The big Hunger Games casting news today is the casting of Amanda Plummer. Plummer, perhaps most familiar as ‘Honey Bunny’ in Pulp Fiction, will be playing the role of Wiress (Nuts,) a previous victor of the Hunger Games and an important ally for Katniss and Peeta in Catching Fire.
Meanwhile, Variety reports that Sam Claflin (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Snow White and the Huntsman) is a leading contender for the key role of Finnick. The fan-casting has been pretty contentious for this role, so things may get a bit testy if this pans out.
Variety also highlights some much less-likely-to-be controversial frontrunners: Oscar winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter) for Mags, and Emmy winner Tony Shalhoub (Monk) for Wiress’ cohort Beetee, aka Volts.
I think Plummer is a great choice, and both Leo and Shalhoub would be fantastic (though Leo is rather young for Mags, who’s supposed to be 80-something) and big gets for the production. Claflin I’m not so sure about – I know that many Hunger Games fans were looking in a different direction. Still, there have been much worse choices in the hat for Finnick.