Last week, we learned that several actresses were being looked at for the highly coveted role of Katniss Everdeen in Gary Ross's adaptation of the widely successful Hunger Games books. True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld had shown great interest in the role and Abigail Breslin was also rumored to be up for the role. Both of these talented actresses are on the younger side at 14 years old. I had reported that Gary Ross was concerned with the age of his lead actress, feeling that if he went too young, he'd lose the "young adult" crowd, the folks who are most likely to pay money to see this film.
It seems Ross has solved that issue by going with the older actress that was mentioned: Jennifer Lawrence. The X-Men: First Class actress is 20 years old and will set the bar for the rest of the cast for the film, specifically, the male leads, Gale and Peeta. Variety reports that Lawrence is "close to receiving an offer" for the lead role.
Lawrence is thought to be weighing her options at the moment as she has yet to sign on for a film since her Best Actress Ocsar nomination for Winter's Bone and has a few options to choose from, including Oliver Stone's Savages. This may cause some scheduling issues that may need to be worked out.
For those unfamiliar with the story,
Hunger Games is set in a dystopian future, where two children from various "districts" are sent to an arena to fight to the death for the benefit of their hailing homeland. It is a violent and gritty story and is often compared to
Twilight. Having read both of the series,
Hunger Games is much more entertaining series and I look forward to seeing how it all plays out. Should Lawrence sign, she will be the first actor to join the production.
Alex Pettyfer has been approached to play the role of Peeta, but he too is weighing his options.