35 “Catching Fire” quotes that were missing from the film

Catching Fire is the second novel in Suzanne Collins‘s inspiring, gripping yet heartbreaking trilogy, The Hunger Games. The trilogy is one of the most popular Dystopian Future novels, selling over 65 million copies worldwide. And the franchise became even more popular when the film adaptions were released, grossing over $275 million worldwide.

However, as it always happens with film adaptions, some books fans favourite lines and conversations didn’t make it to the script.

Here are 35 of the most popular and beautiful quotes from Catching Fire, that never made it to the script.

1. Haymitch gives my shoulder a pat and says, “You could do a lot worse, you know.”

Here, Katniss is coming to the realisation that she’ll have to marry Peeta to keep right by President Snow. Haymitch tells her she could do a lot worse than Peeta, seeing his worth before Katniss. She doesn’t fully appreciate him yet, as she’s soon to discover.

 

2. “I was jealous of him before I even officially met you.”
– Peeta Mellark

In the film we see Peeta apologise to Katniss in an attempt to be friends again. But what we don’t see is his confession to Katniss that he was jealous of what she has with Gale before he even formally met Katniss. We don’t really see the small dignified moments that explore Peeta and Gale’s relationship in the film like we do in the book.

 

3. Peeta has painted the Games.

Book lovers will know that after the Games, each victor was supposed to have a hobby. Some are fake, like Katniss’s “passion” for designing clothes, but some are genuine, like Peeta’s amazing talent for painting. Since leaving the arena, he painted scenes and moments from the Games. Only we don’t see any of these paintings in the film and the fact that he even paints is hardly mentioned either.

4. “What do you think?” he asks.
“I hate them,” I say. I can almost smell the blood, the dirt, the unnatural breath of the mutt. “All I do is go around trying to forget the arena and you’ve brought it back to life. How do you remember these things so exactly?”
“I see them every night,” he says.
– Katniss and Peeta 

This goes back to the paintings Peeta did of the Games. After showing Katniss his painting this was her reaction. He “sees them every night” in his nightmares. Again, readers will know the degree of destruction these nightmares cause Peeta and Katniss, but in the film not only do we miss this conversation that shows one of the more genuine moments between these two, but also the pain of the nightmares.

 

5. “You’re always so reliably good, Peeta,” says Haymitch. “So smart about how you present yourself before the cameras. I didn’t want to disrupt that.”

Haymitch and Katniss have hushed conversations behind Peeta’s back about their fate as victors. And we see said conversations in the film. But what we don’t see is Haymitch’s explanation to why they do it.

 

6. “I know you had to choose one of us. And I’d have wanted it to be her.”
– Peeta Mellark

After the commotion at District 11 on the Victory Tour, we see Haymitch calm Peeta and Katniss down. But in the book, Peeta kicks off (and rightfully so) at being kept in the dark. We never see Peeta get really upset by things that bother him through the trilogy, and this is maybe the only time he kicks up a fuss. Not only that, it shows that he and Haymitch had plans of their own during the first Games.

 

7. “I thought since he was determined to protect you, well, between the three of us, we might be able to bring you home.”
– Haymitch Abernathy

What moviegoers miss here, is that where Katniss and Haymitch could understand each other, he and Peeta also made their own deal to bring Katniss home. Peeta obviously told Haymitch to save Katniss, only we don’t know about it in the first novel because we see everything through Katniss, who obviously doesn’t know. This is the first that Katniss begins to realise that saving her was their plan all along. He cared about her from the beginning.

 

8. “You’ll see, the choices you’ll have to make. If we survive this,” says Haymitch. “You’ll learn.”

This is the first time where we actually think about Peeta and Katniss if they manage to get through it. They’ll no longer be tributes or even just victors – they’ll be mentors. They’ll have the task Haymitch had of getting someone through the Games. What he’s hinting at here, is that Katniss will see the decisions she’ll have to make as a mentor. The film cuts this entirely from the script.

 

9. “There’s no point to it any more, though, is there? Not being straight with each other?” I say.
“No point,” says Peeta.
– Katniss and Peeta

The pact. Katniss and Peeta make this pact in the Capitol not to lie to each other again. Personally, I think this is important to show where the characters stand with each other and it goes towards them being actual friends. However, moviegoers have no idea such a pact exists.

 

10. “Was that really the only time you kissed Gale?”
I’m so startled I answer. “Yes.” With all that has happened today, has that question actually been preying on him?

Honestly, I think this might just be my Everlark side showing here. After witnessing someone get shot, hearing about the secrets hid from him, the threat from President Snow, and now the added pressure of having to be even more in love to calm the districts, the only thing he’s thinking about is if that was the only time the girl he loved kissed another guy. That, my friends, is the power of love. It makes that the issue on the forefront of his mind.

