An Open Letter to Gary Ross
Dear Mr. Ross,
Honestly, the main thing I want to say to you is, “Whad you do to that lil’ girl?!”
I know that you don’t get that reference and that Leah and I will probably be the only ones to laugh at that, but really, what in the world did you do to our most anticipated movie event of 2012? We trusted you, bro! You are a class act and we really hoped that you would treat this opportunity with the respect and slavish attention to detail that it deserved. And in return, you shit the bed.
I mean, all the ingredients were mostly right. Lenny Kravitz was a bold choice that kind of paid off (if you ignore the scene with Katniss right before she enters the arena; that will go on the list of life-long hilarious things right underneath the Guilford county public access show that Ashley Owens DVRed for me). Liam Hemsworth was…hired as a favor to someone, I’m assuming? But literally everyone else was right. And yet, Haymitch seemed all wrong (not enough bitterness).
ALSO. How could you mess up the cave scene? That was TERRIBLE. Where were my intense makeouts? Why did all the gifts have notes attached?! Why did you downgrade Peeta’s life-threatening blood poisoning to a flesh wound? Who gave you the medical license to change Peeta’s prescription from IV antibiotics to miracle salve?! Why did you mess up the finale so bad? I mean, Katniss and Peeta arrive at the Cornucopia and wait for Cato who arrives with the mutts hot on his tail, not the other way around. I know you hate blood, but who gave you the authority to reverse Peeta’s leg amputation?
I know that this is kind of unfair to you. Suzanne Collins wrote the adaption, so I should be directing a lot of this heated questioning towards her as well. But, dude, you are the director. You direct people to do things while you film. Why did you have Glimmer act like she was giving Cato HJs on the sly? Why did Cato have such bad ‘roid rage?
In closing, you did a decent job. I didn’t hate it. But if you are signed up for the rest of the series, I hope that you step your game up. Because, God help me, if you mess upCatching Fire, I will send a box of C. diff and old GI bleed to your house. Every day. For a year.
Sincerely,
Caroline Finch