Exclusive: Elizabeth Banks is in talks to star in “The Hunger Games” as Effie Trinket, a flaky bureaucrat who escorts her district’s young death-match contestants to their fate.
Also joining the cast are Amandla Stenberg, who will play Rue, and Dayo Okeniyi, who will play Thresh. Lionsgate would not confirm that Banks was in talks.
Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth are already attached to star in the pic based on the bestselling young-adult novel by Suzanne Collins. Gary Ross is directing, with Billy Ray penning the script.
Nina Jacobson is producing through her Color Force shingle. Pic is set to go into production later in the year.
Banks was most recently seen in “The Next Three Days” with Russell Crowe and appears in the upcoming “Our Idiot Brother.” Stenberg recently finished the Luc Besson-produced pic “Colombiana” and Okeniyi can be see next in “Slew Hampshire.”
Banks is repped by UTA and Untitled. Stenberg is repped by Osbrink Agency and Okeniyi by Sweeney Management.
