The studio has been quickly cobbling together a list of directors who would fit their criteria. According to a source with knowledge of the list who isn’t permitted to speak on the record, Lionsgate needs to find a director with enough credits and accolades to appeal to Collins, who is much more interested in quality filmmaking than box-office prowess. This director also needs to have an even keel; no petulant crybabies allowed. The studio wants to get the sequel, “Catching Fire,” into production by August, and the task will require someone who can wrangle a large ensemble of actors, juggle the demands of a swift schedule and collaborate on a script with Collins and writer Simon Beaufoy.
David Cronenberg
Cronenberg has frequently been offered big commercial gigs over the years, including “Return of the Jedi,” “Top Gun,” and “RoboCop,” only to turn them down for arty, independently produced work, often in the horror genre. Though Cronenberg’s best-known film is still 1986′s “The Fly,” the Canadian director has been making movies for decades, with his most recent work, the adaptation of Don DeLillo’s “Cosmopolis” starring Robert Pattinson, likely to debut in Cannes next month.
Alfonso Cuaron
Cuaron entered the blockbuster genre with “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” in 2004, but despite great reviews didn’t stick with the boy wizard beyond the one film. Rather, he took on ambitious fare within the studio system, including Universal Pictures’ “Children of Men.” The Mexican director recently finished production on “Gravity” for Warner Bros. The film, starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, is about a lone survivor of a space mission trying desperately to return to Earth to reunite with his family.
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
For Inarritu, joining “Catching Fire” would mark a reunion with his producer from the Academy Award-nominated film “Babel” Jon Kilik, who is producing the “Hunger Game” series along with Nina Jacobson. While “Catching Fire” deals with the heavy themes of rebellion and children-on-children violence, it is still significantly lighter than Inarritu’s most recent work, “Biutiful,” the Javier Bardem-starrer that chronicled a dying man’s attempts to make amends.
