Alyson Stoner describes "jumping for the moon" to audition for the role of 'Hunger Games' Katniss Everdeen

Alyson Stoner is sharing their full story with the world, revealing "Everything that’s been left unsaid in interviews. Details that were hidden because of contracts. Stories not even my family and friends know" in Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything. 

However, before the memoir is released, Vanity Fair is giving fans a new excerpt that recalls the Camp Rock and Phineas and Ferb star's preparation and audition process for the role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. 

They explain that when reading the book, they were "immediately gripped by its poignant social commentary," writing, "As an actor, the complexity of the subject matter would allow me to play to the top of my intelligence—something I rarely had the opportunity to do. And as a human, it gave me a chance to get up close to the dark underbelly of life, which I subconsciously longed to understand but didn’t know how to explore personally."

Stoner continues to express, "Katniss was the ultimate role and the ultimate strong female lead: purpose-driven, sharp, athletic, and, thankfully, a heroine whose capacities were more important than physical beauty. But the role was playing with fire for me. Katniss was characteristically thin—not starving, but small enough to reflect growing up in an underfed district—and muscular from hunting and archery. If I was going to devote myself to checking every box of the character description, I had to commit to strenuous training without fully succumbing to my eating disorder."