Not much has been heard from the stars of ‘The Hunger Games’ since the announcement of Gary Ross declining to direct the sequel of the popular film and the hiring of Francis Lawrence to take his place. But it looks like one cast member is happy to let everyone know how he feels about the news.
After receiving the GLAAD’s prestigious Vanguard award (given to media professionals who have increased visibility and understanding of the LGBT community), Hutcherson was interviewed by THR about what he thought of the news.
Hutcherson said he hasn’t met with Lawrence yet but he’s eager to start working with him. “I’m excited to meet him,” says Hutcherson, “I’ve heard amazing things about him, so it’s gonna be a fun ride.”
The news of Lawrence taking over the helm of ‘Catching Fire’ was announced just a few days ago after a quick and frantic search by Lionsgate to get a director to replace Ross. Lionsgate is on a very strict timeline as they have already given the sequel a release date of November 22, 2013. Their next step is to quickly decide what to do with the screenplay. Ross was supposed to do rewrites on the script that was penned by Simon Beaufoy (‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’, ‘The Full Monty’) but now that he is gone, Lawrence and the producers need to decide if they will keep working with Beaufoy or hire new scribes for the rewrites.
Also in the mix is the fact that Jennifer Lawrence is limited in her availability to film ‘Catching Fire.’ According to an agreement between Lionsgate and Fox, Lawrence (Jennifer that is) must complete filming on the sequel by January 2013 so that she is can then head off to play Mystique in the sequel to ‘X-Men First Class.’
So the clock is ticking but it’s nice to know that with all the deadlines looming, Hutcherson is ready and enthusiastic to get started working with his new director.