11. “I thought he wanted it, anyway,” I say.
“Not like this,” Haymitch says. “He wanted it to be real.”
– Katniss and Haymitch

I was gutted, properly gutted, when this two minute conversation was cut from the film. I was waiting for it – I watched them have to conversation about getting married, I saw him react unhappily, I noticed him get up in a sort of strange huff and leave after leaving, I waited for Katniss to speak… Then BAM. Scene change. How hard would it have been to add this in? I mean seriously, it starts the whole “Real/Not Real” ideal! Not only that, we see how much Peeta actually does want it, and how the Capitol are taking not only her happiness away by forcing her into a marriage she doesn’t want, but also his. For putting him into a marriage where the woman he loves doesn’t love him back.

 

12. “It’s not necessary. My nightmares are usually about losing you,” he says. “I’m OK once I realise you’re here.”
– Peeta Mellark

This may be my Everlark reappearing again…  But why wasn’t beautiful and hopelessly romantic quote from Peeta in the film! We don’t see enough of the genuine lines from Peeta to Katniss in any of the films and it is something that really annoys me. Because moviegoers will never see the extent that Peeta genuinely loved Katniss.

 

13. “But Mockingjays were never a weapon,” said Madge. “They’re just songbirds. Right?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” I said, But it’s not true. A mockingbird is just a songbird. A mockingjay is a creature the capitol never intended to exist. They hadn’t counted on the highly controlled jabberjay having the brains to adapt to the wild, to thrive in a new form. They hadn’t anticipated its will to live.

This would never of had been able to make the film even if Francis Lawrence wanted to add it in. Madge Undersee, Katniss’s friend and the one who gave her the mockingjay pin, was never added to the cast. Even though that in itself is bad enough, this conversation explains why the mockingjay is the symbol for rebellion. The Capitol created the jabberjay, and they didn’t intend for a creature like the mockingjay to exist or to even come from their original actions. In this way, Katniss and the mockingjay are similar: she wasn’t someone President Snow intended to exist and she she went on to become who she was because of the thing they created, the Games.

 

14. “Peeta, if I asked you to run away from the district with me, would you?”
– Katniss Everdeen

In the film we see Katniss ask Gale to leave District 12 with her before all the commotion kicked off. However, what we fail to see is that she also asks Peeta, too. Something U think that was at least worth mentioning.

 

15. “He’s her cousin.” Peeta’s got my other arm now, but gently. “And she’s my fiancée. So if you want to get to him, expect to go through both of us.”
– Peeta Mellark

We see Peeta throw himself in front of the whipping post where Gale is beating beaten bloody, but we don’t see him actually stand up to the head Peacekeeper, which takes more guts than just standing there.

 

16. “I’m sorry. About screaming at you yesterday.”
“I’ve heard worse,” she says. “You’ve seen how people are, when someone they love is in pain.”
– Katniss and her mother

Not only is it one of the only moments we see Katniss actually apologise to her mother, but we see how much she also cares about Gale. No one can say she doesn’t care about Gale (ahem, even if she does care about Peeta more, obviously) and her mother can see how much her friendship with Gale means to her. She basically tells Katniss she “loves” him, but leaves her to figure out for herself in exactly what way.

17. “Hey. I just wanted to make sure you got home,” I say.
“Katniss, I live three houses away from you,” he says.
– Katniss and Peeta

I really do love this moment – it’s completely underrated. Even though she’s trying to convince herself she cares about Gale more, when they’re all going through the worst, the voice she needs to hear the most is Peeta’s. There’s no way she was making sure he got home; she just wanted to hear his voice.

 

18. “Don’t go yet. Not until I fall asleep,” I say.
– Katniss Everdeen

All I can say about this is she wants Peeta’s protection for as long as possible. She doesn’t want him to leave her when she’s vulnerable from the sleep syrup. Moviegoers – you have no idea.

 

19. One afternoon Peeta stops shading a blossom and looks up so suddenly that I start, as though I were caught spying on him, which in a strange way maybe I was. But he only says, “You know, I think this is the first time we’ve ever done anything normal together.”
“Yeah,” I agree. Our whole relationship has been tainted by the Games. Normal was never a part of it. “Nice for a change.”

This scene is completely cut from the film, but Katniss twisted her ankle jumping from a tree. While it heals, Peeta keeps her company and paints flowers into their family cook book. It’s one of the most normal things they ever do together. It is a shame that it never made it to the script.

 

20. “What’s the point to this?” asks Haymitch.
“The point is that two of us are coming home from the Capitol. One mentor and one victor,” says Peeta.
– Haymitch, Peeta and Katniss

After the announcement that the victors will be returning for the 75th Hunger Games, Peeta puts together a fitness regime to get each of them back in shape. He trains them like careers, in his best attempt to try and make sure that one of them will be the victor. It gives them all something to do except accept defeat. The movie cut it out entirely.

 

21. “It’d be better if he were easier to hate.”
– Gale Hawthorne

This is Gales way of admitting to Katniss that Peeta is actually a nice guy. Again, one of the few moments missed that show his and Peeta’s weird-but-mutual relationship.

