Casting for The Hunger Games is quickly coming together with the news late last week that the Oscar nominated Jennifer Lawrence is now all but confirmed for the lead role of Katniss Everdeen, and that Josh Hutcherson, The Kids Are All Right actor who last year lost out on the Spider-Man gig, is vying to play the love interest Peeta Mellark. Just like Lawrence had to do (she beat out no less than Emma Roberts, Saorise Ronan, Chloe Moretz, Abigail Breslin & more), Hutcherson is competing with a who's who of good looking twenty-somethings, including box office poison Alex Pettfyer. Hutcherson told EW that he has met with director Gary Ross and that he hopes to win the gig...
I love Peeta. The character is so much who I amself deprecating, a people person. And hed be such a great character to play! Like in the third book? Oh my God.
Suzanne Collins' novel was picked up in January and shooting is expected to commence in late spring with a view for release March 23, 2012. The original novel, inspired by the story of Theseus and parallels what the author observed in the cruelty of the Iraq War and the crassness of reality TV, was greeted with considerable critical acclaim upon its release. The story is set in a dystopian future in which a totalitarian government sits on what was once North America, and now controls the behaviour of those states through the distribution of food supplies. These states are then charged with sending a representative child between the age of 12 and 18 to battle to the death to feed their state. The book was marketed at late teenagers, but also achieved a loyal adult following throughout the trilogy. Lawrence and Hutcherson seem a decent match for the lead roles but both have fairly busy schedules... Lawrence is due to star in Oliver Stone's next film Savages and Hutcherson begins work on the romantic comedy Aaron and Sarah with Emma Roberts in the summer, a movie which marks the directorial debut of Neil Patrick Harris. Clearly with a release just over a year away, The Hunger Games can't wait around for either.