The Hunger Games Admits To Casting The Wrong Cat To Play Buttercup

Jennifer Lawrence was obviously the perfect choice to play Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games movies. But the films' producer does admit to making a mistake in casting another pivotal role: the cat. Nina Jacobson admitted to People magazine that their first choice to play Buttercup, Katniss' cranky cat, was totally off. “I don't know how that happened because somehow or another, I missed the casting of that cat,” Jacobson said. “I am very present and active as a producer, but somehow I must not have been in the office that day or I must have been in another meeting.” As anyone who's read the Suzanne Collins books knows, Katniss' cat is a "muddy-yellow" color. In the first film, though, the cat hired to play Buttercup is black and white. But by the time Jacobson realized this, it was too late. “I get to set the day that we're shooting, and the cat just shows up, and it's a big black-and-white cat. And I was like, 'What's that in doing here? That's not Buttercup!'" Jacobson said. "And I couldn't get a new cat!” The casting blunder was something Jacobson agonized over, saying, “I was really obsessed with it for a long time. You know, 'Can we reshoot that? Can we digitally alter the cat?'" Apparently, Collins also felt the cat was all wrong for the part. It wasn't until director Francis Lawrence, who directed Catching Fire and both Mockingjay films, came into the picture that they were able to rewrite history. For the second film, Jacobson was finally able to find a ginger-colored cat that was worthy of being called Buttercup. Now, everything's just purr-fect.