From one tween franchise to the next? Chalk this one up to more of a distant possibility, but with the runaway success of The Hunger Games still a big highlight of the film film this year, the rumor mill is beginning to buzz with who will join Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch and the others in the upcoming sequel, Catching Fire. Now, Think McFly Think reports that Robert Pattinson is one of Lionsgate’s choices for the role Finnick Odair.
They reportedly received a tip that the studio is after Pattinson to join the cast of the highly anticipated new film. Considering his previous work with incoming director Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I Am Legend) on Water for Elephants, it isn’t implausible that he would be considered for such a big role.
Catching Fire makes it very clear: Finnick is no sparkly vampire. Having won the 65th annual Hunger Games at age 14 for District 4, he is a twenty-something year old ladies man who gets dragged into the Third Quarter Quell, a ‘special’ Hunger Games featuring previous champions as the tributes.
This possibility is a bit of a surprise as Pattinson has spent the last few years crafting an arthouse career outside of Twilight, with such films as Bel Ami and David Cronenberg‘s upcoming Cosmopolis. The only major franchise he has been apart of outside of Twilight is the Harry Potter series (as Cedric Diggory) and I’d think he would be taking a break from the big-budget franchise world after Breaking Dawn. But maybe he’s just looking for a different kind of franchise.
If somehow he does become a serious contender, I can’t imagine it would be fitting. I haven’t been fond of the Twilight series and I can’t see him portraying one of my favorite characters in the series in a way that does the role justice. Finnick’s story is a gripping one and one of the best in the trilogy and while he could have what it takes to play such a multi-dimensional character, one would want to think he’d want differentiate himself from the tween franchise world.
With shooting beginning later this year for a November 2013 release, expect some official word on Catching Fire casting soon.
Do you think Pattinson would make a good Finnick?