Hunger Games Cast

I'm not one of those who casts novels - mine or others' - but I was reading the fabulous Sarah Enni's blog and she put up a post about who should play Katniss in the movie version of the trilogy and . . . I kinda got hooked on the idea of casting these books. :/ It started when I was considering who would play Peeta, the strong baker's boy and, yeah, the one I tend to ship (don't hate Gale-lovers--I've got my reasons :P). Although, really, I'm flat-out in favor of Katniss ending up alone (she's not really a relationship kind of girl).

Anyway, here are my choices for the Hunger Games cast:

Peeta: Josh Hutcherson

Peeta is described as having medium height with a stocky build, ashy blonde hair and blue eyes, so you need a guy who looks like he can haul a sack of flour over his shoulder. As for the coloring, his hazel eyes can easily be made blue with some contacts and the hair just needs a dose of highlights.

Katniss: Vanessa Marano? 
Slender, black hair, gray eyes and olive skin. But also a huntress, logical, unemotional, a badass with a bow and arrow. I personally never see Katniss as being pretty, exactly. At least not in the typical glamorous Hollywood way. More average on the looks and awesome on the personality. At this point, Vanessa Marano comes closest to the image of Katniss I have in my head, though even she isn't perfect. She doesn't have that worn, world-weary look I associate with Katniss, though maybe no teen actress does and I should just be glad for that.

Gale: Logan Lerman
He's Katniss's best friend, the consummate hunter, haunted, slender but fit. Even though I prefer Peeta in general, it always seemed to me that Gale would be the better looking guy. He also has dark hair and gray eyes (hmmm). Probably the easiest call of the batch, I think Logan would be a perfect Gale. With gray contacts, of course.

Prim: Elle Fanning 
Delicate and lovely, with light hair, blue eyes and pale skin, the interwebz favorite for Katniss's younger sister seems to be Elle Fanning. I can't disagree, though a year or two of production will help with the age thing. She is slightly on the young side at the moment.

Rue: Willa Holland
Though dark-haired, golden-eyed and Edit:olive-skinned sorry, "satiny-brown" skinned, actually, but what shade of satin is unclear. A black actress or Indian actress might actually be better for the role. Maybe award-winning Indian actress Ayesha Kapoor? Or perhaps Yara Shahidi? She would actually be about the right age come production time. Rue was supposed to look "hauntingly similar" to Katniss's sister, Prim. So I'm going to go with Willa Holland, who has haunting eyes, if nothing else. Okay, there does seem to be a bit of similarity around the mouth between Willa and Elle, too. That helps. Mostly, though, I want an actress who can really work that death scene and Willa just has a face for melancholy, no? I've seen her sporting pigtails, which will help with the young look.

Haymitch: Hugh Laurie 
He's only in his thirties or forties, but years of flat-out drunkedness have aged Haymitch, the District 13 advisor. He spends most of the first novel with an unkempt, paunchy appearance and a who-cares attitude. Oh, there do seem to be so many of those types of actors about Hollywood nowadays. Who to pick? Let's add some pounds and scruffy Hugh up just a little more -- oh, wait, no, he looks pretty good as is.











NEW!:

Cinna: Michael B. Jordon
Originally my mind went to Wesley Snipes's incredible role in Too Wong Foo as a great representation of what I'd want for Cinna. But then I remembered that even though most people in the Capitol have outlandish fashion sense, Cinna was more reserved, wearing black, having natural, close-cropped brown hair and, his only concession to glitter, wearing gold eyeliner. So instead of drag-fabulousity, I had to pick someone with eyes that would be beautiful rimmed in gold and a streamlined fashion sense. Plus an amazing personality. All this picture needs is that eyeliner.

Effie Trinket: Miranda Richardson 
From the very beginning of the series I have pictured Effie Trinket as Rita Skeeter. They just seem to have such similar personalities. Flippant, bitter, domineering. And look at the way she's dressed for the Harry Potter film. Can't you totally see that outfit on Effie? The only change would be to die that bleach job a vibrant pink, add some outrageous accessories, and Miranda Richardson as Rita Skeeter as Effie Trinket would be perfect.

All right, how's the cast so far? Any changes you would make? Who should play some of the other characters? I'd like to see a really flamboyant Cinna - who could pull that off?