Taylor Kitsch will not play Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The actor revealed in a brief email to The Los Angeles Times that it's, "Not going to happen." He is coming off two straight box office flops with Disney's John Carter and Universal's Battleship. Lionsgate would not confirm or deny that Armie Hammer and Garrett Hedlund are still in the running to play Finnick.
Francis Lawrence is directing Catching Fire from a screenplay by Michael Arndt. This follow-up to The Hunger Games centers on the Third Quarter Quell, otherwise known as the 75th Annual Hunger Games. In this anniversary edition of the games, past winners are invited/forced back onto the battlefield to fight for their district once more. Finnick, the District 4 winner of the 65th Annual Hunger Games, forms an intriguing alliance with Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) during the games.
Production is scheduled to begin later this summer.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire comes to theaters November 22nd, 2013 and stars Jennifer Lawrence, Elizabeth Banks, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman. The film is directed by Francis Lawrence.
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Huntsman
@yannick-decorte: Yes we obviously didn't see the same film because Taylor's acting ability is average at best. Do I think he could improve yes, but he definitely shouldn't be getting leading roles in films. I think he's one of the reasons John Carter did so poorly at the box office. There were many reason's from changing the name of the film to what I think was poor advertising by Disney. Then there was the timing of the film. The Edgar Rice Burroughs would have been original and unique one hundred years ago, but today the aren't. Not with Avatar, Star Wars, Star Trek and a bunch of other films that were inspired partly by his books, which took away some of the surprise and originality of the film. Finally there is the lack of star power in the film. With all the reasons above the studio and producers decided to go with a pretty unknown lead outside of TV. The film did have a decent supporting cast with the likes of Mark Strong, William Dafoe and Dominic West, but it still lack drawing power, which I have no doubt hurt the film. The Studio should have shelled out some of the money the spent on the great effects to bring in some A list actors for the film to help bring attention and viewers to the film. As for Taylor I think at most right now he should be a supporting actor in films or he should go back to Television. As I said to Daveactor7 some actors can't transition to film from TV and are just meant for TV and I think Taylor might be one of those actors.
12 months agoby @huntsmanFlag
Yannick Decorte
[spoilers for John Carter and Battleship]
@huntsman What are you talking about? You saw John Carter. If you thought he couldn't show emotions then you didn't watch the film. The scene where he;s fighting the warhoons, the scene where he buries his daughter and wife, the beginning where he;s completely disabused of everything and this whole war that they're going through, the ending where he utters the line to get him back to Dejah... If you think he's not showing any emotions then I don't understand you.
He didn't show much emotion in Battleship, true, but I think that was the point. When his brother gets killed, you instantly get a close-up on him and it's like he doesn't react to it, he just stops for a moment, does what he's supposed to do and you only see an emotional reaction later on during a quick scene in a bathroom, but overall his character was kinda meant to be like that and it's a movie kinda meant to not dwell on those moments too much. But you saw John Carter, you have no excuse. I always liked Taylor Kitsch because of Friday Night Lights but it wasn't necessarily him, it was just a great, well-written show with a great cast and shot in a very interesting way so I just thought he was a good actor but didn't give much a thought about what he'd be like as a leading man. John Carter made me a fan of him as an actor, he carried that entire movie and nailed the emotions in my opinion perfectly.
12 months agoby @yannick-decorteFlag
ejk1
Kitsch was great on FNL, but it may be that he is just a television actor, and that's it. It could also be that the man has yet to find his groove in films.
12 months agoby @ejk1Flag
Dan
Still gonna go with Hammer.
12 months agoby @dan1Flag
Mutant
So he's not meant for a leading role, supportive maybe or one of the many actors who take on smaller roles in films.
12 months agoby @zenderFlag
Daveactor7
"He's a average actor at best who can't show any emotion when he's acting. I really don't know how he keeps getting starring roles. Besides his decent looks he doesn't have anything." That's violation to me but your new comment-YES that I agree with.
12 months agoby @daveactor7Flag
Huntsman
@daveactor7: First off I violated? What did I violate? Second I'll give you that I haven't seen "Friday Night Lights", but I have seen Wolverine, Battleship and John Carter. Through those three films I can judge his acting ability pretty well, which is very good. Maybe he can improve given time, but then he shouldn't be given leading roles or maybe he should head back to television. Some actors are just meant more for TV then movies.
12 months agoby @huntsmanFlag
Daveactor7
@huntsman you violated. He did great in "Friday Night Lights" and that role will make you change your view on the guy. He just needs to put more into each character he plays. For now, I say give it to Hedlund. Hammer's too busy as it is.
12 months agoby @daveactor7Flag
Cheetoboy
Oh well to bad for Taylor, well hopefully Armie will take the role.
12 months agoby @cheetoboyFlag
Corey W.
Poor Kitsch. I feel bad for the guy. I hope Savages does well for him. I don't his career to plummet because of these two flops.
12 months agoby @coreyFlag
Mark Chrisco
Thank God!
12 months agoby @Mark-ChriscoFlag
ChiRep_1
Yeah, what you guys said. Garrett Hedlund ftw!
12 months agoby @ChiRep-1Flag
Bawnian©-Dexeus
Good
12 months agoby @bawnian-dexeusFlag
Huntsman
Good. He's a average actor at best who can't show any emotion when he's acting. I really don't know how he keeps getting starring roles. Besides his decent looks he doesn't have anything.
12 months agoby @huntsmanFlag