guns “III” (Five Seven Music): The highly anticipated return of vocalist Carah Faye Charnow , whose crystalline pipes helped propel the Shinys to a 2007 Best Electronic/Dance Album Grammy nomination for “We Are Pilots,” turned out to be more than just a reunion. It was a full-blown revitalization for the electro-pop band, which bassist/synth player Jeremy Dawson and singer/guitarist Chad Petree, who hail from Shawnee, founded back in 2001. The rhythms on “III” smoothly shift from dreamy to driving and back again, and It’s a testament to the album’s overall strength that I wind up with a new favorite track every time I listen to it.
Honorable mentions: Jimmy LaFave “Depending on the Distance” (Music Road Records); The Departed “Adventus” (Underground Sound/Thirty Tigers); Chad Sullins and the Last Call Coalition “Incommunicado” (Smith Music Group); Parker Millsap and Michael Rose “Palisade” (self released); and K.C. Clifford “The Tag Hollow Sessions” (Free Skipper Records).
-BAM
Photo: First look of Katniss and Finnick in “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” revealed
Entertainment Weekly has released exclusive photos of one of the most hotly anticipated sequels of 2013: “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” due in theaters Nov. 22.
The images include the the first look (posted above) of Sam Claflin (“Snow White and the Huntsman”) as fan favorite Finnick Odair trying to distract heroine Katniss Everdeen (played by Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence) during a training session.
Based on Suzanne Collins’ best-selling young-adult dystopian book series, “The Hunger Games” saga takes place in a bleak, not-too-distant future in which North American society has collapsed and been replaced by Panem, in which every year two teenagers from each of the country’s 12 districts are summoned to the corrupt Capitol to participate in the deadly Hunger Games, a spectacle televised throughout the land.
Finnick, who hails from the seaside District 4, won the Games about 10 years before the events of “Catching Fire,” the second book in the series, and is drawn back into the spectacle during the special 75th annual Hunger Games, also known as the Quarter Quell. His initial Hunger Games success has turned him into a Panem sex symbol, but Finnick goes through considerable growth over the course of the second book as well as in the third novel, “Mockingjay.”
Along with “Catching Fire,” Lionsgate is planning to release two more movies based on Collins’ trilogy: “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1″ is set for Nov. 21, 2014, release; with “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2″ following on Nov. 20, 2015.
“The Hunger Games” stars Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland, Stanley Tucci and Toby Jones are returning for “Catching Fire,” which will be directed by Francis Lawrence (“I Am Legend”).
Along with Claflin, Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jena Malone, Amanda Plummer, Lynn Cohen and Maria Howell will make their “Hunger Games” debut with “Catching Fire.”
-BAM
Taylor Swift, Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, Rihanna, FUN. first performers announced for 55th annual Grammy Awards
Taylor Swift (AP file)
Current Grammy nominees the Black Keys, FUN., Mumford & Sons, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift are the first performers announced for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards telecast.
Two-time Grammy winner LL Cool J will return as host of the awards show, which will air live from Staples Center in Los Angeles from 7 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10 on CBS.
The show also will be supported on radio worldwide via Dial Global, and covered online at Grammy.com and CBS.com, and on YouTube. Additional performers, presenters and special segments will be announced soon.
The Black Keys and FUN. will perform on the Grammy telecast for the first time, while Mumford & Sons, Rihanna and Swift are returning to the Grammy stage.
FUN. and Mumford & Sons are two of six artists this year who lead with six nominations each. FUN. are up for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “We Are Young” (Featuring Janelle Monáe); Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for “Some Nights”; and Best New Artist. Mumford & Sons are nominated for Album Of The Year and Best Americana Album for “Babel”; Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for “I Will Wait”; Best Song Written For Visual Media for “Learn Me Right” (From “Brave”); and Best Long Form Music Video for “Big Easy Express.”
Two-time Grammy winners The Black Keys have five nominations: Album Of The Year and Best Rock Album for “El Camino”; and Record Of The Year, Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song (along with Brian Burton) for “Lonely Boy.” (Additionally, group member Dan Auerbach is nominated for Producer Of The Year Non Classical.)
