Lenny Kravitz Talks 'Bisexual' Inspiration for 'The Hunger Games' (EXCLUSIVE)

Posted March 19, 2012, 2:53 pm   •   by Taryn Ryder   •   4 comments

Lenny Kravitz stars in The Hunger Games and gives a truly captivating performance as Katniss' stylist, Cinna. Fans of the book have speculated whether Lenny's character is gay or not, and it was an issue Kravitz certainly had to think about before stepping into the role of such a vital character. At the junket, Lenny discussed with Celebuzz how he approached playing Cinna:

"I’ll be quite frank with you — I didn’t know about Hunger Games — so when I’m telling kids and they say, ‘Who are you playing?’ and I say Cinna, they go, ‘Oh you’re playing the gay guy.’ That was an actual answer. I’ve never brought that up yet. That’s how they perceived it. So I thought about it, and I read the book and I don’t see that he is or isn’t [gay]. He’s a designer, he’s a stylist, he has gold eyeliner—that doesn’t mean anything either way."

Elizabeth Banks was sitting next to Lenny and she happily jumped in giving her own theory of sexuality at the Capitol:

"I always read the Capitol as f—ked up pansexuality, everybody is doing everybody. Back to Greek and Roman times! It’s all happening."

“The question was how far do we go with him," continued Lenny. "The idea was to pull it back and create a character that’s more like a Tom Ford or an Yves Saint Laurent so he wouldn’t be too outrageous. He’s classic, he’s got his gold. I kind of played him in the middle."

In fact, Lenny told us he turned to a friend when deciding how "middle" to play Cinna:

"I actually have a friend who is a dancer who is bisexual, and he was a lot of inspiration for my speech pattern and my rhythm, and kind of the way I sauntered in and out a little bit."

For what it's worth, we think it was perfection!

Cinna and Katniss' scenes together are the very few sweet moments in The Hunger Games, and it was easy to create that relationship because Lenny and Jennifer Lawrence knew each other well before filming.

"We were already so comfortable with each other, so I knew what a nutcase she was," laughed Lenny. Jennifer starred in X Men: First Class alongside Lenny's daughter, Zoe Kravitz.

"[Jennifer] is so funny. There was already warmth between us. She was already so close with my daughter. She would come home on weekends to the house. That definitely helped [the onscreen relationship]."

The Hunger Games hits theaters this Friday, March 23. It's a must see, trust us!