Alan Ritchson’s tough guy build has gotten him very far in Hollywood. He made his acting debut playing Aquaman before Jason Momoa did in The CW’s Smallville, continued showing off his brawn as Hawk in Titans, and was cast as the lead role in Amazon’s Reacher. But we can’t forget his role in The Hunger Games, playing District 1 tribute Gloss. According to the action star, it turns out there’s a good explanation for why his character's death scene came out as awkwardly as it did.
In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Gloss was a Career tribute from District 1 who’s brought back to compete in the Quarter Quell with his sister, Cashmere. His final scene shocked characters and audiences when he snuck behind Wiress and stabbed her to death, only for Katniss to immediately shoot a fatal arrow to Gloss’ chest. If you thought seeing Gloss slowly fall back into the water was awkward to watch, Ritchson explained in a Wired interview why that may be so:
Actually, I took an arrow to the face, so I played it like it was to the face. But then I think they decided in post that [it] was a little too gruesome to take an arrow to the face by Katniss. So they changed it to my chest.
That must be the weirdest thing to pretend an arrow hit you in the face, only for the arrow to change direction in post. It’s not too surprising that Wiress’ death was glossed down (pardon the pun) in the movie, as the Catching Fire movie and book have a lot of differences, like President Snow and Caesar Flickerman having bigger roles in the movies. But the books are much more violent and had to be toned down for the franchise’s PG-13 rating.
In Suzanne Collins’ sequel, Wiress had “her throat slit open in a bright red smile” while Gloss took Katniss’ arrow “into his right temple” right after. In the movie, it looks like Gloss stabbed Wiress in her shoulder and then took Katniss' arrow to the chest instead as he slowly fell into the water.
You’d never think that shooting a death scene would be awkward. However, like Alan Ritchson said, filming like you’re taking an arrow to the head when it’s actually going to the chest would be just a tad embarrassing to watch of yourself after:
But I didn’t shoot it that way. I didn’t shoot it like I was taking a shot to the chest. My head snapped back like an idiot, and the thing went in my chest. And I’m like [cocks head back]. Who does that? I wouldn’t have died like that.
That's still hilarious how the actor criticizes his own portrayal of his character's death in The Hunger Games. However, he does have a point that an arrow to the noggin would have much more force than a slight neck tilt back. If only the Titans star was told before shooting Gloss’ final scene that his director changed his mind about the direction of the fatal blow. On the other hand, I feel like it would have been more awkward for the actor if fans of Reacher opened their eyes about him being responsible for killing sweet Wiress, similar to when The Boys fans realized Jack Quaid’s Marvel killed Rue in the first Hunger Games movie.
There’s nothing like filming your death scene believing you’re getting shot in the head, only for the arrow to go to your chest in post. Just when you thought that scene was already twisted enough in seeing Wiress snuck behind by her killer, Alan Ritchson understandably had his own idea of where the arrow was going to fatally hit him. But it proves that even actors aren’t always in on final cut decisions.
The awkwardly shot death scene of Gloss can be found in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, available for rent on various streaming platforms. However, you can see Alan Ritchson in new episodes of Reacher Season 3 every Thursday with your Amazon Prime Video subscription.
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