Those who have read my article about the popular young adult book The Hunger Games know how passionately I feel about the story and characters; you can imagine my delight when I heard of the book’s forthcoming movie adaptation. I have been waiting anxiously for months for news about the members of the cast and could hardly guess who would be chosen, as many accomplished female stars – such as Abigail Breslin, Emma Roberts, and Jennifer Lawrence – had expressed interest in playing the series’ protagonist, 16-year-old hunter Katniss Everdeen.  On March 17, the suspense was finally over – Jennifer Lawrence, the Oscar-nominated actress from the movie Winter’s Bone, was officially cast as Katniss.

Soon after, Lionsgate Productions revealed that Josh Hutcherson (The Kids are All Right) will play Katniss’s male counterpart, Peeta Mellark, and Liam Hemsworth (The Last Song) will play Katniss’s steadfast childhood friend, Gale Hawthorne; new faces Dayo Okeniyi and Amandla Stenberg have also been tapped to play Rue, Katniss’s young ally, and Thresh, a very strong competitor in the Games.  Unfortunately, after hearing the selection of the cast members, I have many doubts about the wisdom of these choices.

My main doubt is whether the actors chosen will resemble the author’s description of their characters in a manner that is believable and true to the author’s intent.  For example, many of Katniss’ physical attributes differ immensely from those of Lawrence: Katniss’s long black hair, athletic physique and olive skin greatly contrast with Jennifer Lawrence’s blonde hair, mature body and fair skin.  As she is an underfed member of a poor mining district, Katniss’ features are an intrinsic part of her character; it is necessary for Lawrence to look at least relatively similar.

Similar criticisms extend toward Josh Hutcherson as well: Hutcherson’s character, the well-fed baker’s son Peeta, is of “medium height, stocky build, [and has] ashy blond hair that falls in waves over his forehead.”  Hutcherson’s dark hair can no doubt be dyed and his build is similar to Peeta’s, so those aspects of his appearance should pose no problem.  Hutcherson’s real issue is his height, as Peeta is described in the books as taller and larger than Katniss.  This allows him to frequently take on the role of her guardian angel, protecting and aiding her against foes bigger than herself.  However, Lawrence and Hutcherson, measuring in at 5 feet 7 inches, are the same height, which considerably weakens this effect.

In addition, Lawrence and Hutcherson differ in age from their roles, posing a threat to their ability to understand and convincingly portray their younger characters. In my opinion, Lawrence, 20, looks far too old to play a 16-year-old girl; an important point of the novel is that teenagers as young as 12 are called upon to fight to the death in the Hunger Games, not legal adults.  (Dayo Okeniyi, though certainly fitting Thresh’s description of being strong and muscular, has a similar problem; although the character of Thresh is not as thoroughly described in The Hunger Games, he cannot be more than 18, and college-graduate Okeniyi appears simply too mature for this part.)  Hutcherson, 18, has the opposite problem – he looks far younger than his character description indicates.

Liam Hemsworth is one of the two actors for whom I have the least amount of criticism as his coloring, build and bone structure are similar to Gale’s.  I also have no criticism for 13-year-old Amandla Stenberg, who is not only age-appropriate for Rue but also appears to have her small and delicate build.  This aspect of the character is important: the swift, birdlike Rue stirs protective sisterly impulses in Katniss, as the young competitor reminds her of her own younger sister, Prim.  I hope newcomer Stenberg can capture Rue’s brave and smart personality.

In my opinion, since only two of the cast actors so far seem to match their fictional counterparts, the careful balance of age and appearance of the cast appears somewhat thrown off. I spoke with Samantha Apfel, Hewitt Times Editor-in-Chief and fellow Hunger Games lover, about her views on the current cast decisions. She commented that, “they have cast a teenager my age to play [Katniss’s] main love interest, Josh Hutcherson…while I find him adorable, the two are completely mismatched, as he is small in stature to begin with, and she is, well…stunning. This is a total reversal from the books, in which he is the one with the model-looks and charm, and she is frequently left feeling inferior…by the time this franchise wraps up, we will likely have a 25-27 year old playing a 16 year old girl…a ridiculous and wholly unnecessary situation.”

As excited as I am to see the movie on March 23, 2012, I am currently having second thoughts.  My main question is if these five actors are good enough to capture the extremely complicated characters of The Hunger Games. This is one of my favorite books, and I would be distraught to see it adapted clumsily. Additionally, I am reluctant to see the film as my personal visualizations of book characters tend to disappear after I see its movie adaptation. However, I will reserve my judgment as to whether or not I see the movie until the rest of the cast in announced as movies with imperfect leads can often be saved by an outstanding supporting cast.  I sincerely hope that the rest of the cast more accurately fits the description of their characters and that the movie is a success.

(images via hunger-games.net and poponthepop.com.)