In `` The Hunger Games , '' wealthy Capitol citizens of all races and ethnicities come together to watch the 74th annual bloodbath of the same name . It seems some present-day moviegoers , however , are a bit less `` post-racial . '' Earlier this week , some `` Hunger Games '' fans tweeted their discontent because the characters of Cinna , Thresh and Rue are played by black actors in the big screen adaptation . This , despite the fact that both Thresh ( Dayo Okeniyi ) and Rue ( Amandla Stenberg ) are described as having `` dark skin '' in Suzanne Collins ' novel , while Cinna ( Lenny Kravitz ) is simply described as having short brown hair . Whether fans ' remarks -- such as , `` Awkward moment when Rue is some black girl and not the little innocent blonde girl you picture '' -- stem from poor reading comprehension or intolerance , they 're indicative of a larger issue in Hollywood , said Harry M. Benshoff , an associate professor of radio , TV and film at the University of North Texas who co-wrote `` America on Film : Representing Race , Class , Gender and Sexuality at the Movies . '' `` Hollywood has never been on the forefront of the civil rights movement , '' said Benshoff , who has n't read or watched `` The Hunger Games . '' Despite certain character descriptions being spelled out in the book , Benshoff said , people typically project themselves onto a character in order to empathize with that person . `` For a white person reading a book , they 're very rarely going to go , ' I 'm just assuming this is a black character ' if he or she is n't marked as such , '' he said . `` A nonwhite person might project their own identity onto the character . '' Skin color is a recurring but understated motif of the novels . Many Capitol residents , for instance , dye their skin to make a statement of affluence , taking on exotic hues like green , gold and olive . The way Hollywood sees it , the more people who identify with a character , the more tickets a movie might sell , he added , referencing Donald Glover 's May 2010 Twitter campaign for the chance to audition for Spider-Man . ( The role eventually went to British actor Andrew Garfield ) . `` Put Donald Glover as Spider-Man , ( and the movie ) will only make $ 80 million rather than $ 100 million , '' Benshoff said . `` If it 's Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield , it 's a Spider-Man movie . With Donald Glover , it 's a black superhero movie . '' In June 2010 , African-American blogs lit up when Angelina Jolie 's name was proposed for the lead role in the upcoming `` Cleopatra : A Life . '' The book 's author agreed that the actress would be a good fit in the role as the Egyptian queen . An Essence.com post stated : `` Honestly , I do n't care how full Angelina Jolie 's lips are , how many African children she adopts , or how bronzed her skin will become for the film , I firmly believe this role should have gone to a Black woman . '' And there are plenty more instances of white actors snagging minority roles : Fans were disappointed when Jake Gyllenhaal was cast as the Prince of Persia , and the lack of Asian actors cast in M. Night Shyamalan 's `` The Last Airbender '' prompted some people to boycott the film . Usually fans are angry when a film adaptation strays too far from a novel , said casting director David Rubin . In `` The Hunger Games '' `` They 're being true to the source material , so I do n't see what the issue is , '' he said . Having cast film adaptations of popular books like `` The Firm '' and `` The English Patient , '' Rubin added , `` It 's impossible to be slavish to the way characters are described in a novel because those characters exist in the readers ' mind in a purely subjective way . ... It 's often ... a self-referential image . '' Rubin recently worked on HBO 's `` Game Change , '' in which Julianne Moore and Ed Harris play Sarah Palin and John McCain , respectively . He said casting historical and political figures , who are known to the audience , is different from putting a face to a character from a novel . `` [ Moore and Harris ' performances ] are not impersonations , and certainly not caricatures , '' Rubin said . `` They are evocative of those people and they have their own integrity . But they 're close enough to make people feel like they 're watching the real thing . '' Even so , Moore said she underwent quite the physical transformation to play Palin , spending two hours in makeup before shooting . Similarly , Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson both changed their hair color for `` The Hunger Games . '' `` As a casting director , '' Rubin said , `` I 'm concerned about the quality of performance much more than hair color , and if an audience leaves a film overly concerned about the color of a character 's hair , something might be missing from the storytelling . '' As far as the backlash over casting black actors in `` The Hunger Games , '' he said `` I like to think Hollywood studios would take the high road on this issue , and remain true to the story regardless of what a segment of the population might object . ''
Some `` Hunger Games '' fans are displeased that Cinna , Thresh and Rue are played by black actors . Both Thresh and Rue are described as having `` dark skin '' in Suzanne Collins ' novel . The film adaptation of the book is called Catching Fire ( which I'm not sure if it's a movie or TV show ).