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 April 19, 2012, it was announced that Francis Lawrence was offered the director position for the film. Lionsgate officially announced Francis Lawrence as the director for "Catching Fire" on May 3, 2012. Two days later, it was reported that Michael Arndt ("Toy Story 3", "Little Miss Sunshine") was in talks to re-write the script for "Catching Fire". On May 24, 2012, the film was renamed "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" and Arndt was confirmed as the new writer of the script. Arndt was paid $400,000 a week for re-writing the script. According to sources, the adaptation needed to be done