Frenzy Over Local Author's “Hunger Games”

Suzanne Collins lives in Newtown.

Suzanne Collins, of Newtown, is staying out of the public spotlight, but her work is what the entertainment world is buzzing about.

“Hunger Games” opens tonight in theaters nationwide.

When the movie based on the Newtown author’s book premiered in Los Angeles, hundreds of fans camped out overnight. The film hits theaters everywhere on March 23.

Collins, who lives in the Sandy Hook section of Newtown, said in an interview with Scholastic that the idea for "Hunger Games" came one night as she was in bed, channel surfing.

On some channels, she saw people competing for a million dollars or a bachelor. On others, she saw footage from the Iraq war.

The two fused together in her mind, in an unsettling way, she said in the interview posted on her publisher’s Web site.

According to a letter from Collins posted on the Hunger Games Facebook page, she saw the movie earlier in the month and was happy with the way it was done.

“I’m really happy with how it turned out. I feel like the book and the film are individual yet complementary pieces that enhance one another,” she wrote.

Collins called the movie “faithful in both narrative and theme.”

“It’s amazing to see things that are suggested in the book fully developed and so brilliantly realized through the artistry of the designers,” she said.

Local theaters will be showing the film at midnight.

Contact Us