Pictorial: The Complete Cast of THE HUNGER GAMES

Updated Pictorial: The Complete Cast of The Hunger Games

By Dustin Rowles | Trade News | May 31, 2011 | Comments ()

Update: The Pictorial below has been updated to include Donald Sutherland, who has been cast as President Snow, the autocratic ruler of Panem. Snow is not a major player in the opening movie (at least, if it stays faithful to the novel), but he will become a major presence by the third film, should the franchise continue (Spoiler Alert: It will). He’s also very well cast if you consider, as I do, Sutherland’s potential for devilishly creepy.

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The Hunger Games casting news has been 5ast and 5urious(er) for the last few months, and after the first three principals were cast, I decided rather than chase the rumor mill and vomit up half a dozen filler posts throughout the week devoted to casting and speculation (which had grown increasingly tiresome), I’d just wait until the cast had finally been assembled and lay it all out here for visual inspection. Woody Harrelson was cast as Haymitch yesterday and, for all intents and purposes, Gary Ross has put together the final full cast (save for some minor roles and extras).

Looking it over, I think he’s actually managed to pull together a really solid assemblage. I love the casting of Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, and Woody Harrelson — I think they’re spot on. I’m still on the fence about Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson as Gale and Peeta, and while Jennifer Lawerence didn’t look the part to me, she’s a strong enough actress to make it work. But inspecting them all, the one who most looks like how I envisioned her in the novel is actually Willow Shields as Primrose Everdeen. I don’t know who she is, but that is picture perfect casting.

So, here it is for your visual inspection. What do you think? How did it compare with the way you’d imagined it while reading the novel?

Director: Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit)

Writers: Suzanne Collins (source material). Billy Ray (State of Play, Flightplan) is on the screenplay.

Katniss: Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone)