Natalie Dormer joins Mockingjay Parts 1 & 2; Sharni Vinson for Adi Shankar

We have some casting news for the day.

First up is that Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) has signed onto The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 & 2 to play the role of Cressida. If you're unaware of what part Cressida plays, basically she is a resident director of the Capitol who joins the rebellion. She assists Katniss throughout the rebellion and uses her to create anti-Capitol propaganda. You can see Dormer in two films coming up; Ron Howard's race car drama Rush and Ridley Scott's The Counselor.

Second, we have some casting news about Adi Shankar's all female Expendables project that was announced a while ago. In addition to Gina Carano and Katee Sackhoff, it was released that Sharni Vinson has joined the film. Don't know that name? Neither does anyone else!
Vinson is in the upcoming horror film You're Next and has appeared in Step Up 3D. She was also a series regular on the Australian television series Home and Away. Her casting shows that the movie is progressing and moving toward an actual production date. Who knows, it could even technically be The Expendables 4.

Julianne Moore sought after for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

This isn't really a spoiler, but in case you didn't know... many characters from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will carry over into the Mockingjay movies. However, there are still some new characters that need to be cast. One of those is Alma Coin, the leader of the rebellion against the Capitol. I'm sure many actresses are being considered for this role, as it is a very important one, but the woman on the top of Lionsgate's list right now is Julianna Moore.

Moore is an Oscar nominated actress with many decent credits to her name. She also has a busy 2013 including Carrie, Seventh Son, and Don Jon. I personally think she would be a fantastic choice and I hope this happens. There are a few pretty high end actors that have joined the cast, like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Donald Sutherland, so I don't think this is necessarily out of the question.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is set for November 21, 2014 and Part 2 is set for November 20, 2015.

In case you are completely ignorant of The Hunger Games beyond the first movie and want a spoiler, go ahead and click the jump and I will introduce you to President Coin a bit more.

Francis Lawrence to return for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

News has broken that director Francis Lawrence will return to direct both installments of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay scheduled for 2014 and 2015 releases. Lawrence is currently directing The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, so there really is no telling if this is a good or bad thing just yet, so we will have to wait and see.

In a way I am happy about this because the biggest downfall to sagas like this is the constant changing of directors. Take the Twilight saga. Each movie, except for Breaking Dawn 1 & 2, has had a different director. As a result the feel and tone of each film was different and that also takes a toll on how the actors perform. At least that's my opinion. The fact that Francis Lawrence will direct 3 of the 4 Hunger Games films is probably good.