UPDATE: Lionsgate has confirmed to MTV News that Jennifer Lawrence is indeed set to star as Katniss Everdeen in director Gary Ross' adaptation of "The Hunger Games."
"I'm so excited to work with Jen and see her bring this character to life," Ross tells MTV. "Katniss requires a young actress with strength, depth, complexity, tenderness and power. There are very few people alive who can bring that to a role. Jen brings it in spades. She’s going to be an amazing Katniss."
"Jennifer's just an incredible actress," author Suzanne Collins tells MTV. "So powerful, vulnerable, beautiful, unforgiving and brave. I never thought we'd find somebody this perfect for the role. And I can't wait for everyone to see her play it."
May the odds be ever in her favor!
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Here's what you need to know about Jennifer Lawrence: after earning accolades in 2008 for her breakout role in the indie drama "The Burning Plain," the 20-year-old actress took the film world by storm last year thanks to her amazing performance in "Winter's Bone," a role that earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
And here's why you need to know it: because Lawrence is Katniss Everdeen.
Yes, this is really happening, folks. According to The Wrap, Lawrence has earned the coveted role of Katniss Everdeen in the upcoming adaptation of Suzanne Collins' wildly popular "Hunger Games" novels, ending months of speculation and beating out a high profile list of young actresses including fellow Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfeld.
By now, just about everyone in America is familiar with "The Hunger Games," but just for the sake of argument, here's the deal: Katniss Everdeen is a regular girl who just happens to live in a not-to-distant future where a totalitarian government rules the remnants of America with an iron fist -- and with the power of reality television. When Everdeen is chosen to fight on a televised battle to the death against other teens, she and her classmate Peeta Mellark end up beginning a revolution instead.
Now Lionsgate is hoping to start their own post-"Harry Potter" box office revolution by adapting "The Hunger Games" and its two sequels, "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay," for the big screen, a plan that led to months of wrangling as seemingly every Hollywood actress under the age of 25 began campaigning for the role: besides Lawrence and Steinfeld, everyone from Jodelle Ferland and Chloe Moretz to Abigail Breslin and Lyndsy Fonseca had thrown their hat in the ring.
In the end, however, it seems that Lawrence's gritty turn in "Winter's Bone" as a tough and determined girl searching for her deadbeat dad tipped the scales. The only question left is how the move will affect other casting decisions; at 20, Lawrence is significantly older than the other leading candidates for the role (Everdeen is 16 in the books), which could lead to an older actor landing the role of main squeeze Peeta.
So what do you think? Great casting move? Or should they have given the role to a younger actress like Steinfeld? Let us know how you feel. And in the meantime, don't worry, because you'll have plenty of chances to evaluate Lawrence before she steps into the shoes of Katniss Everdeen: the actress will be appearing in "The Beaver" as well as in "X-Men: First Class" later this summer.
Let the "Games" begin.
(Originally published on March 17, 2011, at 10:15 a.m. ET)
