There was a swear jar on the set. Co-writer and director Gary Ross said half of it was contributed by Jennifer Lawrence.
While horsing around on the set, Jennifer Lawrence accidentally kicked Josh Hutcherson in the head, knocking him out and resulting in a concussion.
Donald Sutherland saw the script by accident, and after reading it, he lobbied for the role of President Snow because the script reminded him of Stanley Kubrick's Wege zum Ruhm (1957). He wrote a letter of plea to the director Gary Ross, explaining what the character of Snow meant for the narrative and why he should be cast. It worked, and Ross was so impressed by Sutherland's insights that he wrote two scenes into the script based on what Sutherland had written.
Jennifer Lawrence was paid what was, for her, the high fee of $500,000. It took her three days to accept the role because she was unsure how it would affect her career since her background was mainly on the indie film circuit. For Die Tribute von Panem - Catching Fire (2013), she was paid $10 million, twenty times the initial offer.
During a New York Magazine interview, Wes Bentley said that the highly unusual beard he wore as Seneca was styled from his natural beard, not created from applied pieces or extra hair. Bentley said that while he was in North Carolina filming the movie, he would often go to the local Target to buy things like baby formula while still sporting the "Seneca beard"