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View the videos from the shoot below!

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: You hesitated when offered the part. What finally made you say yes?
Jennifer Lawrence: I called my mom, and she called me a hypocrite because when I was doing indie movies and everyone was asking why I didn’t do studio movies, I said, “The size of the movie doesn’t matter.” And she said, “Here’s a movie you love, and you were thinking of turning it down because of its size.” I thought: “I don’t want to miss out because I’m scared. Me being scared, I never want that to stop me from doing something.” But I knew in my heart that I wanted it — it was about working out all the fears.

THR: How did you prepare?
Lawrence:I did a lot of running because that’s all she does — track running and free running — then hand-to-hand combat and yoga. We trained to be able to do every stunt in the movie, and the ones that didn’t work out, my stunt double would do. I trained about four hours a day. Trying to find what Katniss’ body should look like put a lot of pressure on my shoulders. And it was stressful because I didn’t want to disappoint anybody — there was a lot of pressure to get your body to a place where an entire franchise is based [on it].

THR: Did you spend time with author Suzanne Collins?
Lawrence: I met her on set, and we also had a lot of very long conversations when I was still in England [visiting friends]. When we met, I asked her about how she had come up with the book. She said she was flipping between reality TV and the war in Iraq, flipping back and forth, and came up with the concept.

THR: How has your life changed compared with a year ago?
Lawrence:It hasn’t really, I’m happy to say. I have my family, my friends, my dog — he’s a Yorkie, but he’s been taken by my parents because they just lost their dog — and I’m leaving the country a little. But I haven’t changed my personal life.

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Vaughn joins previously-announced collaborators Bryan Singer (X-Men and X2), who is producing, and Simon Kinberg, who wrote Sherlock Holmes, but perhaps more importantly to fans of the franchise, the critically-reviled X-Men: The Last Stand.

An X-Men: First Class sequel would offer Vaughn his first successful franchise after stalled efforts to turn Stardust and Kick-Ass into film series. Meanwhile, in October the filmmaker discussed the possibility of taking on The Secret Service or Superior, two other projects which would reunite him with his Kick-Ass collaborator, Mark Millar.

X-Men: First Class successfully relaunched the marquee franchise, and was one of the best reviewed tentpoles of the year, as well as earning $353.6 million worldwide. The sequel should benefit from the attention Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence have attracted via upcoming projects such as Fassbender’s Prometheus and Lawrence’s starring role in the hotly anticipated adaptation of The Hunger Games.

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Set up at Mark Cuban’s 2929 Entertainment and based on the 2008 book by Ron Rash, Serena takes place in 1929 North Carolina, where young newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton move to build a timber empire. Their ambition is all-consuming and dangerous — neither is afraid to kill or destroy anyone who opposes them — but they’re turned against each other when Serena finds she can’t bear children and then launches a deadly vendetta against her husband’s illegitimate son. It’ll be a juicy role akin to Lady Macbeth for Lawrence, who’s got The Hunger Games coming out this March; indeed, Angelina Jolie once flirted with making Serena with director Darren Aronofsky. Instead, Academy Award winner Susanne Bier (In a Better World) will direct, and shooting is set to begin soon.

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We learned two weeks ago that Lionsgate had hired Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours screenwriter Simon Beaufoy to write the sequel. He’s currently working under the supervision of Ross, who is in the midst of post-production on The Hunger Games (Ross himself is a four-time Oscar nominee).

Lawrence, who starred in 2010′s The Hunger Games (for her first Oscar nomination) and appeared as Mystique in last year’s X-Men: First Class, plays Katniss Everdeen, the indomitable heroine who volunteers for the titular survival competition in order to save her younger sister. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Lawrence revealed that she beings training for the sequel this summer, saying,

“Signing onto the movies I was like, ‘Well, I’ll probably love the first one and then I’ll just want to get the rest of them out of the way, but I can’t wait to start training. As soon as they were like ‘We need to start training in July,’ I was like ‘Woohoo!’ I can’t wait to get back. Though I don’t know if that’s because I think we might shoot in Hawaii.”

Hawaii would make sense as a location, since the sequel’s games involve a man-made beach created by the Capitol government specifically for the tournament. Lawrence citing the July training start supports the general word that Catching Fire is tentatively scheduled to be in production during the fall in order to meet its November 2013 release date.

