This morning's eye candy came courtesy of a big photo spread featuring the entire Hunger Games cast standing in a field and looking like Dawson's Creek: The New Batch. For the most part the photo seemed intended to explain to us who all these kids are, from Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role as Katniss to Jacqueline Emerson as the girl known only as Foxface. There were a few quotes from each of them about the audition process, including several who went in with sticks and mud in their hair, but the photo was mostly the news.

Ah, but wait! Jennifer Lawrence still have something to say. There's a quick interview with the star that runs along with the photo, in which she says, for the first but almost definitely not the last time, "Hunger Games is not Twilight." She also had a pretty grim perspective on the violence that makes up the heart of the book and most definitely separates it from most young-adult fare:

Katniss is an incredible character: she’s a hunter but not a killer, a 16-year-old who’s being forced into the arena. These kids are killing one another only because if they don’t they’ll die. It’s needless, pointless, unjustified violence. It’s heartbreaking. When I auditioned, I told [director] Gary [Ross], “I understand if you don’t hire me, but please remember that after Katniss shoots a bow and kills someone, her face cannot be badass.” So there’s nothing cool about her. It’s not like she looks around the arena and goes, Yeah, I got this. I think she looks around helplessly, and thinks, I made a promise to my sister that I would survive; now I have to kill in order to do so.

That might be the most intelligent thing I've heard anyone say about this adaptation so far, and it's encouraging-- though of course, not surprising-- to see that Lawrence gets her character not just as a hero and a warrior, but as a scared girl who doesn't trust anybody. Basically, The Hunger Games ought to be a lot more badass than the MTV TV spots and the golden-hued photo would suggest-- and the way Lawrence is talking, it will be. The movie comes to theaters on March 21 next year.