27 May 2012 02:20:46
Twilight star Robert Pattinson could be set to take a surprise role in the forthcoming sequel to The Hunger Games, according to a US blog.
Think McFly Think says it has the inside line on casting for Catching Fire, the second film of three or possibly four films based on Suzanne Collins's bestselling young adult books. Pattinson is reportedly in line to play Finnick Odair, a previous Hunger Games winner encountered by heroine Katniss Everdeen in the sequel.
In the books, Odair is an almost impossibly handsome young man who won the games at 14 and has spent his time romancing influential citizens of the Capitol, the ruling metropolis in Collins's books, ever since. He initially appears supremely charismatic and full of himself, but turns out to have hidden depths that are vital to the storyline.
The Hunger Games series is produced by Lionsgate, the same studio that delivered the Twilight films (in which Pattinson appears as vampire Edward Cullen). The potential casting therefore makes sense. On the other hand, the British actor is trying to break out of the teen-idol mould into which he has been pushed ever since 2008's Twilight. He takes the lead role in David Cronenberg's Cannes competition entry Cosmopolis, which had its first screening on Friday, and also starred opposite Reese Witherspoon in last year's period drama Water for Elephants. That film's director, Francis Lawrence, is taking charge of Catching Fire.
The Hunger Games is still in the US box-office top 10 two months on from its 23 March release after taking $636m worldwide, a figure beaten this year only by comic-book behemoth Avengers Assemble. Lawrence was drafted in after Gary Ross, who directed the first film, said he was unhappy with the limited timeframe to shoot the sequel. Catching Fire is due in November 2013.
