Liam Hemsworth On For Hunger Games

>> Liam Hemsworth On For Hunger Games

Submitted by Peter Oberth on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 - 9:15PM Source: Empire

Update: According to Entertainment Weekly, both Hemsworth and Hutcherson have now been officially cast in the film.

Now that director Gary Ross has decided that Jennifer Lawrence is the woman he wants to play Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, the focus has shifted to finding some male co-stars to appear alongside her. And, according to Deadline, the front-runners for the two main roles are Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson.

Based on Suzanne Collins’ hugely popular fantasy trilogy, Hunger Games posits a world destroyed by conflict, where teens are selected at random to fight in gladiator-style games televised for the residents of the shattered nation of Panem to watch, in order to keep them in line. Katniss volunteers to fight to protect her younger sister and teams with Peeta Mellark (the role Hutcherson is being considered for). Gale Hawthorne (Hemsworth’s possible role), meanwhile, is an old friend of Katniss, who accompanies her on hunts and has a plan to help her and a family escape until her entry into the games curtails the idea.

Collins wrote the first draft of the script, which has since been re-worked by Breach's Billy Ray. Ross plans to kick off shooting in May for a March 23 release next year.

Keep in mind that these two are still nowhere near locked in – indeed, Lionsgate told Deadline’s Mike Fleming that no offers have gone out as yet. But what do you think? Could you see the pair playing these roles?

Title: The Hunger Games

Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Teen

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson

Director: Gary Ross

Tags: The Hunger Games, Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Gary Ross

Comments

Wed, 04/06/2011 - 9:24am — AJ Garcia

Boo

I hate this casting choice. Hutcherson makes sense for Peeta because he has typecast himself as the Charlie Brown character in every movie. He's a whiner and a complainer but Peeta is pretty much the same way. The only real problem I have with him being cast is he is a terrible actor. When people say that he's a great actor they probably don't realize that he is great at playing a one dimensional character geared for every film he stars in. That or their younger fans who just think he's cute or something. Believe me I've been following this casting story over at Facebook and at least 50% of the people who approved think "He's dreamy" lol. Hemsworth as well is a bad choice seeing as how his acting experience has been very little and whatever he's been in he's been either a background character or terrible or both. So far though I see this as one of the most botched casting jobs so far. Hailee Steinfeld was the fan favorite, an Oscar nominee, and fit the role of Katniss Everdeen to an uncanny match. How Jennifer Lawrence's name got tossed into the bag is beyond me but she is at least a calibre actress and can probably bring some weight to the role. Time will tell just how horrible or genius the casting director (from Twilight *shudders) does with this film which comes from one of the most important and well written young adult novels in a long time, and yes it trumps the hell out of Twilight and Potter. Yeah, I said it.