Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
There’s all kinds of news bubbling up about The Hunger Games as the premiere of the big-budget Hollywood movie partially filmed in Western North Carolina nears. The movie hits theaters March 23. Here’s a look at what’s going around:
-Secret screeing: There’s a special screening of the movie going down in Asheville, but it’s an invitation-only affair for crew that worked on the film. I don’t have any details on where or when.
-Fan tour: An area company is offering Hunger Games day and weekend tours. The tour goes down in DuPont State Forest, where some scenes in the movie were filmed. From hungergamesfantours.com:
Explore DuPont State Recreational Forest with your Sponsor to discover the locations used in the movie. Master fundamental survival skills like orienteering, archery, camo-face painting, and shelter building needed to excel in the Hunger Games. Lunch will be provided in Hunger Games style. Shuttle service, DuPont State Recreational Forest permit and guides provided.
-HuffPo on Hunger Games: Writer Kathy Buckworth reports on her tour of filming locations for Huffington Post. A snippet:
Most of the other scenes involving fire were shot in DuPont State Recreational Forest. Bruce MacDonald, a ranger with the N.C. Forest Service who was on site during the entire filming, told me that his job was to make sure the people didn’t hurt the forest and that the forest didn’t hurt the people.
“The fire scenes we had to monitor very carefully”, explained MacDonald “because they’re fire scenes,” said MacDonald. While there were many special effects added after the filming, the scene that shows trees exploding around Katniss as she runs were in fact staged using propane powered trees made out of pipe. Rocks were made from papier mache after the local models were found to be less than ideal.
-High school goes Hunger Games: Enka High School will hold “Hunger Games Week” next week, with all kinds of events.
Asheville Citizen-Times reporter
Carol Motsinger reports:
On Monday, it’s archery. Tuesday: district themed face painting. Wednesday: Whistling contest. Thursday: Orgami (make your own mockingjay). Friday: Winners, media staff and assistants will screen The Hunger Games.
I am fortunate enough to live near DuPont and to have some of the original material from the movie. I used it to make memorablia necklaces and am selling them for 10 and 15 dollars and Lionsgate legal team has verified their authenticity and allowed us to sell these.
The FIRE WOOD necklace is made from the ACTUAL tree that the Game maker fell in front of Katniss, and it turned out to be strikingly beautiful wood called- believe it or not- flamed maple. It has awesome color variations and rays across it. These are $14.95.
The FIRE RING is made from the pipe after cutting, cleaning, and tumbling them. They have a pewter-like finish and he put them on suede cords. They are $9.95.
I have sold them to folks in Minnesota, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, and am sending some to Canada soon. I also am selling them locally at Local Color in Brevard. To buy online go to https://sites.google.com/site/fireringandfirewood/.