The Hunger Games will finally be viewable on the big screen on March 23, and the first full-length trailer for the film has premiered. All of the hubbub surrounding Hunger Games casting has slowly died down, and all that is left to do is patiently await the film, at peace (or not) with the decisions made about it.
You know what that means: it’s time to start wildly guessing about the sequel, Catching Fire. There’s definitely going to be a second film, and recent talk says that Lionsgate is looking to Oscar-winner Simon Beaufoy to script it. But hey, let’s talk about the more exciting stuff, like who will play Finnick, Mags, Johanna, Beetee and Wiress?
I’ve compiled this list of my dream choices for said roles. Keep in mind – these are dream choices. I only chose pretty famous people, and each of them is appropriately aged for the role. We all know that there will probably be a few unknowns cast and that book adaptations hardly ever remain true to age with their characters.
Without further ado, here’s my Catching Fire dream cast:
Finnick Odair – Zac Efron
Hear me out on this one: Finnick is an incredibly handsome, muscular 24-year-old, just like Zac Efron. Finnick is described as having golden skin, bronze-colored hair and stunning sea-green eyes, which is almost the exact way that I would describe Zac Efron. Finnick is bold and intimidating, unlike Efron, but he has a soft side, as evidenced by his relationship with Annie.
Clearly – Efron is Finnick’s real-life twin. That’s honestly just based on objective fact. Efron’s almost exclusively played sensitive types, like in High School Musical and Charlie St. Cloud, but if he could pull off Finnick’s tough side, he’d be absolutely perfect.
Mags – Cloris Leachman
This was a much more difficult choice. Mags is said to be about 80, and she isn’t really given a physical description. She’s just a frail, old lady. She’s vital to the story and she’s supremely bright, but she doesn’t even really talk. On top of that, there are hardly any American actresses still working around the age of 80.
Who does this bring me to? Cloris Leachman. Yes – she’s the first, and only, actress in her 80s that came to my mind, but I feel like she’d be interested in the quirky role. She made out with Jack Black on The Office and did Dancing With the Stars; I could definitely see her being carried across a beach by Zac Efron in Catching Fire if she was asked.
Johanna Mason – Ellen Page
In the books, Johanna is described as a hardcore 20-something with wide-set brown eyes and short, brown hair. She won her Games by pretending to be weak, when she was secretly a fierce competitor. She’s very athletic, lithe and warrior-like.
Physically, Ellen Page seems like a pretty good match for Johanna to me; I can even see her cutting her hair. I always felt kind of a feminine/masculine balance with Johanna, that Page pulled off really well in roles like Juno and Hard Candy. Page also has the intimidating thing down. She’s small, but I wouldn’t want to get in an argument with her.
Beetee and Wiress – Michael Emerson and Helena Bonham Carter
These two District 3 tributes are said to have ashen skin and dark hair. They are both older than our main characters, with Beetee likely to be in the 50-60 range and Wiress landing at about 40.
Beetee is kind of a genius, manipulating the Games with his wiring skills, and he wears ill-fitting glasses. My pick? Michael Emerson. He was flawless in Lost, where he played a similarly sage-like character, and he’s the one I pictured Beetee as when I read the book.
Wiress is a different story. The girl is cookoo for Cocoa Puffs. Johanna refers to her as “Nuts,” instead of her actual name, and she can only be understood by Beetee. (Except for when she cryptically murmurs “tick, tock,” of course.) Who better to play her than Helena Bonham Carter, an aficionado of portraying pale, crazy ladies?
There you have it. I’m not sure if any of these actors or actresses would even be interested in Catching Fire if they were asked. But if The Hunger Games does particularly well at the box office and with critics, who knows what kind of A-listers would be jumping on the bandwagon.
What do you think? Who’s your Finnick? Let us know in the comments.