If you've looked at any movie news sites in the past few weeks, you'll have seen a steady stream of casting announcements for The Hunger Games, as pairs of largely unknown young actors have been constantly added to the project. Now, finally, someone you'll probably recognize: Stanley Tucci.
The movie is based on the book of the same name by Suzanne Collins, part of a trilogy of young adult science fiction novels. The Hunger Games takes place in a post-apocalyptic North America, where every year, a boy and a girl from each district are put in a televised competition where they must fight to the death. So, basically Battle Royale, but probably a lot less violent and more sensical.
If there's not something AT LEAST this crazy in Hunger Games, we're not interested.
The Academy Award-nominated Stanley Tucci will play Caesar Flickerman, who the Lionsgate press release describes thusly:
Caesar Flickerman is utterly familiar to all the citizens of Panem as the l host of the Hunger Games. Known for his outrageous appearance and buoyant personality, his upbeat interviews of the 24 tributes – a boy and a girl from each of the country’s 12 districts – are presented on every television in the nation. He is famous for turning any conversation around to the positive and finding humor in even the most dire circumstances.
Other notable castmembers include Elizabeth Banks, Paula Malcolmson and Jennifer Lawrence. The film is directed by Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit), and will see release on March 23, 2012, unless of course the rapture occurs on May 21, 2011, in which case, all we'll have to console us on Judgment Day will be Battle Royale, which is fine we guess.
