You know all those Hunger Games questions you’ve got? Well, now is the time to come out with them. Ask away by leaving your questions in the comments below, and I’m going to record myself answering them! But you’ve got to ask before this Friday so I can answer as many as I can in a future vlog post. Are you game?

Go!

Why do you think The Hunger Games has struck a nerve with so many people?

“Because it’s a story that reminds us of the worst part of humanity. We’re living in a world obsessed with reality television and our shock factor is constantly desensitized. It takes more and more to surprise us and interest us, and we feed off of other people’s trauma.”

And then there is Katniss, who represents female empowerment.

“Absolutely, she is a symbol for revolt and hope and freedom. She is this young girl who is forced to do things that are unimaginable. She wants more for the world. She’s kind of a futuristic Joan of Arc.”

You’re only 21 but have been working non-stop since you were 16. What’s the one thing you’ve gotten better at when it comes to making movies?

“I think it gets so much easier to let things roll off your back. It’s such a business of hurry up and wait, and if you let it get to you it will drive you absolutely insane, like, ‘Why was I called in at four in the morning and I haven’t been used until one in the afternoon?’ And, ‘Why are we shooting this a million times when we have five other scenes to shoot?’ But you get to a point where you just say, ‘This is filmmaking. This is what you get paid for. Everybody is doing the best they can.’ It’s what you have to live with.”

17: How did you prepare to play Clove?

IF: I actually wrote a back story for her, like a biography. I had to stick to the book as much as I could because the book has such a huge fan base and I’m such a huge fan of the book as well. I wrote about where I thought she came from, her family and how she might know Cato and other people in the Games.

17: Are you Team Peeta or Team Gale?

IF: Team Katniss. I relate to her so much.

17: What was your favorite scene to shoot?

IF: The feast scene, when I attack Katniss. I got to do all my own stunts, so it was very cool to be able to put all of my training to the test. At the end of the day, Jennifer Lawrence and I were like, “Oh my God, I’m so tired!”

17: It sounds like your actual training was very similar to tribute training.

IF: It really was! We had to really be good at our own craft, so I did a ton of knife throwing and combat.

17: Did you think about your face when you filmed fight scenes? Did you want to look cute?

IF: I probably look ridiculous, but that’s a good thing – I’m supposed to look crazed and rabid. I think that worked.

17: Did you keep any mementos from the set?

IF: I wish! Although, I did learn how to flip a butterfly knife. But butterfly knives are illegal in California, so I can’t exactly get one to practice.

17: What are you going to do to celebrate the movie coming out?

IF: Everyone in the cast is going to see it together. We'll surprise some fans at the movie theater!

-The History Of The Hunger Games

-The Cast Of The Hunger Games

-The Look Of The Hunger Games Places And Props

-The Look On The Hunger Games People

-The Filming Of the Hunger Games

-The Legacy Of The Hunger Games

Lawrence confirmed: “There’s blood, death, stabbing, spears and arrows going into people, but you can have the impact of violence without being gory.”

“For The Hunger Games, I needed to get jacked, so I ate like a caveman and lighted heavy weights almost every day,” Alexander shared. “To gain muscle, dieting is just as important as the actual working out, if not more so. I also wanted to keep an eight-pack so I had to bike a lot and do a ridiculous amount of sit-ups.”

1. Safe & Sound (feat. The Civil Wars) by Taylor Swift
2. Eyes Wide Open by Taylor Swift
3. Abraham’s Daughter by Arcade Fire
4. The Ruler & The Killer by Kid Cudi
5. Run Daddy Run (feat. Pistol Annies) by Miranda Lambert
6. Kingdom Come by The Civil Wars
7. One Engine by The Decemberists
8. Take The Heartland by Glen Hansard
9. Lover Is Childlike by The Low Anthem
10. Dark Days by Punch Brothers
11. Tomorrow Will Be Kinder by The Secret Sisters
12. Just a Game by Birdy
13. Oh Come & Sing by Ella Mae Bowen
14. Rules by Jayme Dee
15. Reaping Day by Carolina Chocolate Drops
16. Give Me Something I’ll Remember by Neko Case
17. Video Safe & Sound (Bonus Video) by Taylor Swift

On his love for “The Hunger Games” books: “I tore through them in like five days – I loved it. And I loved Peeta. It was scary to me how much I connected with Peeta. He had this belief that no matter what circumstances you’re put into, you maintain being true to yourself, and that’s one of my golden morals. In this business especially, you have a lot of opportunities to be fake. When Peeta goes into the games, he’s not going to let it change who he is. And I’m going into the game of the acting world, and I’m not going to let it change who I am.”

