Posted by: Laura Dannen on Feb 23, 2012 at 11:45AM10 Comments
Jennifer Lawrence, armed with every girl’s favorite accessory, is Katniss in The Hunger Games.
America’s moving on from boy wizards and hipster vampires to darker fare. In The Hunger Games—Suzanne Collins’s book trilogy newly anointed the Next Big Film Series—teenagers fight to the death in a postapocalyptic version of Survivor. And stuck snugly in the center of the bloodbath is a love triangle. (Naturally.) Ever since the first book came out in 2008, fans of all ages— we’re looking at you, Tina Fey —have been predicting whether bow-slinging heroine Katniss Everdeen will end up with the hunter (best friend Gale Hawthorne) or the gatherer (breadmaker and Games competition Peeta Mellark). And if any of that really matters when you’re trying to dodge a swarm of mutant hornets.
But now we have faces to put to the names: Jennifer Lawrence, who played a strangely similar role in Winter’s Bone, stars as Katniss; Liam Hemsworth (aka brother of TronThor star Chris Hemsworth) will play Gale; and Josh Hutcherson of The Kids Are All Right steps in as Peeta. And all three are coming to Seattle on March 10 as part of their nationwide mall tour leading up to the film’s release on March 23.
Though a horde of screaming teenagers sounds like a Hunger Games obstacle in itself, here are the event details:
Hunger Games Mall Tour Saturday, March 10, University Village, free
Q&A starts at 3:30 in parking lot in front of Microsoft Store
Dr. House is now a piano man—see him at Benaroya Hall.
Posted by: Laura Dannen on Jan 23, 2012 at 10:30AM1 Comments
The Hollywood triple threat is back.
Seems there’s a new genre of music on the rise: Hollywood’s leading men play the blues. Cynics might call it “aging white men and their midlife crisis band,” but a few of these acts are legitimate. Steve Martin won the top bluegrass prize of 2011 with the Steep Canyon Rangers (but then again, we knew the Renaissance man had musical chops ever since he payed tribute to King Tut). And Woody Allen, now touring with his New Orleans Jazz Band, has been playing the clarinet since his teens. Jeff Bridges has gone Method, living out his folk hero role from Crazy Heart in real life, and Tim Robbins? Well, let’s just say he was getting over Susan Sarandon with a really talented backing band…
The latest leading man to reinvent himself is House star Hugh Laurie, who released his debut New Orleans blues album, Let Them Talk, in September. We’ve seen Dr. House at the piano every now and then, but that’s only an inkling of all the pent-up jazz riffs that have occupied Laurie’s ‘gawky English frame’ since he was little. With his backing Copper Bottom Band, he warms up with a little Thelonious Monk or Louis Armstrong; the Brit even takes us down the “Suwannee River.” And he’s not half bad (watch the clip below). The best part about actor/comedians-turned-musicians? A serious upgrade in audience banter.
Before joining Seattle Metropolitan, Laura Dannen covered all things A&E as deputy editor of Time Out Singapore. She’s an award-winning reporter and editor whose team of entertainment junkies delivers daily doses of news, reviews, and interviews.
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