Movies With Butter

The LA Times revealed last week that Lionsgate is considering seven or eight male directors to replace the departing Gary Ross as the new director for The Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire. Three of the names on that list are David Cronenberg, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, and Alfonso Cuaron.

Add Bennett Miller & Francis Lawrence to that exclusive group as well. According to The Playlist, their sources told them Lionsgate had already spoken with those two about the potential gig.

With five of the names revealed, we need to wait to see who the other two or three candidates are. All will come out in due time.

Being on that list doesn't necessarily mean those directors want to direct Catching Fire; it just mean Lionsgate think those are good choices as Gary Ross' successor. Whoever ends up sitting in the director's chair will have to work fast and cheap though.

The script, reportedly, is in need of some polishing, and Ross' successor will only have until August of this year to do so since the movie is scheduled to shoot then. Not only that, the movie needs to wrap up production by January since that's when Fox is shooting X-Men: First Class 2, and they'll need the film's star, Jennifer Lawrence, for that.

Don't expect Lionsgate to pay the new director top dollars for the work as well. It was their refusal to loosen their purse strings that had contributed to Ross' decision not to return to direct the sequel and landed them in this mess in the first place.

And if that director did a good job on Catching Fire and wanted to be rewarded for it? Expect Lionsgate to come up with a new list for Mockingjay.

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