Jennifer Lawrence and Sam Claflin Prepare for Battle in New Hunger Games: Catching Fire Pictures

USMagazine, Tuesday, January 15, 2013, 7:00am (PST)

Happy Hunger Games! The highly-anticipated Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire, is still a little less than a year away from hitting theaters, but the first batch of movie stills have already been released.

One new photo introduces Sam Claflin's character, Finnick Odair, a former Hunger Games champion from District 4, who flirts with Jennifer Lawrence's character Katniss Everdeen. In the two other shots, Josh Hutcherson reprises his role as Peeta Mellark and Liam Hemsworth returns as Gale Hawthorne.

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Entertainment Weekly recently caught up with the cast during their final days of production in Waikiki, Hawaii. Clafin, 26, has the pressure of being the newcomer and admitted he's been feeling the heat. The scene where Finnick has to tease Katniss while only wearing a piece of netting was "the scariest moment of my life," Claflin said. "I'm on Twitter and so many people have been like 'Don't mess this up, or we will kill you.'"

PHOTOS: Key moments from the first movie

But the cast managed to enjoy a few laughs and Lawrence, 22, even hosted a wild party for the cast and crew. "When Sam walked in I was chasing Woody [Harrelson] and we'd flipped over my couch and Woody had a sock all the way down my throat . . ." she said of the night. 

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, directed by Francis Lawrence, is set to hit theaters Nov. 21, 2013.

PHOTOS: The Hunger Games premiere -- what the stars wore

Tell Us: What do you think of the first images?

 

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Jennifer Lawrence and Sam Claflin Prepare for Battle in New Hunger Games: Catching Fire Pictures