(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Woody Harrelson thinks Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are "marvellous".

The actor is playing Haymitch Abernathy in the highly-anticipated thriller The Hunger Games, which also stars Jennifer and Josh.

The film is based on the science fiction book series by Suzanne Collins, and tells the story of a group of teenagers who have to fight to the death to save their communities.

Woody loved working alongside his young co-stars.

"I think they're just marvellous actors. I think they just knocked it out of the park," he gushed in an interview with MTV.

"Just as people, [they are] about as fun as it gets. They really are fun folks. It's cool, because I've never even done a sequel, and I just signed on to four movies, so we're going to be spending a lot of time together between doing the movies and press and everything, so it's great to love these guys.

"Having done this first one, I can say I do look forward to doing the next one. It wasn't a chore. It was actually the opposite; it was a lot of fun. They managed to mix business and pleasure really well, that whole group. I'd say we get after it again next year."

Woody has revealed the inspiration behind his The Hunger Games hairstyle.

The actor sports a long, slightly shaggy barnet in the film, and says his brother motivated his unkempt look.

"The hair, when I was thinking about what to do for the character, I hung out with my brother Brett, and that is exactly the way his hair is," he explained.

"I was like, 'OK, let's get a wig. Let's do the Brett Harrelson hair.' It's kind of cool. I really liked the look. It's a fun character, and I think it's going to be a good movie."

Woody says the visuals in the big screen adaptation are "staggering." The 50-year-old star was amazed by the artistic vision of director Gary Ross.

"It's almost impossible to describe, it's so unusual. Even ice in the glass, even the glasses are not normal glasses. There's nothing that you've seen before. It's real original artistic vision," he said.

"I think people are going to like it." (C) Cover Media