The Hunger Games (film) C. Reilly was in talks with Lionsgate to portray Haymitch Abernathy. The following month Lionsgate announced that the role had gone to Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson. The casting of Grammy winner Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, Oscar nominee Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, and Toby Jones as Claudius Templesmith, soon followed. Both got the role at the time they were promoting "". Multiple-Golden Globe Award winner Donald Sutherland was cast as President Coriolanus Snow in late May 2011. Gary Ross, Sam Mendes, David Slade, Andrew Adamson, Susanna White, Rupert Sanders, and Francis Lawrence were listed as possible directing candidates, but in
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in the Capitol. Katniss is sedated after attacking Haymitch for not keeping his promise to protect Peeta. She later awakens to find Gale by her side. He assures her that her family is safe, but District 12 has been destroyed by the Capitol after Snow was made aware of the rebels' plot. Lionsgate announced that a film adaptation of "Catching Fire" would be released as "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" on November 22, 2013, as a sequel to the film adaptation of "The Hunger Games", with principal photography to take place in September 2012. Simon Beaufoy was hired to write