Five-time Grammy winner Rihanna and six-time Grammy winner Taylor Swift each have three nominations. Rihanna is up for Best Pop Solo Performance for “Where Have You Been,” Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (Featuring Jay-Z) for “Talk That Talk,” and Best Short Form Music Video (Featuring Calvin Harris) for “We Found Love.” Swift is nominated in Record Of The Year for “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” and Best Country Duo/Group Performance (with The Civil Wars) and Best Song Written For Visual Media (along with T Bone Burnett and the Civil Wars) for “Safe & Sound” (from “The Hunger Games”).
-BAM
Alliance of Women Film Journalists name “Zero Dark Thirty” the best movie of 2012
Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty”
The members of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists – which includes yours truly – have announced the winners of our seventh annual EDA Awards, with Kathryn Bigelow’s fact-based saga about the decade-long search for Osama bin Laden topping the list as well as taking the honors for best director, original screenplay and actress.
EDA stands for Excellent Dynamic Activism. In honoring the films of 2012, the EDA Awards include the standard best-of categories and AWFJ’s unique Female Focus Awards in which we honor the year’s outstanding achievements by women working in film – and we have some fun pointing out which actress is most in need of a new agent and what were the most memorable and most shameful film moments of 2012:
EDA ANNUAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
Best Film
“Zero Dark Thirty”
Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow – “Zero Dark Thirty
Best Screenplay, Original
“Zero Dark Thirty” – Mark Boal
Best Screenplay, Adapted
“Argo” – Chris Terrio
Best Documentary
“Searching For Sugar Man” – Malik Bendjelloul
Best Animated Film
“ParaNorman”
Best Actress
Jessica Chastain – “Zero Dark Thirty”
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Anne Hathaway – “Les Miserables”
Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis – “Lincoln”
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Phillip Seymour Hoffman – “The Master”
Best Ensemble Cast
“Silver Linings Playbook”
Best Editing
“Zero Dark Thirty” – William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor
Best Cinematography
“Life of Pi” – Claudio Miranda
Best Film Music Or Score
“Beasts of the Southern Wild” – Dan Romer, Benh Zeitlin
Best Non-English-Language Film
“Amour”
EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS
Quvenzhané Wallis in “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
These awards honor WOMEN only:
Best Woman Director
Kathryn Bigelow – “Zero Dark Thirty”
Best Woman Screenwriter
Lucy Alibar (and Benh Zeitlin) – “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Kick Ass Award For Best Female Action Star
Jennifer Lawrence – “The Hunger Games”
Best Animated Female
“Brave” – Merida – Kelly Macdonald
Best Breakthrough Performance
Quvenzhané Wallis – “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Actress Defying Age and Ageism
Judi Dench – “Skyfall”
AWFJ Award For Humanitarian Activism – Female Icon Award —
(Presented to an actress for the portrayal of the most positive female role model, or for a role in which she takes personal and/or career risks to plumb the female psyche and therefore gives us courage to plumb our own, and/or for putting forth the image of a woman who is heroic, accomplished, persistent, demands her rights and/or the rights of others.)
Jessica Chastain – “Zero Dark Thirty”
This Year’s Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In The Film Industry
(Presented only when warranted to a female who has had a banner-making, record-breaking, industry-changing achievement during any given year — such as Kathryn Bigelow’s Best Director Oscar win, or for an actress having multiple outstanding films released during one year.)
Women Documentary Filmmakers, including Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (“Detropia”), Lauren Greenfield (“Queen of Versailles”), Alison Klayman (“Ai Weiwei Never Sorry”) and Sarah Burns (“The Central Park Five”).
Anne Hathaway in “Les Miserables”
EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS
AWFJ Hall Of Shame Award
Sean Anders for “That’s My Boy”
Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent (Tie)
Katherine Heigl – “One For The Money”
Reese Witherspoon – “This Means War”
Movie You Wanted To Love But Just Couldn’t
“Anna Karenina”
Unforgettable Moment Award (Tie)
“Les Miserables” – Anne Hathaway as Fantine singing “I Dreamed A Dream”
“Zero Dark Thirty” – Jessica Chastain as Maya says, “I’m the mother…”
Best Depiction Of Nudity, Sexuality, or Seduction
“The Sessions” – Helen Hunt and John Hawkes
Sequel or Remake That Shouldn’t Have Been Made Award (Tie)
“Red Dawn”
“Total Recall”
Most Egregious Age Difference Between The Leading Man and The Love Interest Award
“Flight” – Denzel Washington and Kelly Reilly … and Nadine Velazquez
-BAM
Blake Shelton and Carrie Underwood among 2013 People’s Choice Awards nominees
Blake Shelton
Carrie Underwood (AP)
Nominees for the 2013 People’s Choice Awards were announced t0day at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills by country superstar Jason Aldean, Anthony Anderson (“Guys with Kids”), Sophia Bush (“Partners”), Jason O’Mara (“Vegas”), Monica Potter (“Parenthood”) and Casey Wilson (“Happy Endings”), along with People’s Choice Awards host Kaley Cuoco (“The Big Bang Theory”) and Executive Producer Mark Burnett.
