Let me begin. I’m a huge Hunger Games fan. I am so in love with this fandom and their passion. I was planning on attending the Hunger Games mall event yesterday in Westfield Broward as just that…a fan. I did not expect to be picking up a press badge, but it was a pleasant surprise. I loved being able to watch the fans in action from our riser. It was honestly my favorite part. So many 3-fingered salutes, smiles and squeals. It was infectious.

But, of course, I loved hearing from our favorite tributes as well. We had the pleasure of hosting Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss), Alexander Ludwig (Cato) and Amandla Stenberg (Rue) at our event, and they genuinely seemed like they had so much fun answering some pretty legit fan questions (I love intelligent fandoms). Jennifer was rocking a pretty awesome 80’s teased ponytail and admitted that she relates most to Peeta’s character, being a romantic herself. At the same time, she dished about some heinous archery training (she had to tough it out despite various injuries) and her desire to add the power of teleportation to Katniss’ bag of tricks.

What I loved the most was that the majority of the actors were fans of the book series before being casted, so they were able to weigh in with some of their favorite moments in the trilogy. Jennifer’s choice? Catching Fire’s electric (literally) ending, specifically when Katniss breaks the arena’s force field, thus inciting a war. I personally can’t wait to see her play our brave and fearless Mockingjay – I think she was such a perfect choice!

We also got minor sneak peeks into some scenes from the upcoming film! Jennifer stated that the flame suits are incredible, but were extremely uncomfortable. Alexander (who was very popular with the ladies) said his scene with the muttations is one of the movie’s highlights, with Jennifer adding that he was bit too dramatic (at one point screaming “just die already” during his gruesome death scene). Amandla also had some adorable stories involving Jennifer (aww), one in particular where she was stung by a hornet on her face 3 times during shooting and buddy Jen came right to her rescue (double aww).

Definitely a cool opportunity for all us fans to feel a little closer to the cast and to pump up the excitement level to 100 for the March 23rd premiere! Did any of you attend? Are you as excited as I am for the The Hunger Games?

*All photos were taken by Melificent. Please remember to give me credit if sharing on other sites!