Osar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has been cast to play Plutarch Heavensbee, Head Gamemaker for The Hunger Games, studio Lionsgate said. Hoffman recently wrapped his gig playing Willy Loman on Broadway in the revival of Death of a Salesman , which earned him a Tony Award nomination. He will next been seen in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master and indie film A Late Quartet , also starring Catherine Keener and Christopher Walken. The second installment of The Hunger Games franchise is based on Suzanne Collins’ smash hit series of novels that have sold 36 million copies in the U.S. Francis Lawrence will direct the latest pic, which also stars Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks, Jena Malone, Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci. Lionsgate released its latest synopsis of the film, which it will release November 22nd: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever. Lionsgate appears to be going all the way with The Hunger Games series, and why not? The first one has made over $404 million in the U.S. alone. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay is likely to follow Catching Fire and a fourth installment may follow.
Osar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has been cast to play Plutarch Heavensbee, Head Gamemaker for The Hunger Games, studio Lionsgate said. Hoffman recently wrapped his gig playing Willy Loman on Broadway in the revival of Death of a Salesman , which earned him a Tony Award nomination. He will next been seen in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master and indie film A Late Quartet , also starring Catherine Keener and Christopher Walken. The second installment of The Hunger Games franchise is based on Suzanne Collins’ smash hit series of novels that have sold 36 million copies in the U.S. Francis Lawrence will direct the latest pic, which also stars Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks, Jena Malone, Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci. Lionsgate released its latest synopsis of the film, which it will release November 22nd: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever. Lionsgate appears to be going all the way with The Hunger Games series, and why not? The first one has made over $404 million in the U.S. alone. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay is likely to follow Catching Fire and a fourth installment may follow.
‘I spit and I spit for real, so I wanted to bring that hunger aspect to it and that feeling like I gotta be #1,’ MC says of The Hunger Game. By Rob Markman, with reporting by James Lacsina Tito Lopez Photo: Main Pick Headliner : Tito Lopez Representing : Gulfport, Mississippi Mixtape : The Hunger Game Real Spit : Tito Lopez sure is confident; then again, if you could rap tightly packed bars like the Gulfport, Mississippi, MC, you would be too. On his latest mixtape, The Hunger Game, Tito puts all of his skill and confidence on full display. “I named my mixtape The Hunger Game basically because if anybody knows me, they know I love movies,” Tito told Mixtape Daily. Lopez found a parallel in “The Hunger Games” film and the rap game where he hopes to one day be crowned a king. “If you never seen that movie these kids have to fight to the death, they’re kids and it’s really kind of messed up. They gotta fight ’till it’s one winner and I feel like that’s the competition aspect that’s missing out of rap,” he said. On “Try Me,” Tito invites all would-be detractors to the battlefield. “Feast on beats and pick my teeth, if you want some bitch come find me/ I’ll make it hard for you to stand as a man, let alone stand by me, come try me,” he spits to end his first verse. Tito is currently a rap underdog, even though his talent has earned him a deal with Capitol Records. On “Mass Appeal 2.0” he proves his worth lyrically over a re-worked Gang Starr instrumental and then rhymes over another DJ Premier beat with his “Devil’s Pie” freestyle. Both are winners. With “Jessica,” Tito shows that it isn’t all slick metaphors and battle raps, as he weaves an intricate story rhyme about a high-school crush. His current single “Mama Proud” shows even more range; it’s a heartfelt tune dedicated to his come-up in the game. After listening to tracks like “Black Ice Freestyle,” “They Told Me” and “Ventilation,” it becomes increasingly difficult to deny Tito his place in the game. “I spit and I spit for real, so I wanted to bring that hunger aspect to it and that feeling like I gotta be #1,” he said. “If I gotta knock cats out to be that, I will be that.” Joints to Check For > > “They Told Me”— “It’s like a triumphant type joint. I’ve made that just to basically let people know I’ve come along way.” > > “Jessica” — “This is one of my favorite joints period. I tell a story about a girl who she has low self-esteem, she made some bad choices, had a hard life and she don’t have no self-respect or nothin’ like that. Basically during the story, I’m trying to tell her to respect herself more, to make better choices.” Related Artists Tito Lopez
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will be released via IMAX on November 23rd. Director Francis Lawrence will make use of IMAX cameras in filming portions of the second installment of the franchise, Lionsgate is touting. Oscar-nominee Jennifer Lawrence will reprise her role as Katniss Everdeen along with fellow cast members Liam Hemsworth, and Josh Hutcherson. The first round of Hunger Games hit the $400 million milestone in North America and has hit $650 million worldwide. The film will hit the huge Chinese market later this month. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is based on the second book in Suzanne Collins’ bestselling series. It chronicles the life of Katniss Everdeen after she emerges from the 74th Annual Hunger Games victorious, but still not safe. Even as she becomes an unwitting symbol of the rebellion mounting in the districts, Katniss never loses sight of her commitment to protect her family. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will be directed by Francis Lawrence, and produced by Nina Jacobson’s Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. The novel on which the film is based is the second in a trilogy that has over 36 million copies in print in the U.S. alone. “We are thrilled to continue the productive partnership we enjoyed with IMAX on the first installment of The Hunger Games ,” said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-Chairs Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger in a joint statement. “Our partnership on the first Hunger Games film was a resounding success, and we look forward to building on that experience with an expanded IMAX relationship on Catching Fire .”
