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The race to replace Gary Ross as director of The Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire is likely between Moneyball director Bennett Miller and Francis Lawrence, who most recently directed Water for Elephants and who handled a big scale movie in I Am Legend. I’m told that Lionsgate also met with The Orphanage helmer Juan Antonio Bayona, and that they also discussed Attack The Block director Joe Cornish. But Bayona appears to be busy–though he’s not completely out of it–and the Cornish conversation didn’t materialize into a meeting. If I had to guess, I would think the likely candidate to be Miller, who’s coming off such an impressive film. He’s very picky, but word is he is quite interested in replacing Ross in Catching Fire. The sticking point: he wanted to push until spring so he could make Foxcatcher for Fox. Lionsgate wants to start by August and doesn’t want to wait. That could put Lawrence in the driver’s seat. We should know the answer in a matter of days and possibly before the week is out.
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how can miller do it tho?
foxcatcher shoot in october and catching fire has a set august shoot?
That’s why he want’s to star in the spring
Yawn. Moneyball was overrated. At least Constantine and I Am Legend were entertaining.
Aww I hope David Slade would be considered. Francis Lawrence should instead because his stuff is very visually great.
I love Francis Lawrence! I loved the action in I Am Legend which will help him for directing the action for Catching Fire. He also did a great job directing the love triangle in Water for Elephants, and there is definitely a love triangle in The Hunger Games trilogy. He’s a great choice (although I still wish Gary Ross was doing it).
Gary Ross is too good for this series, as was Bill Condon for Twilight.
True that.
visually great… not so much with story. lawrence has solidified himself as another overpaid gun for hire. perfectly competent with nothing original to say.
not like hunger games is such a great story anyway!
Please let it be Bennett Miller. Lawrence did such a pedestrian job adapting Water for Elephants. Miller is an Oscar nominee and just a far superior director in general. C’mon Miller, Foxcather can wait – this is the golden goose.
I don’t know. Lionsgate has put themselves in a bad spot with rushing CATCHING FIRE. Quality is likely to suffer. They should have had a plan going in. The script should have been READY, and filming in May or June. These movies are so inexpensive (for a tentpole), that they should have rolled the dice and went for it at the very beginning. I hope it all works out for the best though.
francis is obviously the first choice. he was in the mix the first time around. no way will they wait for bennett..
I just hope Lionsgate doesn’t push the production and filming too fast just to churn out mediocre but guaranteed moneymaking movies. This is a franchise that many strongly feel needs be done justice. I can see Bennett Miller pulling it off; however, Lionsgate has to let him make the movie he wants.
Hard to argue with a film that should pass $400M in the States but I thought, like a lot of others, the action sequences in Hunger Games were where they needed to improve movie to movie. Surprised they aren’t casting a wider net to include some directors with “action” experience who can do a better job of bringing those sequences to the big screen.
Who – like Sly Stallone?
Or, y’know… Francis Lawrence.
Bring back John Badham!
No way miller can pull this off. He’s done one tiny film. Lawrence has the action experience necessary to handle this. Not to mention he’s much more reliable at the box office
“No way Miller can pull this off. He’s done one tiny film.”
Are you forgetting that before he directed BAD BOYS, THE ROCK and ARMAGEDDON, Michael Bay was directing Milk commercials?
Michael Bay is all style, just like his movies. His commercials were quick cut, action oriented, just like his music videos – and movies. What you see is what you get. I do not like what i see from Miller.
Do your homework, dumbass. He’s done more than moneyball (outstanding) i.e. capote
Terrible choices all of them. Alfonso Cuaron is the perfect director he did such a great job on the third Harry Potter film.
Does not matter when he starts. Moneyball was ok, but nowhere near the complexity of Catching Fire. I just don’t want to see him ruin the sequel.
Both seem like good choices, but if pressed to choose, I’d go with Lawrence. He could really nail the aesthetic.
Really disappointed in the choices for director. Lawrence is ok I guess, but really? Is this the best they can get? Gary Ross was WAY better than the choices here. At least get someone people can get excited about.
I would have liked to see someone like Josh Wheadon who did the Serenity and some other “futuristic” movies. I jsut don’t want to see the books butchered by someone who doesn’t get it.
Lawrence would be a good choice as he has experience with drama and action, having directed I Am Legend and Constantine along with Elephants, of course. Miller has never made an action film so I am not sure why they would want him.
Simple. He directed one actor to an academy award (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and got a lot of Oscar nominations for Moneyball. They’ve always been more interested in directors that could get great performances out of the cast than in how great they might be with action or CGI. It’s too bad that none of the list seems to do both except for Cuaron who now seems out of the running.
Looks like Lionsgate is making a release date rather than a movie…no wonder Ross told them to go screw.
The job should go to Brett Ratner. He’s the default choice for a situation like this. Then the headline in Variety can read:
How about a woman? It is a female-centric book, after all.
… Oh wait, Hollywood never considers female directors for mainstream movies. Do they think they can’t hack it, or what?
with that train of thought no woman should of been allowed to direct hurt locker because you know it was an all male cast
Oooo…Kathryn Bigelow could do something really cool with this. Bring the intensity of Hurt Locker and Point Break. Could be awesome, I wonder if she’d be finished with her current project by August. I know it would never happen but it’s fun to think about.
I find it appalling that there isn’t even one woman in the running: Kathryn Bigelow; Patty Jenkins; Kimberly Pierce; Susannah White. They can all handle the action, the style, and the character work. They are as qualified to direct this film as Gary Ross was and, as much as I love Bennett Miller, the film could definitely use a tough female point of view. What’s up with the sexism, Lionsgate?
If there were fifteen names and none were women you might have a point.
You miseed Catherine Hardwicke who got the whole “Twilight” franchise going and who made the most coherent film of that bunch so far.
While not the worst director, Francis Lawrence lacks the ability to direct convincing character-driven emotion that this movie requires. Miller is a better choice because of Moneyball though I still hope that Patty Jenkins or Alfonso gets the job.
wasn’t Alfonso cuaron in the competition…after HP3 i think he can handle absolutly great any big blockbuster.And HP3 was hardest to direct because like it or not Potter is a bigger franchise and it need a shitload of work!
I am Legend was entertaining? When was this?
Crap how did I miss this story yesterday? I saw the one on the LA Times blog but this Deadline story has more details on Miller’s scheduling issues. All I can say is that I am NOT impressed with Lawrence’s resume. I haven’t seen any of his movies so maybe I’m not the best judge, but all I know is that the highest rated of all his movies on Rotten Tomatoes is 69%. Not too impressive.
At least Moneyball is a good movie, so I would choose Miller any day over Lawrence even if he has less experience with action/special effects, but it seems like his scheduling issue may prevent that from happening. Which is just really obnoxious to think about the quality of this film suffering due to something so dumb as scheduling issues. ARRGH!!
For God’s sake, this is Lionsgate’s first really big property. Postpone the start date and get Gsry Ross on the phone.
Please don’t screw this up with a third rate director.