Jennifer Lawrence singlehandedly "carries" the Hunger Games movie, according to producers.

The Winter's Bone actress stars as protagonist Katniss Everdeen in the movie which tells the story of teenagers in the future forced to compete to the death live on TV for entertainment, and producers Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik say the movie is anchored by Jennifer's strong performance.

"To have [Katniss] be strong, and smart and independent. That's what we had to get right. [Jennifer Lawrence] just brought all that with her amazing talent and incredible work ethic. She just brought the best and carried us all on her back," Jon explained to The Hollywood Reporter.

The pair also have high praise for director Gary Ross, explaining they needed to find a filmmaker who shared author Suzanne Collins' "honest" voice. "I felt that we needed to find a voice for the movie that was as honest as the voice in the book. You want to find that ethical voice that Suzanne Collins found. And that's very hard I think to pull off, but I think Gary really found a way to hit that right in the sweet spot. Katniss is a very three-dimensional character. You feel like you know her. And not every filmmaker could capture that voice and make sure that the storytelling came from character," Nina said.

The producers are planning to make three more movies to cover the final two books in the Hunger Games trilogy.