Who Should Play Haymitch in The Hunger Games?
With Lionsgate milking its casting announcement roll-out as much as possible (today's news: All My Children's Leven Rambin and Meg Ryan/Dennis Quaid progeny Jack Quaid are your new District 1 tributes, Glimmer and Marvel!) it's time to play the speculation game with one of the series' most important supporting characters: Haymitch. Which veteran actors could fill the Hunger Games winner-turned-alcoholic mentor's shoes?
Hugh Laurie
The House star is a running favorite among fans of the books and would make an ideal Haymitch -- surly, bitter, broken by life but not irredeemable as the only lifeline Katniss and Peeta have on the outside. The bad news: Laurie might not be available for the role even if he was to get it.
Robert Downey, Jr.
RDJ's another fave, thanks to his dry wit and ability to engender audience sympathy even when he's at his worst. And the abject horror of having lived through the Games himself would register in those deep, sad, soulful eyes. But could Downey Jr. fit the bill of the "paunchy" Haymitch while in his Iron Man/Sherlock Holmes shape?
Jack Black
Jack Black's comic skills could give the heavy subject matter of The Hunger Games a necessary levity, and goodness knows Black's career could use a change of pace. At 41, Black is also around the right age to play Haymitch, who won the Games 24 years prior.
Zach Galifianakis
The Bearded One would make an admittedly strange Haymitch, but so many of the right elements are there: He's technically about the right age, is kind of great when he hits unexpected dramatic notes, and would make Haymitch's fall-down drunk scenes at once sad, hilarious, and wonderfully uncomfortable.
Charlie Sheen
Loose cannon unpredictability? Check. Possessed of a deeply-felt bitterness that turns into near-poetic wisdom in unexpected moments? Yep. The ability to portray a man with out of control substance abuse problems struggling to rein in his personal demons? Yeah, he might be able to pull it off.
Have other suggestions for who should/could play Haymitch in The Hunger Games? Leave 'em below. Bragging rights to anyone who guesses correctly once Lionsgate unveils its casting choice.
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Comments
Said it once, saying it again: Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Nathan Fillion. He is the right age, the right body type (sorry to hugh laurie fans but I never pictured haymitch being a beanpole) Haymitch was supposed to be a looker in his day and Nathan Fillion could be a great drunk as well as the serious stuff in later books.
When I think of Haymitch, I see Laurie. It's unshakeable for me.
I've said it a million billion times all over the great vastness of the internets, Jeffrey. Dean. Morgan. Enough with this Robert Downey Jr hype, the man has two franchises already going on, and an epic Wizard of Oz film in the works, I simply do not see how he could take on Haymitch with a schedule like his. Laurie'd be great, but I think he may want an actual hiatus this summer, see his family, be English for awhile. Jack Black, I think you may have lost me there, sorry.
Ian McShane
Tom Berenger
Brendan Gleeson (Mad Eye Moody, among other great roles) would make an awesome Haymitch. I might just have to boycott the film if Jack Black were cast.
jeff bridges!
Annnnnd I think you may have just nailed it in terms of ACTUAL casting versus what goes on in my mind.
I hear you on Gleeson, but I think he's a touch too old, isn't he? By my math (correct me if I'm wrong) if Haymitch won the Games as a teen 24 years ago he shouldn't be older than 42. So even Laurie's a bit old for it, though he's pretty much what I pictured when I read the books.
I do have to point out that Jen makes a reference here about appropriate age - Haymitch should be about 40. Certainly, hard-living would take a toll, but picks like Gleeson and Bridges really push the age limit.
I think either David Thewlis or Stellan Skarsgard would be amazing in the role and just how I pictured it (especially Thewlis). Everyone else they've named feels wrong.
That's what I just posted above! Great minds. It is a bit strange to realize that Jack Black and Galifianakis are technically closest to Haymitch's age.
I'm coming out of commenting retirement to say that if Ian McShane is in this, I will see this film based on a book franchise that I've never heard of (until Movieline started talking about the film adaptation).
Or, if you think my choices are too old, how about Sharlto Copley, who I picture as a younger David Thewlis?
HOFFMAN.
Gerard Butler. Formerly in good shape, now sort of bloated and filled with the booze of a thousand taps. He's the right age and could pull off the brooding, somewhat unpredictable nature that Haymitch has. Philip Seymour Hoffman could work, but I see him as a bit more intellectual than Haymitch.
RDJ would be WAY too expensive and quite frankly, I don't see his brand of snark in the role. Including Jack Black, Charlie Sheen and Zack Galifinackis on this list just shows that whoever wrote it isn't serious at all.
Hugh Laurie is so perfect for Haymitch!
WIN
I've always liked the idea of Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I've never understood Hugh Laurie's appeal since he is so skinny and doesn't fit Haymitch's description. I actually think Zach Galifianakis is an inspired choice. For all that I find him hysterical, I think there is some kind of brokeness and potential dangerousness about him. And he's fat! I'm sorry, anyone that is not fat, I don't see as Haymitch.
You're too young and too valuable to retire. Nothing is sadder than wasted talent.
Neil Patrick Harris or Clive Owen
You know who else is about the right age? TYLER PERRY
My mental Haymitch was rather rotund, or at least plump from the drink, so Sharlto Copley/David Thewlis don't fit the bill for me. But maybe that's just me.
Jeffery Dean Morgan, since RDJ is most likely out. I really don't want Jack Black as Haymitch... that's just wrong for some reason.
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