“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” casts Beetee

Jeffrey Wright (“Casino Royale”) has been cast as Beetee in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”. There’s been so much casting news about the film, but Wright’s character is an important one. He’s a solid character actor and should make the cast even better. He joins of course Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, Liam Hemsworth as Gale, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, Lenny Kravitz as Cinna and Stanley Tucci as Caeser. They’re joined by newcomers Jenna Malone as Johanna Mason, Sam Claflin as Finnick, Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch and more. The script is being written by Simon Beaufoy (“Slumdog Millionaire”) and Francis Lawrence (“I Am Legend”, “Constantine”) is directing. Let’s just say if they mess the sequel up, it’s a HUGE waste of talent.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.

More “Hunger Games” news

Ok, so Amanda Plummer has joined as Wiress. But that’s not all, not even close. Reports say that Lionsgate and Suzanne Collins are looking for new directors for the final two parts of the series (“Mockingjay is being split into two a la “Harry Potter”). The thinking is that Francis Lawrence will be too busy finishing “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” to prep for the third and fourth films. Gary Ross directed the first, so it’s possible we could see four different directors take each film.

Also, reports are that Sam Claflin (“Snow White and the Huntsman”) has nabbed the role of Finnick Odair, beating out Armie Hammer (“Mirror, Mirror”, “The Social Network”), Garrett Hedlund (“Tron: Legacy”), Lucas Till (“X-Men: First Class”) and Trevor Donovan (“90210”).

Whew. But wait, there’s one more piece of news. Variety is reporting that the frontrunners to play Mags and Beetee are…Melissa Leo and Tony Shaloub.

If all these reports prove to be true, Plummer, Claflin, Leo and Shaloub would join a cast that already includes Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Jenna Malone, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at eggen.lukas@gmail.com.