First Look: Jennifer Lawrence In Character As Katniss Everdeen

Entertainment Weekly—on stands May 20—has exclusive first photos as Jennifer Lawrence’s transformation into Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen. EW shadowed the actress as she prepared for her role (with archery training, hair dying, and a diet that was intended to leave her looking hungry) days before she left for North Carolina to shoot the film. In the interview, Lawrence describes one of her first meetings with Hunger Games director Gary Ross, which took place at the height of awards season:

He was asking me what the experience was like and I just kind of opened up and said, ‘I feel like a rag doll. I have hair and makeup people coming to my house every day and putting me in new, uncomfortable, weird dresses and expensive shoes, and I just shut down and raise my arms up for them to get the dress on, and pout my lips when they need to put the lipstick on.’ And we both started laughing because that’s exactly what it’s like for Katniss in the Capitol. She was a girl who’s all of a sudden being introduced to fame. I know what that feels like to have all this flurry around you and feel like, ‘Oh, no, I don’t belong here.’