Katniss Everdeen plant can be eaten, as Katniss does in the book. Her father once said: "As long as you can find yourself, you'll never starve." The plant also shares its name with a constellation in the Zodiac called Sagittarius, or "The Archer", which may also reference Katniss's skills in archery. Her last name comes from Bathsheba Everdene, the central female character in "Far from the Madding Crowd" by Thomas Hardy. According to Collins, "The two are very different, but both struggle with knowing their hearts". "The Hunger Games" takes place in the ruins of North America: a country called Panem (in
The Hunger Games (novel) Twenty-year-old actress Jennifer Lawrence was chosen to play Katniss Everdeen. Though Lawrence was four years older than the character when filming began, Collins felt the role demanded "a certain maturity and power" and said she would rather the actress be older than younger. She added that Lawrence was the "only one who truly captured the character I wrote in the book" and that she had "every essential quality necessary to play Katniss." Lawrence, a fan of the books, took three days to accept the role, initially intimidated by the size of the production. Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth were later