22. I wrap my arms tightly around his neck before he can order me to do push-ups or something. Instead he pulls me in close and buries his face in my hair. Warmth radiates from the spot where his lips just touch my neck, slowly spreading through the rest of me. It feels so good, so impossibly good, that I know I will not be the first to let go.

Not so much a conversation, but something I would have loved to see in the movie. Again another beautiful and genuine moment between Katniss and Peeta that was left out of the film.

 

23. That’s when we hear Maysilee begin to scream. The alliance is over and she broke it off, so no one could blame him for ignoring her. But Haymitch runs for her, anyway.

Again, not really a conversation but something that was missed out. Katniss and Peeta watch the Games that Haymitch won, and we see how he tried to save Maysilee. Something I wish we had the opportunity to see.

 

24. “Don’t worry. I always channel my emotions into my work. That way I don’t hurt anyone but myself.”
– Cinna

I love this line from Cinna, it explains why he turned Katniss’s wedding dress into a mockingjay: he hates what President Snow has done, and this is him openly defying him because of it. He knows it’s likely to get him killed, but he still did it. Moviegoers will never know Cinna’s explanation.

25. “Having an eye for beauty isn’t the same thing as a weakness,” Peeta points out. “Except possibly when it comes to you.”

Yet again, another deliciously beautiful and heartbreakingly adorable quote from the boy with the bread that moviegoers will never know about.

 

26. “Yeah, but … I mean, for the Capitol, you’re pure,” he says, clearly trying to mollify me. “For me, you’re perfect. They’re just teasing you.”
– Peeta Mellark

We see Chaff kiss Katniss and Johanna strip down, but watching the movie we never really understand why: because they think she’s pure. Here Peeta explains this to Katniss.

 

27. “But maybe Haymitch is right,” I say. “Don’t tell him I said so, but he usually is, where the Games are concerned.”
– Katniss Everdeen

Haymitch is usually on point with the Games. He knows the rules and knows how to bend them. He doesn’t get enough credit for what he does. It’s good to see Katniss acknowledge it. But it’s a shame to see it missed from the film.

 

28. “I’m not sure. I just wanted to hold them accountable, if only for a moment,” says Peeta. “For killing that little girl.”

We see Peeta paint a picture of Rue during his individual assessment, but we never actually see his or Katniss’s score (10 for both) or their reasons for doing what they did. This is Peeta’s reason.

 

29. “Why did you do it, anyway?” he says.
“I don’t know. To show them that I’m more than just a piece in their Games?” I say.

Katniss hung a body and painted Seneca Crane in her individual assessment. This is her reason why. She also refers back to what Peeta said on the roof before the entered the first Games. Something important that was missed out the film.

 

30. “I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you.”
– Peeta Mellark

Another classic Mellark line that was missed from the film. Why is it that every possible chance Peeta has of showing or telling Katniss how he really feels, the film adaptions shut him down?

31. “I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it for ever,” he says.
– Peeta Mellark

Do I even need to explain why this should be in the film?

 

32. “We would all like you to know what a … privilege it has been to make you look your best.”… My prep team. My foolish, shallow, affectionate pets, with their obsessions with feathers and parties, nearly break my heart with their goodbye.

Through each of the Games, the prep team see tributes only as contestants for their entertainment and not as real people. Since Katniss won and they get to know her, they finally feel the effect of putting someone you love into the arena. They do care about Katniss and we begin to see people of the Capitol evolving. It’s just a shame that moviegoers don’t see it, too.

 

33. Peeta wants to stop by his room to shower off the make-up and meet me in a few minutes, but I won’t let him. I’m certain that if a door shuts between us, it will lock and I’ll have to spend the night without him. Besides, I have a shower in my room. I refuse to let go of his hand.

In the film, we see Peeta and Katniss wake up together. But we miss this important scene of how Katniss refuses to let him leave her. Its beautiful; it’s pure.

 

34. “Because whatever happened in the past is in the past. And no one in this arena was a victor by chance.” He eyes Peeta for a moment. “Except maybe Peeta.”
Finnick knows then what Haymitch and I know. About Peeta. Being truly, deep-down better than the rest of us.
– Finnick Odair

Peeta has a kind, golden and honourable heart. He’s not like the rest of them in the arena and no one can argue that fact. I wish we saw Finnick acknowledge this, too.

 

35. “With my paint box at home, I can make every colour imaginable. Pink. As pale as a baby’s skin. Or as deep as rhubarb. Green like spring grass. Blue that shimmers like ice on water.”
– Peeta Mellark

Lastly, it’s no secret to readers that Peeta has a magical way with words. A fine example of this is when the Morphling that took her life to save him is dying in his arms, he beautifully talks to her as she dies. For about two pages, he tells her about the colours he paints, about rainbows, and the colour of sunlight on fur. She dies with a smile on her face imaging his words. It shows Peeta at his finest. Well, the book does. Not the film.

To see 40 Quotes from The Hunger Games that didn’t make the film, click here.

To see 45 Mockingjay quotes missing from both films, click here.