Let the Games continue! EW has your first look at the Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire, with a peek at Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss and cast newcomer Sam Claflin as returning Games victor Finnick Odair.
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Also in Friday's Biz Break: indie horror maven Ti West goes "mainstream," Daniel Craig signs for more Bonds, and Spike Lee's Oldboy is snapped up by FilmDistrict for U.S. release.
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Francis Lawrence's Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire has nabbed yet another notable name for film fans in Amanda Plummer, the stage/TV/film veteran perhaps best known as the diner-robbing "Honey Bunny" in Pulp Fiction as well as for her roles in The Fisher King and So I Married an Axe Murderer. Plummer will take the role of a Tribute and former Games winner whose eccentricity belies an uncanny intelligence as she competes with Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss & Co. in the arena.
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Jena Malone, seen kicking all sorts of ass last year in Sucker Punch, has nabbed the role of Johanna Mason in the Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire, THR reports. Malone is in negotiations to play the crafty and ruthless past Games winner from District 7, who joins Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark as they and fellow previous victors are forced back into the arena to fight to the death.
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After inheriting the reins of the Hunger Games franchise from director Gary Ross, Francis Lawrence is making casting moves as the YA series sequel, Catching Fire, comes into view. According to THR, the first new cast addition may be Philip Seymour Hoffman, who has reportedly been offered a key role that will figure into the next two installments in the franchise: New Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee.
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Also in Tuesday morning's briefs roundup, Abbas Kiarostami's latest from Cannes is heading to the U.S., a big film-biz deal brews up in Canada, a controversial film lands its maker in hot legal water three decades, and more...
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Roughly two weeks after Gary Ross's departure from and Francis Lawrence's rumored attachment to Catching Fire, Lionsgate has officially announced Lawrence as its man to direct its mega-anticipated Hunger Games sequel.
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Well, it looks like Lionsgate has picked their pony in the Catching Fire directing race; I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence has reportedly been offered the job to helm the Hunger Games sequel, which is set to start filming on a tight schedule this August. Lawrence has three features under his belt, in addition to music videos for the likes of J. Lo and Britney Spears; he most recently directed Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon in Water for Elephants (but also made 2005's Constantine).
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According to an LA Times report citing an insider in the know, Lionsgate is looking at a few notable names to take the helm of the Hunger Games franchise for the series sequel Catching Fire. Among the "seven or eight names" -- all men, it's noted -- are David Cronenberg, Alfonso Cuaron, and Alejandro González Iñárritu.
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Well, that was fast: Just hours after Josh Hutcherson gamely threw his support behind Hunger Games director Gary Ross, Ross has officially announced he's not directing the franchise sequel, Catching Fire. "I simply don't have the time I need to write and prep the movie I would have wanted to make," wrote Ross in a statement. More after the jump.
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Promoting his indie genre-bender Detention today in Los Angeles (in theaters Friday), Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson found himself in the line of questioning about the much-discussed ambiguity surrounding director Gary Ross's potential return to the franchise. “I think Gary’s the man," he diplomatically told The Hollywood Reporter. "Gary is in my mind is the only one that could ever direct the second one. That’s what I’m sticking to.” (UPDATE: Looks like Hutcherson'll have to readjust his thinking - Ross is officially out of the running for Catching Fire.)
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The jury's still out as far as I'm concerned on whether or not director Gary Ross (Seabiscuit) was the right director to helm Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games, even with the mostly-satisfying first trailer debut earlier this week. Lionsgate, however, seems more confident in Ross, as they want him to return to helm the second Hunger Games installment, 2013's Catching Fire, with writer Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) reportedly in the running to script.
Big news, Mockingjays -- with their now-filming Hunger Games set for release next March, Lionsgate has gone ahead and staked their flag on November 22, 2013 for the second film in the series, Catching Fire. What does this mean for the as-yet directorless sequel?
When Gary Ross picked rocker Lenny Kravitz out of nowhere to play Katniss's stylist Cinna in 2012's The Hunger Games, many folks were taken by surprise. But none, perhaps, were more surprised than Kravitz himself, who admits he didn't even know what The Hunger Games trilogy was until he got Ross's phone call.
As the YA-addicted world awaits the conclusion of The Twilight Saga, internet storms are a-brewin' over the next teen franchise with Twilight-level potential: Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. But with casting speculation at a fever pitch (director Gary Ross should anoint his chosen ones any week now), it's time for some real talk: Most of your favorite young thespians aren't going to make the cut.
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