The Hunger Games: Back for seconds

It is fitting that the two most stylish characters in The Hunger Games films are played by US actress Elizabeth Banks and US singer Lenny Kravitz.

Together, they swoop into the roomful of six journalists at the Four Seasons Los Angeles to talk about reprising their roles in the sequel.

The former was in a dazzling Kate Spade top and a black leather skirt, the latter in a three-piece pinstripe suit but shirtless for that don't-give-a-damn rocker edge.

In the movies, Banks, 39, plays Effie Trinket, the official escort for District 12 victors Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), whose costumes (and shoes, and hair and eyelashes) get more and more outrageous with each scene.

Kravitz, 49, is Cinna, Katniss' costume designer responsible for all her eye-popping outfits. In Catching Fire, he creates a wedding dress so gorgeous it brings The Hunger Games' reality show audience to tears.

HOW HARD IS IT TO GET MADE UP FOR THE FILM?

Banks: I spend about three hours on make-up. I love disappearing (into my character Effie). The butterfly dress was really difficult to get into. It was made, and I was either going to fit into it or not. It was made with 10,000 feathers that were painted to look like Monarch butterflies.

HOW DO YOU THINK THE MOVIE RELATES TO REAL LIFE?

Kravitz: When reality TV was first getting popular with shows like Big Brother, then all these other shows came on, and I was like, whoa. You think back to when Psycho came out and that was the height of horror, and you thought it couldn't get worse...

Banks: Now, you have Saw V.

Kravitz: So what's going to happen 100 years from now? Are people going to have real gladiators like back in the day? I think the movie reflects where we are and where we could go...

Banks: If we lose our moral compass.

WHAT'S THE WORST PART ABOUT BEING A CELEBRITY?

Banks: Not being able to complain about anything.

Kravitz: I don't view myself as a celebrity, I view myself as an artist. But everything comes with something, and I get to do something with what God gave me.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR YOU?

Kravitz: My main thing is still music, but as long as the movie is good ... I just finished my new album two weeks ago, and it will be out next year. There will be a world tour.

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