***UPDATE: Deadline reports that Lionsgate has also spoken with Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage) and Joe Cornish (Attack the Block), but neither has progressed far enough in talks to be a frontrunner for the job ahead of Miller and Lawrence. Deadline puts the odds on Miller.
The search for Gary Ross' replacement in the sequel to The Hunger Games had better not go on forever because it’s beginning to get taxing. Reports are coming in that directors Bennett Miller and Francis Lawrence are in the running to direct Catching Fire.
Indiewire breaks the news that Miller and Lawrence have joined Lionsgate's wish list, which already includes David Cronenberg, Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Miller most recently helped guide Moneyball to six Academy Award nominations this year, not to mention directing Phillip Seymour Hoffman to a Best Actor win for Capote. His background in documentary filmmaking only heightens his appeal to direct “Fire,” despite having no experience with action. The catch is that Miller has finally gotten his project Foxcatcher off the ground with Mark Ruffalo set to star, a film he'd like to shoot this fall —right when Lionsgate plans to shoot Catching Fire.
As for Lawrence, I am Legend was a financial success that incorporated its share of action and poor CGI (like “Games”). His latest film, Water for Elephants, is considered a box-office success but received mixed reviews from audiences and critics alike. He doesn’t have the Academy-fueled pedigree of Miller (or Cronenberg, Cuarón and Iñárritu for that matter), but his schedule is wide open, likely tempting Lionsgate with his availability and undoubtedly cheaper price tag.
Of the five names, who do you want directing Catching Fire?