Prior to today’s announcement, fans cast more than 93 million votes to pick new categories and determine the nominees for the annual awards show that celebrates fan favorites in movies, music and television.
Oklahoma country music star Blake Shelton, who lives in Tishomingo, is nominated for Favorite Male Artist and Favorite Country Artist. The reality show “The Voice,” which features Shelton as a celebrity coach, is nominated for Favorite Competition TV Show.
Checotah native and fellow country star Carrie Underwood also is nominated for Favorite Country Artist as well as Favorite Female Artist and Favorite Album for “Blown Away.”
Justin Bieber is the top individual People’s Choice Awards nominee with five music nods, including Favorite Male Artist, Favorite Pop Artist, Favorite Album, Favorite Music Video and Favorite Music Fan Following.
Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine also comes out on top with a combined six nods in both music and television categories, for his work with Maroon 5 (Favorite Band, Favorite Song, Favorite Album, Favorite Music Video) and “The Voice” (Favorite Celebrity Judge, Favorite Competition TV Show).
Channing Tatum leads the men in acting nominations with four individual nods (Favorite Male Actor, Favorite Comedic Actor, Favorite Dramatic Actor and Favorite On-Screen Chemistry), and Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence go head-to-head in each of their three categories (Favorite Movie Actress, Favorite Face of Heroism and Favorite On-Screen Chemistry).
Voting begins today for all 48 categories and will end on Dec. 14. Winners will be revealed during the live broadcast of the 2013 People’s Choice Awards from the Nokia Theater L.A. Live on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013 on the CBS Television Network.
How to Vote for the 2013 People’s Choice Awards:
Website – PeoplesChoice.com houses the main voting platform
Facebook – Facebook.com/PeoplesChoice features a custom application where fans can personalize their voting experience and share their votes with friends.
Twitter – Fans can cast official votes for the People’s Choice Awards by tweeting a specific series of hashtags based on the nominee’s name and category. To see a complete list of hashtags created for each nominee, go to PeoplesChoice.com/pca/vote.
Mobile – Fans can vote in all categories on the People’s Choice Awards mobile site, and via the official voting application for Android and iOS devices. The free app is available for download from the Android Market and the Mac App Store.
As the official retail partner of the People’s Choice Awards, Walgreens will present two categories, Favorite New TV Comedy and Favorite New TV Drama, which will remain open for voting through the night of the show on PeoplesChoice.com. All new network shows are eligible. The top five vote-getters in each category will be named official nominees on Dec. 14.
Additional categories that will remain open for voting through the night of the show are Favorite Movie Fan Following, Favorite Music Fan Following and Favorite TV Fan Following, three new categories that celebrate pop culture mega-fans and their devotion to certain films, musicians and TV shows.
The 2013 People’s Choice Awards also will see the addition of Favorite Face of Heroism, presented by Puffs, and the return of Favorite Movie Icon. The winner of the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Movie Icon will receive a one-of-a-kind custom award created by Waterford, the official designer and house of crystal that produces the People’s Choice Awards trophies.
See the full list of nominees after the break.
Blu-ray review: “The Hunger Games”
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“The Hunger Games” 2-Disc Blu-ray + Digital Copy
There’s a fine and tenuous line between glorifying violence and exploring mankind’s troubling thirst for blood, and Gary Ross’ nimble traversing of that line gives his blockbuster adaptation of “The Hunger Games” a cinematic victory.
Turning a global literary phenomenon into a movie is never an easy task, but the Oscar-nominated director/co-writer obviously put a great deal of thought and care into his handling of Suzanne Collins’ sharp dystopian tale. Adapted from the first book in her best-selling trilogy for young adults, “The Hunger Games” stumbles over a few of the anticipated pacing and storytelling pitfalls involved in building such an intricate world, but the compelling movie mostly meets and in some arenas exceeds expectations.