We’re heading into heavy SPOILER TERRITORY here, but Ross also shared his excitement for the sequel, explaining,

“I love the title Catching Fire because from the moment Katniss was willing to eat the berries, the moment she was willing to give her life for something larger than herself, she set off a chain reaction that was at once bigger than her and also because of her. That’s a very exciting movie to make because you’re seeing the emergence of a leader. It’s the birth of a revolution so it has context that’s larger than just the Games themselves.”

While this first film is centered around the competition, Catching Fire increases the scope and posits Katniss as the symbolic head of a resistance movement against the totalitarian regime headed by President Snow, played in both films by Donald Sutherland. He’s part of an ensemble that includes Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Wes Bentley, and Stanley Tucci.

The Hunger Games arrives on March 23rd, with Catching Fire scheduled to hit on November 22, 2013.

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Meanwhile, Jennifer Lawrence didn’t hesitate when asked which part of “Catching Fire” she was most excited to shoot:

“We get married!” she grinned—right before she and Josh exchanged meaningful looks, made an inexplicable squawking noise and pointed to their respective ring fingers. Mystery solved: Jen went on to explain that she’s been teasing Josh with the eventuality of their cinematic nuptials ever since they first started shooting “The Hunger Games.”

All in all, it sounds like both the stars of “The Hunger Games” are psyched to reprise their roles all the way through to the series stunner of a conclusion—and Jennifer, who’s a fan of the books, threw in a good word for the probability of “Mockingjay” being split into two separate films.

“It’s always hard, every time you convert a novel into movies, because you have to cut so much out,” she explained. “[So] in a weird way it’s kind of a relief, because you get to keep everything in there.”

And speaking of “Hunger Games” fandom, an inquisitive Twitterer finally asked—via Josh Horowitz—the actress playing Katniss the most important of all important questions: Team Peeta or Team Gale?

According to Jennifer, it’s a tough choice: “I’m a big flip-flopper, I’m a very fickle person,” she admitted. Or at least, she is when she’s on her own. BUT: “When Josh is sitting next to me, I’m all the way Team Peeta!”

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MTV News was lucky enough to get a few hints about those specific topics during our recent chat with Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, both of whom can’t wait to see the Capitol in the finished film but disagree about their excitement for Lawrence’s singing skills.

“[I'm excited to see] everything in the Capitol,” Lawrence said. “Every time we showed up at a Capitol scene, I was so blown away. Everything was more than you could have even imagined.”

“What was cool about the stuff in the Capitol, so much was practical,” Hutcherson added. “The whole apartment scene was all a set they built that was super, incredibly futuristic and amazing, and to see how that is integrated with the whole green-screen world as well is going to be really, really cool.”

Lawrence was not quite as enthusiastic about hearing her voice in the film, however. When we brought up the subject, she seemed to immediately get nervous about it.

“Oh God, oh God. Yeah, I did [sing],” she said when asked about recording “Rue’s Lullaby.” “I’m a terrible singer.”

“She’s not,” Hutcherson said.

“No, Josh! Stop,” Lawrence said to Hutcherson with sincerity. “He is messing with everyone.”

“She’s been called the songbird of her generation,” Hutcherson jumped in with a smile, referencing a Will Ferrell line in “Step Brothers.”

“My voice is a combination of Fergie and Jesus,” Lawrence played along. “No, I am a horrible singer. And I’m an even worse person to be around when I’m singing. I’m a terrible singer. I hated it.”

Lawrence said the recording process with famed producer T-Bone Burnett was particularly excruciating.

“T-Bone Burnett, like, the best person to ever happen to music is, like, listening in the other room. I kept getting ready, and then the music would play, and I’d [freak out],” she recalled. “Nothing would come out of my mouth.”

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Written and directed by Gary Ross and produced by Nina Jacobson’s Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik, “The Hunger Games: The IMAX Experience” stars Academy-award® nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth. Suzanne Collins’ best-selling novels have already developed a massive global following, with more than 23.5 million print copies in the United States alone.

“With this news, the release of ‘The Hunger Games’ has truly become an epic event,” said Lionsgate’s Joe Drake. “‘The Hunger Games’ and IMAX are a match made in heaven – fans love this book because its world is so vividly imagined and seeing the film in IMAX will make them feel as if they have landed right in the middle of the action. It is the ideal way for fans to experience this film for the first time.”

“‘The Hunger Games’ is one of the most popular properties in recent memory and we’re excited to offer this passionate fan base the opportunity to experience this exciting adventure in the most immersive way,” said Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. “We’re proud to kick off our relationship with Lionsgate around this highly anticipated film that will make a strong addition to our 2012 film slate.”

The IMAX release of The Hunger Games will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images coupled with IMAX’s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.

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