Cinna in The Hunger Games: Actor, Costumes and Fate

Cinna is the stylist assigned to Katniss Everdeen, and Lenny Kravitz plays him in two films, credited simply as Cinna. He first appears in The Hunger Games (2012), directed by Gary Ross, and returns in Catching Fire (2013), directed by Francis Lawrence. Kravitz is billed sixth in the first film and seventh in the second, so Cinna sits inside the main ensemble rather than among the day players. The credits give him one name only, which is why searches for a Cinna last name turn up nothing in the films themselves.

His job in Panem is to dress a tribute for the cameras, and for the sponsors who watch from the Capitol. Katniss arrives as a sixteen year old from the poor mining district of District 12, a girl who hunts illegally to feed her mother and younger sister, so how she is presented matters nearly as much as how she trains. The plot of the first film credits Cinna with making her a memorable figure through his costumes, and she also scores highly with the judges. Think of him as the person who writes the opening line of her public story.

If you want the wider cast around him, the hunger games characters page lists everyone, and the hunger games cast page covers the actors.

Cinna's closest tie is to Katniss Everdeen, whom he dresses in both films, and his other connections run through the people who shape her fate. Their working relationship is the one the plots show most clearly: he designs, she wears, and the cameras do the rest. Did Katniss like him? The films answer through action rather than a stated line. He makes her memorable in the first film, and in the second he gives her the Mockingjay gown, a public gesture on her behalf just before the Quarter Quell begins.

President Coriolanus Snow is the other pole. In Catching Fire Snow tells Katniss that her defiance is stirring unrest, and he later announces the Quarter Quell that sends her back. The Mockingjay gown appears in the middle of that pressure. For more on the man behind the Capitol, see coriolanus snow.

The District 12 tributes also have a mentor, the drunken past winner Haymitch Abernathy, who coaches them while Cinna styles Katniss. For his side of the story, see haymitch hunger games. The Peeta link is simpler: in the pre-Games interview, peeta mellark hunger games announces a marriage and a child, and Cinna's wedding gown for Katniss belongs to the same run-up to the arena.

For the character who ties these threads together, read katniss everdeen hunger games.

In my opinion, Cinna's best moment is the wedding gown that becomes a Mockingjay, because it is the one costume in the series that works as a statement as well as a design. It is a public act of defiance carried out on a body that cannot be argued with. The Peacekeepers' reply, the beating that follows, is what gives the gown its weight.

A close second is his first work in The Hunger Games (2012). Katniss scores highly with the judges, and the plot credits Cinna's costumes with making her memorable. It could be argued that this is the quieter achievement, since the star crossed lovers image and the sponsors it wins depend on a viewer first remembering her.

Perhaps the most useful comparison is with Haymitch. Haymitch coaches, Cinna presents, and between them Katniss is prepared for two audiences at once. If you want to see how a supporting role can carry as much storytelling as a lead one, Kravitz's performance as Cinna is a good place to start. For a wider look at how the films treat Katniss's image, try hunger games movies ranked and compare how the first two films handle her public persona.