Sam Claflin doesn’t take part in lots of big action sequences in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1, but that doesn’t mean his job was easy. As the tragic figure Finnick Odair, a veteran of The Hunger Games whose life has been destroyed after the events of Catching Fire, Claflin plays a sad, solitary figure whose greatest contribution to the revolution may turn out to be something more subtle and depressing than blowing up fighter jets with a bow and arrow.
Struck by his performance in Mockingjay, Part 1, we sought out Sam Claflin to discuss the unique journey of his character from charismatic hero to lonely loner, what was going through the actor’s mind during his most harrowing moments on set, and what – exactly – Finnick Odair is doing with that rope throughout the entire film. Sam Claflin also reveals which prop from The Hunger Games he got to keep after the production concluded, and no… it’s not his trident.
Some minor spoilers lie ahead, but they should come as no surprise to readers of the Suzanne Collins novels.
Related: ‘Mockingjay, Part 1’ Review: Don’t Start the Revolution Without Memes
CraveOnline: Hello, sir. How are you doing today?
Sam Claflin: I’m good, how are you?
I’m good. Thank you so much for talking to me. I really appreciate it.
No, thanks… Thanks for talking to me! I feel wanted.
Oh my god, you are so wanted. Are you kidding me?
[Laughs.]
My stars. First off I wanted to say congratulations, I think this is the best one yet.
Oh cool. Thank you, I’ll pass that on.
“You can seem to have everything, but have nothing. I think that’s a beautiful story.”
Please do. Spread the word. I haven’t read the books, so this went in places I did not expect. I guess I expected Finnick to be stabbing guys by the dozens with a giant trident or something, but he’s in a really bad place in this movie, isn’t he?
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the sort of guy that we got to know during the last movie is broken, quite literally, in more ways than one. So yeah, it’s matter of trying to piece himself back together, to regain that confidence that we all got to know in Catching Fire. As an actor, I guess it’s always a dream come true, to be able play a character with two personalities, two sides of the coin. It was a treat to revisit him, but it was quite challenging I guess, to play a character who felt pretty much brand new.
What is going on in Finnick’s head when we first see him in Mockingjay, Part 1? Obviously he misses Cresta but it seems to go deeper than that.
I think he, in a sense, as much as Katniss does, I guess in a sense he feels somewhat betrayed or lost. He realizes that even Katniss has family and friends around her. She has Gale, she has her mom and her sister, even her cat. Whereas Finnick literally has nobody. He is a lone wolf, and so the one thing that he did love and cherish has been taken from him. So I think it really hits him harder than it does with Katniss. And also she has obviously the rebellion, the whole Mockingjay, to keep distracting her, whereas he is just left to his own devices and sort of forgotten about. That’s the beautifully tragic reality of Finnick’s life. He’s a lonely man, and so you can seem to have everything, but have nothing. I think that’s a beautiful story.
