The 'Hunger Games' Recasting That Rocked the World

What with the switch between Gary Ross and Francis Lawrence as director of the Hunger Games movies, there were always bound to be some changes. So far, it appears this will include a lot of water-world-building in the second film — oh, and Buttercup's been recast for Catching Fire . Yep, the cat.

For those with good memories for the felines in their media, Buttercup in the Hunger Games books is Prim's cat that Katniss hates, although they have a begrudging respect/appreciation for each other as the story goes on. Buttercup is also described as yellow, though, whereas the cat we saw in the first Hunger Games movie was black and white.

Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins was having none of this inaccurate cat shit, however, and so went to Catching Fire director Lawrence about getting it changed. Here's what Lawrence said ont he matter in an interview with i09:

I was happy to do it [recast the cat], that was a request from Nina the producer and Suzanne the author. That they thought the cat from the first movie was not the way he was described in the book. And that had annoyed a bunch of fans, and things like that. But it also just kind of bothered them that Buttercup was not a black and white cat. So I was happy to get one that felt like the Buttercup of the book.

On if Collins requested any further changes:

No, no, no. That was, quite honestly, the only simple thing, the Buttercup situation. Everything else was working on the story. We worked closely with Suzanne, which was partly why that came up.

So yes, the Buttercup "situation" has been dealt with. From now on, Buttercup will be a more authentic hue, if you are a cat-in-film enthusiast and were on the edge of your seat about that one, consider this cat case closed.