Second film in the series will become the sixth blockbuster to feature IMAX footage when it’s released next November. By Kevin P. Sullivan Jennifer Lawrence in “The Hunger Games” Photo: Lionsgate It shouldn’t come as a surprise that for the second film in the “Hunger Games” series, new director Francis Lawrence wants to make ” Catching Fire ” even bigger than its predecessor. And now we know exactly how big Katniss, Peeta, and Gale will be in the sequel: 70 feet tall. According to an announcement from Lionsgate, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” will feature sequences shot in the IMAX format when it opens in theaters in November of next year. Lionsgate digitally remastered the first ” Hunger Games ” film the IMAX format, but this will be the first time in the series that sequence will be actually shot in the much larger format. The IMAX showings for “The Hunger Games” greatly contributed to that film’s huge box-office presence, which is nearing the $650 million mark in global ticket sales, thanks in part to higher ticket prices, and should remain a factor when the movie opens in China later this month. “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” will only be the sixth blockbuster to feature IMAX footage. Christopher Nolan began the trend when he shot roughly a half an hour of his Batman sequel, “The Dark Knight” on 70mm IMAX film. The follow-up to that film, “The Dark Knight Rises,” is said to contain close to an hour of IMAX footage. Most recently, Brad Bird filmed key action set pieces for “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” in the larger format. “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” opens in theaters on November 23, 2013. Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Photos The Hunger Games ‘Hunger Games’ Character Posters
Actor was rumored to be in the running for ‘Hunger Games’ sequel, along with Garrett Hedlund and Armie Hammer. By Kara Warner Taylor Kitsch Photo: Getty Images And then there were two? The list of three very eligible male actors — Taylor Kitsch, Armie Hammer and Garrett Hedlund — recently speculated to be the top choices to play fan-favorite character Finnick O’Dair in the “Hunger Games” sequel “Catching Fire” has apparently been trimmed to two. Kitsch said the speculation about his possible involvement in the second film in the blockbuster franchise is just that. “Not going to happen,” the “Battleship” and “John Carter” actor wrote in an email to the Los Angeles Times this week. There has been no word from either Hammer’s or Hedlund’s camps regarding the validity of the report, but when MTV News reached out to Lionsgate for confirmation, we received this statement: “Like the first film, Lionsgate won’t be commenting on any of the rumors until we officially announce.” Finnick appears in both “Catching Fire” and the last book in the franchise, “Mockingjay,” and is memorable for his extreme attractiveness, along with the fact that 10 years before he entered the arena in “Catching Fire,” he had won the Hunger Games at age 14 using a Trident. Another actor rumored to be in the running is Robert Pattinson , who quickly put those rumors to bed. “I was kind of curious for a second,” Pattinson told USA Today about the reports. “So I called my agent. My agent was like, ‘No … no one’s going to offer you that part.’ I was like, ‘Thanks for the reassurance.’ ” This hasn’t stopped us from doing our own speculation and fan casting of the role, which provides for a fun distraction until Lionsgate makes the official announcement. There’s still time to cast your vote for “The Hunger Games” to win big at Sunday’s MTV Movie Awards , airing at 9 p.m. ET. The film is nominated for a slew of Golden Popcorn trophies in the categories of Best Cast, Movie of the Year, Best Hero, Best Fight, Best Kiss and more. Head over to MovieAwards.MTV.com to vote for your favorite flicks now! The 21st annual MTV Movie Awards air live this Sunday, June 3, at 9 p.m. ET. Related Photos Your Picks For ‘Catching Fire’ Character Finnick Odair
Pattinson was initially ‘curious’ about rumors he would be playing dreamy tribute Finnick Odair, before shutting them down. By Jocelyn Vena Robert Pattinson Photo: AFP With one saga over, “Twilight” star Robert Pattinson says he has no plans to join that other super-buzzy and much-loved book-to-movie franchise, “The Hunger Games.” In an interview with
Jennifer Lawrence is the gorgeous actress you might have seen before in The Hunger Games and here she is looking sexy wearing a see-through outfit for the paparazzi Continue reading →