Set in the not-too-distant future, what was formerly North America has been replaced by Panem, which consists of a wealthy, corrupt Capitol surrounded by 12 poor, oppressed districts whose residents provide necessities and luxuries to the sleek metropolis and its pampered denizens.
As penance for a long-ago uprising, each district is required each year to provide two tributes – a boy and a girl – between the ages of 12 and 18 to travel to the Capitol, receive training and then fight to the death in the Hunger Games. Only one of the 24 tributes will survive, and everyone is Panem is legally required to watch the dehumanizing brutality play out live on television.
In poverty-stricken District 12, 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen (Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence, who ably carries the film) and her best friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth) keep their families fed by breaking the law and hunting game in the woods outside their coal-mining village. But they can’t protect their siblings from everything, and Katniss’ gentle 12-year-old sister Prim (Willow Shields) is chosen by lottery to compete in the 74th annual Games.
Katniss volunteers to take her sister’s place, and her classmate Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), the baker’s son with whom she has a complicated history, is drawn as the male tribute. Katniss and Peeta are whisked off to the Capitol, where they are beautified, battle trained and literally paraded about for the benefit of the rich and privileged.
There’s a lot of setup involved in building this franchise, but Ross keeps the plot economically unfurling. Once Katniss, Peeta and the other tributes enter the arena and the Games begin, he ramps up the action to a near-breakneck speed, but he still is unable to quite keep up with page-turning pace of Collins’ cliffhanger-per-chapter novels.
Still, the director gets the most important part right: He never turns “The Hunger Games” into your standard slick action vehicle, the kind of movie that makes violence look kind of cool or at least exciting. Adopting a cinéma vérité shooting style, taking the PG-13 rating to the hilt and continually pushing his stellar cast to find the humanity in their characters, Ross brings to the screen an adaptation that is faithful not only to the letter but also the spirit of Collins’ books.
Bonus features: While it doesn’t offer the usual director’s commentary — unfortunately, Ross won’t be helming the sequel “Catching Fire” — the two-disc Blu-ray includes a comprehensive two-hour, eight-part making-of documentary, along with several behind-the-scenes featurettes, photo and poster galleries, trailers and a full version of the propaganda short film seen in the movie.
— BAM
Sam Claflin cast as Finnick Odair for ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’
Sam Claflin in "Snow White and the Huntsman"
British actor Sam Claflin, 24, has secured the coveted role of past Hunger Games champion Finnick Odair in the hotly anticipated sequel “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” reports EW.com.
Claflin is best known for his film roles in “Snow White and the Huntsman” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” as well as his small-screen breakthrough in the Starz miniseries “The Pillars of the Earth.”
Suzanne Collins’ best-selling young-adult dystopian book series “The Hunger Games” take place in a bleak, not-too-distant future in which North American society has collapsed and been replaced by Panem, in which every year two teenagers from each of the country’s 12 districts are summoned to the corrupt Capitol to participate in the deadly Hunger Games, a spectacle televised throughout the land.
Finnick, who hails from the seaside District 4, won the Games about 10 years before the events of “Catching Fire,” the second book in the series, and is drawn back into the spectacle during the special 75th annual Hunger Games, also known as the Quarter Quell. His initial Hunger Games success has turned him into a Panem sex symbol, but Finnick goes through considerable growth over the course of the second book as well as in the third novel, “Mockingjay.”
Lionsgate is planning to release three more movies based on Collins’ trilogy: “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” will open in theaters Nov. 22, 2013; “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1″ is set for Nov. 21, 2014, release; and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2″ following on Nov. 20, 2015.
“The Hunger Games” stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland, Stanley Tucci and Toby Jones are planning to return for “Catching Fire,” which will be directed by Francis Lawrence (“I Am Legend”).
Along with Claflin, Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jena Malone, Amanda Plummer, Lynn Cohen and Maria Howell have been added to the sequel so far.
Read the “Catching Fire” synopsis, which will contain spoilers for those who have not read the books or seen the first movie, after the break.
Video: “Hunger Games” debuting on DVD, Blu-ray, digital download tonight at midnight
It will be party time in Panem tonight as the box-office smash “The Hunger Games” debuts at midnight on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download.
