After a quick but fairly exhaustive search, Lionsgate has chosen Francis Lawrence to direct the Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire.

The hunt had been a fast and furious one, with the field narrowing down to Lawrence, the director of I Am Legend and Water for Elephants, and Bennett Miller, the director of the acclaimed Brad Pitt baseball movie Moneyball. Both directors met with the studio today, according to sources, and Lionsgate executives have made their pick.


The moviemakes are facing a ticking clock scenario, especially since they set a November 22, 2013 release date. Also coming into play is that shooing for Fire needs to be done by late December so that star Jennifer Lawrence, who is not related to the Austrian-born director, can have time to shoot the sequel to X-Men: First Class. Fox, which is making that movie, has an option on the actress which takes precedence over her Lionsgate.

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Josh was asked about the new director and when Catching Fire filming starts:





Daniel Newman cast as Finnick Odair?
On monday The Vampire Diaries actor posted on his twitter the following:

"Just read that I'm playing "Finnick Odair in Hunger games" All the messages R awesome but U know I could B Sued by Studio if I said anything"
link to his tweet

And it started another wave of buzz that was started a month ago, when his imdb page was edited and he was listed as Finnick Odair in Catching Fire (2013). Summit later commented that it wasn't true, because Catching Fire had not been cast at the time.

But if he was really cast, would he make any comments on that matter before Summit announced it? I don't think so. My verdit is he's just looking for attention. And if it does turn out to be true that he has been cast as Finnick - I'll lose all hope in humanity.