It’s hard to imagine that as Suzanne Collins was writing her now-phenomenally popular Hunger Games books, she could have dreamed that one day complete strangers would take the words she wrote and pictures she dreamed up and ink them permanently into their skin. As The Hunger Games’ film adaptation finally hits theaters on Friday, see photos of 10 extreme fans and the intense body art they’ve dedicated to Katniss and company. By Melissa Leon
The Odds Were in Her Favor
Budding costume designer (and avid Hunger Games fan since 2008) Michelle D’Antonio boldly told friends three years ago that if The Hunger Games were ever made into films, she’d be right there on set, helping turn Suzanne Collins’s fantasy realm into a reality. Cocky assertions aside, even Michelle was surprised when she scored an internship on set. After getting to work alongside professional costume designers—as well as hanging out with Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and more of the film’s stars—she says life was never the same. “It was the turning point in my life. When I look back when I’m 30, this is the moment that my life changed,” she told The Daily Beast. And what better way to commemorate the life-changing event than with a Hunger Games tattoo on her inner forearm? She chose the Mockingjay as the design for her tattoo and hid the number 11 in its wings, to commemorate the year she worked on the film. The phrase “May the odds be ever in your favor,” said to the “tributes” in the books who are chosen to fight each other to the death, also carries special meaning for her: “The odds were in my favor: I was the one who was chosen to intern,” she says. “It’s also just a daily thing, like ‘I hope everything works out for me.’”