Image Credit: Frank Ockenfels/AMC

We’ve had some fun here this week casting Catching Fire, the sequel to the smash hit kid-killing thriller The Hunger Games. Ryan Kwanten currently holds a significant lead in the informal race to play trident-carrying man-candy Finnick Odair, although the comment boards lit up with the notion of casting Armie Hammer, a.k.a. evolution’s proof of concept. Meanwhile, a majority of voters think the beloved Glee uber-bitch Naya Rivera would make a great axe-murdering Johanna Mason. But another character introduced in Catching Fire plays a small but pivotal role in the franchise. Who should play Plutarch Heavensbee, the boisterous Capitol citizen who takes over Gamemaker duties from Seneca Crane? (Warning: A few SPOILERS follow, so maybe you should just read the books already. Or, if you’re one of our younger readers, tell your parents to work Suzanne Collins into the nightly bedtime-story rotation. That way, they can put the story into the proper meta-sociopolitical context.) READ FULL STORY »

Image Credit: Dominique Charriau/WireImage

Now that we’re finished waiting for The Hunger Games to arrive in theaters, we can begin the important work: waiting for Catching Fire to arrive in theaters. The sequel is slated for a Thanksgiving 2013 release — although there remains the outside possibility that Lionsgate will split the book into two movies for artistic reasons, and let’s theoretically call those movies Catching Fire Part 1: Love Takes a Victory Tour and Catching Fire Part 2: Back 2 the Arena. You can bet that casting updates for the sequel aren’t too far away, since the book introduces a few fan-fave characters. Yesterday, we asked you who should play tortured golden boy Finnick, and you responded with a resounding cry of “Ryan Kwanten!” along with a slightly-less-resounding-but-nevertheless-impressive-for-his-weight-class cry of “Grant Gustin!” Today, though, we’re going to ask the really tricky question: Who should play Johanna Mason, the cunning, nihilistic victor from District 7? (Warning: A few SPOILERS from Catching Fire follow.) READ FULL STORY »

Image Credit: Doug Hyun/HBO

The film adaptation of The Hunger Games is currently redefining our simple human notions of success. It earned more in a single weekend than any movie not starring Harry Potter or Batman. It attracted audiences from every demographic, and based on exit polls, those audiences liked what they saw. At this point, the only question is whether there will be two sequels or three sequels. (And if they do have four films, which book do they split up? The first half of Catching Fire is basically a Panem travelogue. Mockingjay is so magnificently depressing that the notion of turning the book into two movies borders on cultural masochism.) But the most exciting aspect of Games‘ success, for me, is that some of the intriguing characters Suzanne Collins introduces in the latter books will now be brought to life on screen. Which brings me to today’s big question: Who do you think should play Finnick Odair, the glamorous trident-carrying Hunger Games victor? READ FULL STORY »