Casting rumours are just like regular rumours. Everyone reads the first headline but no one ever reads the denial and subsequent dismissal. Take Melissa Leo for example. If you were to google Melissa Leo you’d find several pages of links reporting that she’s to be Mags in Catching Fire citing Variety as a source. Variety has since updated its article however to note that Leo was contacted yesterday and told she is NOT getting the part. As I reported in June - click here for a refresher - they really loved Cicely Tyson’s tape. We’ll see if she ends up with the role.

As for the elusive Finnick...

Zap2it was actually the first to report exclusively that the frontrunner for Finnick is now Sam Claflin. Variety then followed with sources of their own claiming that Claflin “is nearing an offer”. Twitter exploded as follows:

Sam Claflin is Finnick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well now this is getting ridiculous.

“Nearing an offer”?

Is that kind of like “almost pregnant”?

You’ll note, I reported exclusively on June 13 that Claflin had read for Finnick around the time that Garrett Hedlund was auditioning. Click here for a refresher. As you can imagine, they’ve been seeing everyone. I’m told Hedlund’s went well and that they felt good about him but that they also were leaving room to be dazzled. I’m not sure if Claflin was called back and accomplished that. But there is some serious gamesmanship happening in Hollywood right now over this movie. Click here to access the article re: Jena Malone and her cunning strategy around Johanna Mason. This is why you have agents and publicists: you need them in a dogfight.

Is Sam Claflin your Finnick?

He’s not my Finnick. He’s lovely, but he’s not my Finnick.

My Finnick is either totally unknown or, as already mentioned here, Ryan Gosling. And I’m not even that hot on Ryan Gosling right now. Have been steadily losing it for him for months. But I think it would be hilarious for him to join a movie like this and talk about “motivation” in a scene that requires him to bludgeon the sh-t out of a mechanical dog, and also, well, Finnick to me has always been somewhat of a Noah Calhoun. Not many people do lovelorn and devoted like Ryan Gosling. That’s the emotion people responded to in the Finnick character, nevermind the biceps.

Attached - various Claflin over the last 3 months.