On lending support to Straight But Not Narrow (SBNN): “To have a ‘manly man guy’ come out and say, ‘Yeah guys, being gay is totally cool,’ I think this is getting the message out there that it makes you more of a man to be comfortable with who you are and what you believe in."

"'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2' trailer will debut exclusively on every 'Hunger Games' print on its opening night for what will be Lions Gate's largest release ever"

Here's how it all went down during my trip to NYC to shoot the cover of Women's Health Magazine. We shot in downtown Manhattan in December - it was freezing but I braved the wind in sleeveless since this issue is for Spring! We darted out into the street just as we were losing light and an amazing sunset came up over the Hudson River. I really loved the red tank top/jeans look - getting outside and adding such a fun background to the pics, plus red is my favorite color. All in all it was a great shoot and I even got to keep the jeans from the cover look! Just so you know - I’m wearing them right now as I type this.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: You hesitated when offered the part. What finally made you say yes?

Jennifer Lawrence: I called my mom, and she called me a hypocrite because when I was doing indie movies and everyone was asking why I didn’t do studio movies, I said, “The size of the movie doesn’t matter.” And she said, “Here’s a movie you love, and you were thinking of turning it down because of its size.” I thought: “I don’t want to miss out because I’m scared. Me being scared, I never want that to stop me from doing something.” But I knew in my heart that I wanted it — it was about working out all the fears.

THR: How did you prepare?

Lawrence:I did a lot of running because that’s all she does — track running and free running — then hand-to-hand combat and yoga. We trained to be able to do every stunt in the movie, and the ones that didn’t work out, my stunt double would do. I trained about four hours a day. Trying to find what Katniss’ body should look like put a lot of pressure on my shoulders. And it was stressful because I didn’t want to disappoint anybody — there was a lot of pressure to get your body to a place where an entire franchise is based [on it].

On Gary Ross being chosen as director:

So Ross came prepared. “I had seven or eight concept artists put boards together,” he recalls, “and I interviewed my kids and a lot of their friends to hear what they thought about the book.”

For two hours, he laid out his vision, helped by stacks of images from artists including Max Beckmann that he’d lined around the walls and by the short film featuring his teenage twins, Claudia and Jack, explaining why the book meant so much to them.

“You could really feel his passion,” says producer Nina Jacobson, “and it was channeled through the young people in his life.”

Gary Ross on why he chose to stick with The Hunger Games, despite the high stakes:

Why would Ross want to deal with this when the nearly two years he’d spend on the movie would wrench him away from his family and pay $3 million to $4 million, a pittance in Hollywood terms? “I hadn’t seen a piece of material that touched the culture and moved me the same way in a very long time,” he explains. “And if you fully commit, you fully commit.”

Jennifer Lawrence on her initial hesitation to accept the role of Katniss:

“It was the middle of the night in England, and I was in bed when I got the call,” she remembers. “I was so in love with the books and the script, and suddenly it was right in my face — and the size of the decision was terrifying.”

On the difficulties of shooting on location:

Then there were the bears, some 300 living in the woods, that would come out at the slightest scent of food. And there was the 100-degree heat and rain that showered daily, almost precisely at 4 p.m., at least allowing Ross an opportunity to give his team a break. Between the rain and losing light early behind the trees, “we’d only get to shoot four or five hours a day,” he says.

That tracker-jacker scene we’ve been hearing so much about:

In the darkness, he shows me the almost-finished scene where Katniss attempts to climb that tree with the tracker-jacker nest. The lush setting, with the sound of nature pulsating around her, makes it riveting.

Kravitz took the role after meeting with director Gary Ross (Pleasantville) and reading the first book of the best-selling trilogy by Suzanne Collins. “I thought it was really good storytelling,“ Kravitz says. “I’m very much into stories. The character was interesting. I like Gary’s previous work. And I said, Yeah, let’s go.”

In The Hunger Games, his character creates a series of striking outfits for the young warrior, which isn’t exactly a stretch for the stylish rocker. “He’s very streamlined, he’s very quiet,” Kravitz says of Cinna. “He knows what he’s doing. He’s confident. He’s got a big heart. I just liked the way he moved – very smooth.”

As a musician, Kravitz is used to being in total control of his work – writing, performing and producing – and that control reflects on him as an artist. “It’s about me, as it should be,” he says. “But in this case, it’s got nothing to do with me. It’s about a director’s vision, a character, and I really like that.”