The Hunger Games is only a few months away from hitting the silver screen and I couldn’t be more excited. We’ve already given you our dream cast for the film’s sequel, Catching Fire, but now we’re bringing you our dream cast for Mockingjay, the sequel to Catching Fire.
Lionsgate has already ordered up both Catching Fire and Mockingjay, so we know that they’re coming and while casting hasn’t been announced, we have our own ideas of who we’d like to see.
Let’s begin, shall we?
Warning: If you haven’t yet read Catching Fire or Mockingjay, there will be some spoilers here.
President Alma Coin – Helen Mirren
President Alma Coin shows up in the third novel, Mockingjay, as the President of the mysterious District 13. While she’s technically the leader of the rebellion against the Capitol, she always keeps her own goals in mind. She’s selfish (which she exhibits numerous times throughout the novel), she’s manipulative and she’s conniving.
Initially, she comes off as a hero and leader but as the novel progresses, readers start to see her true motives and by the end, we know that she’s not the type of person that we want to see lead Panem. Luckily, Katniss realizes this too.
All that being said, I think the perfect actress to play Coin (who is in her 50s with grey hair) is none other than Helen Mirren. It may seem like the obvious choice, but hear me out.
Mirren of course needs no introduction, she may be a bit old (she’s 66) but makeup can take care of that. The actress is a Hollywood legend, having received numerous awards as well as the prestigious title of Dame. I have no doubt in my mind that she can pull off the role.
She’s played people in positions of high power before (The Queen) and she’s no stranger to action (Red). For me, she’d be the perfect choice. Her strong screen presence that commands your attention is something that I feel would make for a good President Coin, which is why she’s my choice for the role.
Plutarch Heavensbee – Gary Oldman
Admittedly, Plutarch does show up in both The Hunger Games (although I don’t think he’s named) and in Catching Fire. But, he really doesn’t play much of a role until Mockingjay, which is why I’m including him on this list. Now, since he is technically in The Hunger Games, he may have been cast already.
If that’s the case, then it obviously wasn’t Gary Oldman who took the part. That being said, as far as I know, there has been no announcement as to who was cast in The Hunger Games as Plutarch.
Likely, they’ve put an unknown actor in the role for The Hunger Games, since it’s an incredibly small part and they may bring in a more well known face for Catching Fire and Mockingjay where Plutarch has a bigger role.
Now, why Oldman? For one, the picture above just screams Plutarch to me. If I had to imagine what Plutarch looked like while reading the book, that is what I would see (although maybe looking just a touch younger). So the physical resemblance, in my mind at least, is there. Plus, I’d think that Plutarch would be a middle aged man, like Oldman (aged 53).
My reasoning is that as the Head Gamemaker, I’d imagine that to have such a position, the individual would have to be experienced and have a number of years of working on the games under his belt. I can’t see President Snow appointing some 30 year old as the Head Gamemaker. It’s a prestigious and important position and one that I think President Snow would only give to someone who has proven themselves.
So why else do I see Oldman in the role, aside from age and physical resemblance? Well, aside from being one of the greatest living actors who could pull of absolutely any role, I think the personality of Plutarch is something that would fit Oldman well. During The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, Plutarch is a villain. It’s not that he necessarily does anything bad but as the Head Gamesmaker, he’s technically a villain.
Playing the villain is something that Oldman is no stranger to. He’s played one numerous times and has crafted one of the best on screen villains ever with his role of Stansfield in Leon: The Professional.
In Mockingjay though, we realize that Plutarch has been on Katniss’ side all along and so, he becomes a good guy. Despite this, there is still an air of mystery surrounding him and for a while, Katniss never really fully trusts him (and with good reason). I think Oldman can pull of that element really well.
He can present himself as potentially a good person, while still holding back and emitting some mystery and doubt as to his true motives. Oldman is also very good at saying a lot while using little to no words (see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy). That’s another quality that he can bring to the character to add that sense of mystery.
In the end, it turns out that while Plutarch is at heart a good person, he’s not perfect. He is part of President Coin’s plan that kills Prima (which shrouds some doubt as to his true intentions) but ultimately, he is against the Capitol.
All that being said, I think this is a role that Oldman would be perfect for and I’d love to see him show up in the film.
Boggs – Jeremy Renner
Boggs, who is in his mid forties, is President Coin’s right hand man. He is also assigned to keep Katniss alive after she volunteers to become the Mockingjay. A lot of his time in the book is spent protecting Katniss in warzones and fighting off Capitol enemies. He also has an unyielding loyalty to Katniss and is willing to oppose Coin to uphold this loyalty. While reading the book, there is only one person who came to mind for the role, Jeremy Renner.
It may take a bit of makeup (Renner is only 40 and doesn’t have grey hair) but I think he can pull off the part. He’s no stranger to warzones and fighting (see The Hurt Locker, S.W.A.T. and 28 Days Later) and he’s shown that he’s capable of taking on strong supporting roles (see The Town). He has a number of action films on his plate already (The Bourne Legacy, a fifth Mission Impossible film, The Avengers) and adding one more definitely wouldn’t hurt him.
He’s starting to become a bonafide action hero and I think the role of Boggs would serve him well. Especially because Boggs is noble and heroic, something that Renner is good at portraying when the role calls for it.
Renner is also good at giving off that cocky gung-ho attitude and swagger that I imagine Boggs would have. Admittedly, I don’t see him being a full on embodiment of William James (Renner’s Hurt Locker character), but a bit of that swagger that James had, I could see working well for the character of Boggs.
I love Renner as an actor and I think he would make a great Boggs that would surely please fans of the novels.
Annie Cresta – Rooney Mara
After seeing her in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I am convinced that Rooney Mara is a legitimate force to be reckoned with. Her fierce, raw and unhinged performance as Lisabeth Salander may be a far cry from the character of Annie Cresta but really, it’s more similar than you would think.
In The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Mara mostly portrays Lisabeth as a cold and harsh character. But as the layers peel back, you see a vulnerability and frailty shine through that is something I picture when I imagine Annie Cresta.
Being in her young twenties, Mara fits the role of Annie in that sense and with dark hair and green eyes, she looks even more what I would imagine Annie looking like.
In terms of personality, Annie is a bit of an oddball. She’s certainly mentally unstable and kind of weird but there’s still an inherent goodness in her. This is something that I think Mara could certainly pull off.
Lisabeth Salander is also a bit mentally unstable and her oddness and quirkiness is something that can translate into the character of Annie. Perhaps at not such an extreme level as we saw in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but some of that unstableness can easily be applied to this role.
I think Mara is a fantastic actress with a bright future ahead of her and I’d be thrilled to see her in Mockingjay.
While there are a number of other characters in Mockingjay, I feel that the ones above are the most prominent and important. Feel free to let us know in the comments though if we missed anyone that we should have included and let us know what you think of our choices.