The Hunger Games Director Reflects On Woody Harrelson Originally Passing

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The Hunger Games director Gary Ross reveals that Woody Harrelson originally turned down his role in the YA movie franchise. Ross also co-wrote the first The Hunger Games film, which is based on Suzanne Collins' book of the same name. The story begins with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteering to take her sister's place in the Hunger Games, a barbaric life-and-death competition televised to the masses in a dystopian society. The Hunger Games went on to become a franchise of three more films, subtitled Catching Fire,Mockingjay Part 1,and Mockingjay Part 2. However, Ross didn't return for The Hunger Games sequels, as he felt he couldn't make the quality films that he wanted, but he found box-office success with his initial contribution. When the first movie was released in 2012, it grossed an impressive $694 million worldwide.

Harrelson, who first became known for his role as bartender Woody Boyd in '80s sitcom Cheers, has had a varied career acting in film and television. He's continued to take on comedic characters and starred in some enduring genre movies, playing the Twinkie-obsessed zombie-apocalypse survivor Tallahassee in Zombieland. He's proven his dramatic range, too, scoring three Oscar nominations in successive decades and earning critical acclaim for acting across Matthew McConaughey in HBO's True Detective season 1.

Related: Hunger Games: How Haymitch Won The 50th Games (& What Happened Next)

Now, celebrating a decade since The Hunger Games was released, Ross speaks to THR about the film. He discusses the process of getting big names like Stanley Tucci and Harrelson involved in The Hunger Games, noting that the latter wasn't initially sure about playing the alcoholic former-Hunger