What if The Sting ‘s Henry Gondorff and Johnny Hooker could be your surrogate parents? And what if they were also SoCal slackers? That seems to be the thought at the center of Brian Crano’s directorial debut, an uneven but appealing dramedy about two car thieves and petty con-artists who end up taking charge of an abandoned 12-year-old boy. It’s a film that should be appallingly twee, but more often than not is actually scruffy and sweet, thanks to a nicely underplayed turn by Chandler Canterbury as the kid, Kelsey, and the chemistry between Jason Ritter and Jake Sandvig (who co-wrote the film with Crano) as hipster grifters Ben and Alan. The pair are incredibly unconvincing as criminals, which is partly the idea — they dress up in hideous bow-tied uniforms and stand outside funerals with a notice offering complementary valet parking. It works because they look like schmucks — why would anyone wear formal shorts and stand outside in the sun for hours if they weren’t getting paid to do so? When someone bites, they take his or her car, throw their sign in the back and drive straight to a shady garage run by Marty (Todd Louiso), the least threatening stolen vehicle fence imaginable. This low-key illegal operation is barely sketched out — wouldn’t someone eventually spread news of this scheme? — and ends up being more symbolic of the man-child refuge the two have created for themselves. Ben and Alan live in the guest quarters in the backyard of a larger house they rent out to tenants; they have cookouts on the porch, on which they also like to sit in fancy bathrobes; and they pay regular visits to Alan’s sister Mel (Rebecca Hall), who works at a chain diner that requires employees to do a dance to welcome their customers, and who’s in school and disapproves of their illicit moneymaking schemes. It’s hard to say whether A Bag of Hammers is deliberately stylized or simply so lo-fi it inadvertently comes across that way, but the simplicity of its elements works. (It resembles last year’s Bellflower in that it creates a sense of an enclosed alt Los Angeles universe by stripping away all the mundane details and consequences.) Ben and Alan have created a loafer’s Neverland in their Burbank back house, an easy life that’s far from the troubled childhoods they mention in passing. They don’t have any further plans to expand their criminal enterprises — when presented with a gun by Marty, Ben looks shocked. And they have no desire or motivation to change, until Kelsey comes into their lives. Kelsey and his mother Lynette ( True Blood ‘s Carrie Preston) are the front house’s current tenants, driven, according to Lynette, from their home in Louisiana by Katrina. Kelsey’s a serious kid, but his mother seems scattered and frazzled. While Ben and Alan are idly talking about who would win in a fight (the Ultimate Warrior being the answer to all scenarios) or accidentally stealing the car of Ben’s ex girlfriend (Amanda Seyfried) while leading charmed lives (“What if our luck runs out?” one asks, to which the other replies “Our con luck or our regular person luck?”), Lynette goes from job interview to job interview. In her desperation for cash, she completely neglects her son — and things get worse with child services and a concerned teacher (Gabriel Macht) lurking in the wings. The shift between quirky comedy and emotionally scarred drama doesn’t really work out, but A Bag of Hammers remains fairly light despite some serious developments threatening to encroach on the boys’ bubble. When Kelsey ends up in their care, Alan is ready to commit to raising him (despite being utterly unprepared to care for a child), while Ben is alarmed — “We can’t even keep fish!” — and Mel is the voice of reason, a voice pointing out that they’re being ridiculous. A Bag of Hammers ‘ mistrust of systems and authority figures — who tend to either be abusive or too caught up in their own problems to pay attention — seems strange given the bromantic whimsy with which its main characters have chosen to live their lives, like eternal kids whose parents are away. But Lynette’s dilemma comes across as genuinely distressed and free of bathos, conveying the despair of running up against an unmovable wall again and again. The title comes from the name Ben has for the difficulties life hands you — you’re burdened with “a bag of hammers” representing the poverty in which you grew up, or the cancer that claims your loved ones, or the accident in which your brother died, or the divorce that splits up your family. “The thing is what you do with these hammers,” Ben explains. As metaphors go, it doesn’t make much sense — isn’t the saying “a box of hammers,” and doesn’t it refer to someone’s idiocy? — but then, neither does the world in which the movie takes place. That it works as well as it does is a pleasing accident. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Look, people: If you keep giving Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer money to make their cheap-o spoof flicks, they’re going to keep the lowest common denominator drivel coming. Case in point: The Starving Games , the next in the duo’s empire of big screen parodies, will take aim at Lionsgate’s mega-hit The Hunger Games with a little something for every fanboy and girl. Variety reports : “Though The Hunger Games will be front and center for many of the jokes, other pics to be pilloried include The Avengers , Sherlock Holmes and the finale of the Harry Potter franchise.” Ready, aim, spoof. [ Variety ]
