The Hunger Games is by far the biggest film, to date, of 2012, and I thought they did an outstanding job with the casting. Jennifer Lawrence was the only person with any name recognition who I could imagine as Katniss. Lenny Kravitz was a surprisingly understated Cinna. I haven't heard any complaints from young female fans about Josh Hutcherson or Liam Hemsworth, and they both held up well acting against Lawrence.
So, for those that don't know,
The Hunger Games is the first in a trilogy. I always knew we were going to see the rest of the story, but this opening leaves no doubt that
Catching Fire will be put into production any day now, and it will be given every necessary resource to meet and surpass the successes of the first film. The story is already there, though we should never downplay the art of adaptation. Almost all of the actors from the first film are returning, so they don't have to start from scratch. However, there are some very substantial new roles in
Catching Fire, and they really need to nail the casting to maintain the Panem tidal wave.
I've decided to offer my assistance. I'm not going to get into deep spoilers in the rest of this article, but if you don't want to know anything at all about
Catching Fire, you should probably click on something else.
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I didn't go back and do a statistical analysis, but I'm pretty confident that Finnick is the largest new role, both in terms of lines of dialogue and pages on which he appears. Finnick is about 24 years old, and from District 4, who's primary occupation is fishing. He was the Victor of the 65th Hunger Games, and is probably one of the most recognizable and popular victors throughout Panem. Katniss describes him as tall, muscular, athletic, and extremely handsome, with tan skin and long bronze hair. His weapon of choice in the Games was a trident.
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I feel like all I really need for this one is the picture, but I'll continue. Armie first hit the collective consciousness as the Winklevoss Twins in
The Social Network. He played the titular character's protege in
J. Edgar, and he's currently starring as the Prince in
Mirror Mirror. He's 6'5, and he looks like a superhero stepped off the page of a comic book. He would have been Batman in the
Justice League movie if it hadn't fallen through. He'll be 26 by the time shooting starts, so he's technically a few years older than Finnick, but that's inconsequential. The biggest question mark is scheduling. He's currently shooting
The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp. They started the first week of March, and most tentpole movies shoot for about six months, so they'll probably be done around the end of August.
Catching Fire is scheduled to release November 22, 2013, so they'll probably want to start shooting this November. He wouldn't have much of a break, but he could make it work if he wanted to.
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Johanna is right behind Finnick in terms of "screen time" in the second novel. She's from District 7, the Lumber district, and was the Victor of a Hunger Games "a few years ago". Since her Games aren't specified, we don't know her exact age, but I've always assumed she's around Finnick's age. Because of her lumberjack background, she used an axe in her Games. She's very sarcastic, and Katniss describes her as having wide-set brown eyes and short brown hair. I always got the vibe she was significantly smaller than Katniss, but I'm not sure that's ever spelled out in the novels.
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Bell is probably best known for the titular role in
Veronica Mars. She did half a season as Elle Bishop on
Heroes, and is currently starring in
House of Lies on Showtime. She also has experience on the big screen, starring in
Forgetting Sarah Marshall,
Couples Retreat, and
When In Rome. She's obviously a blonde in her normal life, but she's been brunette for roles before. She's great with sarcasm, so I'm confident she can pull of the character. She's also 5'1, so if I'm right that Johanna is supposed to be smaller than Katniss she's perfect for that. The only real hang-up is her age. Bell will be 32 by the time shooting would start, so she might be as much as 10 years older than the character. However, Jennifer Lawrence is four years older than her character, and Bell has always looked much younger than she is, so I don't think it's a problem.
House of Lies has also been picked up for a second season, and I haven't been able to find out when they're supposed to start shooting.
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That's it for this round, I'll be back in a few days with two more characters. Let me know what you think in the comments.
