Edit This!: 'The Hunger Games - Catching Fire'

Post by Marc Loftus

LOS ANGELES — Editor Alan Bell recently extended his working relationship with director Francis Lawrence, this time cutting the second installment in The Hunger Games franchise. Bell, whose credits include The Green Mile and The Amazing Spider-Man, worked with the director (I am Legend, Constantine) on the 2011 feature Water for Elephants. Lawrence has since committed to directing two additional installments of The Hunger Games, and Bell is already at work on the third release.

The second film, Catching Fire, opened in theaters on November 22, and stars Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson as Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, who’ve been targeted by the Capitol after their Hunger Games win. Here, Bell talks about working with the director — both in Atlanta, where shooting took place, and back in LA — and how he was able to put his own spin on the already-successful franchise.

POST: Was it your prior relationship with Francis Lawrence that led to this collaboration?
ALAN BELL: “Yes, I had done Francis Lawrence’s third movie, Water for Elephants, and I really loved working with him. When I found out he got The Hunger Games, I was hoping and praying that he would ask me back, and he did. I hadn’t read the book [but] said yes, based on our relationship. When I read the books, I was very, very pleased. It’s a compelling story.”

POST: There are already additional films in the works?
BELL: “He is actually directing the third and fourth, and I am currently working with him now on those movies. He didn’t direct the first movie. It’s a blessing and a curse to come behind someone else. You want to live up to your predecessor, and you also want to give the material as much justice as possible, and put your own spin on things. Hopefully we’ve accomplished that”

POST: Does it help that the first film was so successful?
BELL: “It was nice that there was a road map and all of these characters were solidified and presented in a way that we could expand on them, so we didn’t have to do a lot of work to create these characters, since that had been done in the first movie. Obviously, there are new characters introduced in the second film.” read more...