Jennifer Lawrence on the Hunger Games: Catching Fire set, with Liam Hemsworth and director Francis Lawrence
Academy Award-nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence, in the running for David O. Russell’s romantic comedy-drama Silver Linings Playbook, is seen above in a photograph taken on the set of The Hunger Games sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. With Lawrence are co-star Liam Hemsworth and director Francis Lawrence, who replaced The Hunger Games‘ Gary Ross, and best known for the Will Smith movie I Am Legend, and the 2011 romantic drama Water for Elephants, starring Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, and Christoph Waltz. (Photo: Liam Hemsworth, Francis Lawrence, and Jennifer Lawrence on the set of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, posted by Lionsgate on Twitter earlier today. Click on the photo to enlarge it.)
Francis Lawrence has also been attached to the two upcoming The Hunger Games sequels: Mockingjay Part 1 and Mockingjay Part 2. Since Warner Bros. cleverly came up with David Yates / Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, it’s become a no-brainer for studios to split into two movies the narrative of the third book in a bestselling literary trilogy. Hence the two Mockingjay movies and, in the last couple of years, Bill Condon’s Breaking Dawn Part 1 and Breaking Dawn Part 2. Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, the last two Breaking Dawn movies grossed a combined total of more than $1.5 billion worldwide.
Now, I believe it’s only a coincidence — as opposed to special visual effects or clever makeup — that in the above picture Francis Lawrence sort of looks like Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence’s Silver Linings Playbook co-star.
Jennifer Lawrence: Possible (likely?) 2013 Oscar winner
Jennifer Lawrence won a SAG Award and a Golden Globe (Comedy) for Silver Linings Playbook. To a certain extent, the 22-year-old is the favorite to take home the Best Actress Oscar: she’s young, she’s pretty, she’s well-regarded, and she has The Weinstein Company backing her up. Lawrence, however, has strong competition from Best Actress Golden Globe (Drama) winner Jessica Chastain (for Kathryn Bigelow’s thriller Zero Dark Thirty) and from BAFTA winner Emmanuelle Riva, the 85-year-old veteran female star of Michael Haneke’s drama Amour.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire release date
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens in North America on Nov. 22. According to the IMDb, that same week Catching Fire opens in a couple of dozen other territories, including Hong Kong, the UK, Poland, Russia, Brazil, Norway, Italy, Germany, Australia, and Sweden.
Besides Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth, the Catching Fire cast includes Josh Hutcherson, Snow White and the Huntsman‘s Sam Claflin, Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Sucker Punch‘s Jena Malone, Donald Sutherland, Toby Jones, Stanley Tucci, Amanda Plummer, Willow Shields, Jeffrey Wright, Lenny Kravitz, and Lynn Cohen. Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) and Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) wrote the Catching Fire screenplay, based on Suzanne Collins’ book.
Liam Hemsworth, Francis Lawrence, Jennifer Lawrence on the set of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire image: Lionsgate Pictures.