Many retailers – including Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, FYE and Hastings – are planning parties to mark the midnight release. To find a party in your area, go to http://hungergamesreleaseparty.com.
After grossing more than $407 million during its theatrical run, the first film adaptation based on Suzanne Collins’ best-selling young-adult dystopian book series is the No. 2 domestic release so far this year, trailing only the superheroic smash the “The Avengers,” according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.
With its $155 million debut weekend back in March, “The Hunger Games” scored the third-best domestic box-office debut ever, behind the $169.2 million opening for last year’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2″ and the $158.4 million opening of 2008′s “The Dark Knight.”
The excitement for tonight’s DVD release surely has been heightened with Amazon’s announcement that “The Hunger Games” trilogy has become its top-seller, surpassing the seven-book “Harry Potter” series, reports the New York Times.
“The Hunger Games” take place in a bleak, not-too-distant future in which North American society has collapsed and been replaced by Panem, in which every year two teenagers from each of the country’s 12 districts are summoned to the corrupt Capitol to participate in the deadly “Hunger Games,” a spectacle televised throughout the land. In District 12, Panem’s poorest district, 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen (Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence) and her best friend Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) keep their families fed by hunting in the woods, even though such activities are illegal under the country’s oppressive government.
When Katniss’ beloved 12-year-old sister Primrose (Willow Shields) is picked in the annual random drawing to fight on behalf of District 12 in the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss does the unprecedented to save her sister: She volunteers to take Prim’s place. She is joined in the deadly Games by fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), the local baker’s son with whom she has a complicated history.
“The Hunger Games” also stars Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland, Stanley Tucci and Toby Jones.
Lionsgate is planning to release three more movies based on Collins’ trilogy: “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” will open in theaters Nov. 22, 2013; “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1″ is set for Nov. 21, 2014, release; and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2″ following on Nov. 20, 2015.
Casting has already begun on “Catching Fire,” which will be directed by Francis Lawrence (“I Am Legend”), with Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jena Malone, Amanda Plummer, Lynn Cohen and Maria Howell added to the sequel so far.
-BAM
Amanda Plummer to play Wiress in “Hunger Games” sequel “Catching Fire”
Amanda Plummer (AP file)
Amanda Plummer is adding another odd character to her rogue’s gallery career.
EW.com reports (with minor spoilers) that Plummer, the daughter of recent Oscar winner Christopher Plummer, will play the role of Wiress in “The Hunger Games” sequel “Catching Fire.”
In the second book of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling dystopian series, Wiress is a veteran District 3 tribute who is drawn back into the arena by the 75th anniversary Hunger Games (AKA Quarter Quell), which pits past winners of the contest in another fight to the death. With her twitchy tendency to mutter “tick tock,” Wiress earns the nickname “Nuts” from some of her fellow tributes.
Plummer, 55, is best known for her roles in “Pulp Fiction,” “So I Married an Axe Murder,” “Needful Things” and “The Fisher King.”
She joins fellow newcomer to the blockbuster franchise Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee, the Head Gamemaker who oversees the Quarter Quell on behalf of the government of Panem, as well as returning stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemworth and Elizabeth Banks.
Directed by Francis Lawrence (“I Am Legend”), Catching Fire is set to open in theaters Nov. 22, 2013.
-BAM
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay” to be split into 2 films, set for 2014 and 2015 release
In a completely unsurprising development, Lionsgate has announced that it plans to split “Mockingjay,” the third and final novel in Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” trilogy, into two separate films,” reports EW.com.
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1″ is set for Nov. 21, 2014, release, with “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2″ following on Nov. 20, 2015.
The second film in the blockbuster franchise, “Catching Fire,” will open in theaters Nov. 22, 2013.
As previously reported, Lionsgate this week confirmed that Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman has been cast in “Catching Fire” as Plutarch Heavensbee, the clever Head Gamemaker overseeing the 75th Annual Hunger Games, AKA the Quarter Quell.
By dividing “Mockingjay” into two parts, Lionsgate continues the lucrative trend started with the finales of the Harry Potter and “Twilight Saga” franchises.
Released in March “The Hunger Games,” the first film in the series, has made more than $404 million domestically and currently ranks as the No. 2 movie of 2012, behind only the super-blockbuster “The Avengers.”
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