Caesar Flickerman is the host for the Hunger Games. He is famous for turning any conversation around for the positive, and is known to change the color of his lips, hair, and eyelids for each Hunger Games. He always wears a midnight blue suit with small lightbulbs decorating it. He has been doing interviews for over 35 years, and according to Katniss he remained virtually the same.
The 74th Hunger Games
Caesar with Katniss for her 74th Hunger Games interview.
In the 73rd Hunger Games, his color was crimson and he looked like he was bleeding. Katniss says that his look in the 74th Hunger Games looked much better. He is shown to help tributes in each district with their interviews. In that year, his hair, lips and eyelids were dyed powder blue. While Caesar interviews Rue, they discuss her chances of winning, because the odds are against her. Rue says that she is fast and if they can't catch her they can't kill her and to not count her out, to which Caesar replies "I wouldn't in a million years."
While interviewing Katniss, he helps her because she doesn't do well in front of cameras. For example, when he asks Katniss what she liked the most since she came to the Capitol, she answers, "The lamb stew." He remarks that he can eat it by buckets and makes a horrified face when he asks the crowd if it shows. The crowd reassures him that it doesn't.
Caesar with Peeta the night of the 74th Hunger Games interviews.
When he interviewed Peeta, the two of them were described as a good team, feeding off of each other and bantering easily. It was to Caesar in this interview that Peeta first revealed his love for Katniss- shocking everyone, including her. The interview was said to have gone down amazingly with the audience.
After the Games were over and they had an interview with Katniss and Peeta, he mainly conversed with Peeta since Katniss is not very talented when it comes to speaking for the cameras and televised interviews.
The 75th Hunger Games
Caesar announces the 3rd Quarter Quell.
- "We have never seen anything like it before... And we will never see anything like it again."
- —Caesar Flickerman in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire[src]
As he did with the previous Games, Caesar helped the tributes in the 75th Hunger Games with their interviews. This year, his hair, lips and eyelids were dyed lavender. While interviewing the tributes, his questions were met with snide remarks from tributes. Most of them were bad mouthing the Capitol as a sign of rebellion before they went into the arena for a second time. When he interviewed Katniss, he mentions her upcoming nuptials to Peeta. As per Snow's request, Katniss was wearing her wedding dress. Little did Katniss know that Cinna had made a
Flickerman during the 74th Victory Tour.
few adjustments. So, Katniss twirls, which causes the dress to change into a mockingjay outfit-thus supporting the rebellion and resulting in Cinna being bludgeoned by Capitol guards. Caesar then interviews Peeta, who claims that he had been unofficially married to Katniss for months and that she is pregnant. While both claims are false, they explain Katniss' sudden breakdown
Katniss and Caesar
and obtain sympathy. This revelation caused the audience to go wild, upstaging all of the other tributes' interviews (as Peeta also did the year before when he told everyone about his love for Katniss). This also upset the Capitol audience enormously because they had grown to love Katniss and Peeta and the thought that they would not both survive after being so close to each other, and that an unborn baby would probably be killed in the arena, overwhelmed them. This resulted in some of them supporting the rebellion, not the Games.
At the end of Caesar's interviews, all of the victors stood and held hands as a show of unity; this influenced the Capitol audience further still.
Mockingjay
Caesar interviews Peeta
In Mockingjay, Caesar interviews a tortured Peeta. Caesar asks him questions like how he feels about the rebels and Katniss. While Peeta is explaining, he tells him and the audience how it feels to be in the Hunger Games, which fascinates them because no victor has ever spoken of this. Caesar tries to make Peeta as comfortable as possible during the interview. It is cut short when Peeta asks to go back to his cell, due to Caesar's comments on Katniss and her place in the rebellion.
Caesar interviews Peeta for the second time. This interview is short, during this interview the two exchange empty comments to each other. Caesar asks Peeta about the rumors of Katniss shooting a propo. Peeta tells him that she probably doesn't know what they are doing to her and to not trust them. The last thing Peeta says before the interview ends is for Katniss to find out what they are doing. Caesar interviews Peeta a third time. During the interview, Peeta states he thinks they should end the war with a ceasefire because if they have a war it could mean the end of all living things. Caesar questions Peeta's statement and asks him more on his thoughts of the rebellion. Peeta warns the rebels of the impending bomb attack from the Capitol on District 13. The interview is cut short when the Peacekeepers go on stage and beat Peeta and take him away to receive a punishment.
Personality
Caesar makes Peeta feel at ease.
Capitol Couture Portrait
Caesar is known for being helpful and brings out the best in the tributes. Katniss also notes that she thinks Caesar acts like this so that the tributes don't get worried or nervous. He is also known to like the Capitol's lamb stew. He thinks of himself as a little on the "tubby" side and loves Katniss' interview dress in the first book and asks her to twirl. It says in the book that Caesar can make a weak response into a memorable one. Like most Capitol citizens and TV personale, Flickerman has had noticeable surgery done on his face as noted by Katniss, and is rather interested in the arts of fashion as displayed with his vibrant and colorful costumes and suits. He is well liked by the Capitol citizens audiences, yet seems to have some sympathy for the tributes of the Games.
Caesar's Capitol Portrait
Stanley Tucci remarked that he thought Caesar to be "creepy, with the sort of false generosity and duplicity." Others view Flickerman's deameanor more as that of an amiable talk show host looking only to make the interviews memorable to the audience.
Relationships
In the novel, Claudius Templesmith and Caesar have no known relationship. But in the film adaptation, while watching the chariot rides and actual Hunger Games, Claudius and Caesar are shown to be agreeing on many things and laughing.
It is unknown whether any particular real-world talk show hosts were inspirational to the character of Caesar Flickerman, though Stanley Tucci did suggest that some existed in a special feature on the Blu-Ray of Catching Fire. It appears that Caesar is a sort of conglomerate of them in general. For example, one might think his last name to be a reference to David Letterman. However, his portrayal is perhaps closer to Leno, which if intentional would mean that Ms. Collins is subtly mocking Jay.