One thing I've realized now that I've read two of three The Hunger Games
novels is that there are no unimportant characters. Each one serves a specific purpose, even if it might not always be immediately apparent. That description in particular fits the three roles just recently filled in Gary Ross's adaptation of the first Suzanne Collins novel: Lavinia the Avox girl, Flavius, and Venia.Lionsgate revealed that relative unknown Amber Chaney will play the role of the Avox girl, Lavinia. An Avox is someone who has been punished to a life of servitude to the evil Capitol, their tongue forcibly removed to prevent them from ever speaking again. Lavinia, whose name isn't revealed until later books, was someone Katniss(Jennifer Lawrence) ran into earlier in life, and her reappearance as an Avox shocks her.
Nelson Ascenio(MadTV
) and Kimiko Gelman(Rags to Riches
) will be Flavius and Venia respectively, both members of Katniss's prep team. They'll be working alongside head stylist Cinna(Lenny Kravitz) to get her all dolled up in extravagant outfits before she enters the Games.Like I said earlier, none of these roles are insignificant. Lavinia's purpose is to put a face on the brutality of the Capitol, making Katniss aware of who her true enemy really is. As for the prep team, their purpose is to show the differences between the folks who are living the high life in the Capitol and those suffering in the Districts. With the exception of Cinna, the entire prep team seem to be unaware of what's truly going on around them, or have become so used to the way things are that they no longer see injustice.
The Hunger Games is shooting right now, so expect the last couple of major roles to be filled soon. The film is due to hit theaters on March 23rd 2012!
