There was void left in the world of major fantasy series after the Harry Potter series finished up a few years ago and the movies ended last summer. And that is where Suzanne Collins and her best-selling “Hunger Games” and her dark world of Panem comes in. With its oppressive government, bleak districts, and barbaric entertainment Panem is an world easily imagined and incredibly deep.

“The Hunger Games” takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, where “The Capitol” runs everything with 12 outlying districts doing all the dirty work. And each year in order to show their power, they force two kids, one boy and one girl, from each district to be placed in the hunger games.

The games are the deadly entertainment for the residents of the Capitol, where they watch the “Tributes” battle to the death in the massive arena filled with landscapes, traps, beasts and more. Katniss Everdeen is chosen as one of the districts from district 12, and this is her story of the games.

Gary Ross was given the nod to direct the “Hunger Games.” Most of his films that he have previously directed have more of the optimistic feel such as“Seabiscut” and “Big.” Which makes this film somewhat of a departure for him because “The Hunger Games” is extremely dark. He also co-wrote the script with Susan Collins, the author of the novels.

The Actors:

Katniss Everdeen has become the next big literary icon and to find the right actress to portray her was the most important part of the pre-production stages of the film. And they found easily one of the most talented young actresses on the scene right now, Jennifer Lawrence. Her breakout came in 2010 with her part in “Winter’s Bone” in which she received the nomination for Best Actress at the Academy Awards.

Her talent has been widely regarded and her beauty is highly regarded as well. This makes her the ideal choice for Katniss. This is not her first time donning more of an action role as well, since she played Mystique in last summer’s “X-men: First Class.”

Katniss’ teammate in the books was Peeta Melark, the quiet baker’s son, who becomes her only connection to home in the arena. Peeta will be played by Josh Hutcherson, who has been in some more kids movies, “Bridge to Terabithia” “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” but has started to become a more serious actor, as shown in his role in “The Kids are Alright,” which makes him an apt choice for Peeta.

Gale, Katneiss’ other heartthrob will be played by Liam Hemsworth, who other than being handsome and being related to Chris Hemsworth (“Thor”) has no real stardom yet, which makes “The Hunger Games” more of a proving grounds for him than the other actors. Now we get to the bit of of wacky, yet hopefully inspired casting.

Cinna, Katniss’ designer and calm confidante will be portrayed by Lenny Kravitz, which is random choice since he is known for acting, but in all of the released footage and photos he seems to be portraying the character well and has an immense screen presence.

The other two major supporting roles are played by Elizabeth Banks and Woody Harelson, who play Effie Trinket and Haymitch Abernathy respectively. Effie is the kid’s peppy and superficial publicist and Haymitch is their drunken and melancholy mentor. Each of these have smaller roles but both end up being quite influential. The film also features actors such as, Stanley Tucci (Margin Call), Wes Bentely (The Four Feathers), and Donald Sutherland (Pride and Prejudice).