Jack Quaid plays Marvel in The Hunger Games. Marvel is described on TheHungerGames.Wikia.com as follows: ‘Marvel is the male tribute from District 1 in the 74th Hunger Games. As a Career Tribute, Marvel is strong and ruthless. It is unknown if he volunteered for the Games or was reaped. He presumably trained for a lot of his pre-Games life, like most Tributes from his District. During the opening ceremonies, he and his District partner Glimmer were spray-painted silver and were wearing tunics. Katniss pointed out that they both looked gorgeous. During training, he showed great skill at spear throwing. He, along with the other Careers, received a training score somewhere between 8 and 10.’
Quaid said about playing Marvel in Interview Magazine: ‘I do something horrible to someone very small and cute, and then I have my ass handed to me immediately after.’ The 19 year old was told upon landing the part to expect people to spit on him on the streets.
It’s his feature film debut after only working on short films with friends – most notably The Invasion of the Douchebags, which features a plot comprising of a Phil Collins track triggering the residents of Martha’s Vineyards into idiots. ‘One was filmed with a budget of millions of dollars, and the other was filmed with a budget of about 20 bucks – which went towards the sunglasses I wore in it,’ he said.
Currently studying in the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University, Quaid said: ‘I’ve been on sets my whole life. But this is the first time in front of the camera and not in a chair with a packet of Sour Patch Kids from the craft services truck. It was a new sensation. It was weird… I really liked it.’
Quaid is the son of Hollywood actors Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, who married in 1991 and had Jack a year later. Sadly they divorced in 2001, and in a 2008 interview, Ryan said: ‘Dennis was not faithful to me for a very long time, and that was very painful. I found out more about that after I was divorced.’
Dennis Quaid hit back, saying: ‘It was eight years ago, and I find it unbelievable that Meg continues to rehash and rewrite the story of our relationship. Also, I find it regrettable that our son, Jack, has to be reminded in a public way of the turmoil and pain that every child feels in a divorce.
I, myself, moved on years ago and am fortunate to have a happy, beautiful family.’