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 (film) debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, having sold 175,000 copies in its first week. It is one of just 16 soundtracks to grace the top slot in the history of the Top 200 and the first since "Michael Jackson's This Is It" to debut at #1. Lionsgate originally announced that Danny Elfman and T-Bone Burnett would score "The Hunger Games", with Burnett also acting as the film's executive music producer to produce songs for the soundtrack. Due to scheduling conflicts, Elfman was replaced by James Newton Howard. The score album was released on March 26, 2012.