Jennifer Lawrence happy with The Hunger Games violence

Jennifer Lawrence has brushed off suggestions producers of The Hunger Games movie have watered down the original book's violence to appeal to a younger audience.

Fans of the book fear the film version of Suzanne Collins' hard-hitting trilogy will be tamer than the novels to gain a mainstream appeal.

Despite the eagerly-awaited movie receiving a PG-13 rating in the U.S., the Oscar-nominated actress insists it still contains plenty of visceral moments on screen.

She tells BBC Breakfast, "We had to have a PG-13 rating but violence is at the heart of the movie, because it has to make people angry enough to start an uprising. We couldn't water down the movie. The PG-13 rating helped us, because it made the violence really quick (on screen)."