Garrett Hedlund reveals why he turned down role of Finnick in ‘Catching Fire’

By Andrew Sims (@Sims) at 4:30 pm, September 11, 2012

Back in May we had learned that Garrett Hedlund was one of several actors being considered for the role of Finnick in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

That rumor is true, and Lionsgate had went so far as to offer him the job.

Today Hedlund, who was at the Toronto International Film Festival to promote On the Road, explained to MTV why he said no.

“They did [approach me],” confirmed, “But I was working on [On the Road] at the time. We shot the whole film in 23 days and I was really immersed in it. I couldn’t get around [to reading the 'Hunger Games' novels]. Everybody around me is flipping out about the books, and I didn’t really have the time to sit down lately to read any book, not just Hunger Games, but I’ve got a couple [projects] on my plate that I’m looking forward to reading now.”

Instead of Hedlund we’ll be seeing Sam Claflin in the role. Lionsgate announced his casting on August 22. Additional confirmed newcomers are Jena Malone as Johanna, Amanda Plummer as Wiress, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch, Lynn Cohen as Mags, Meta Golding as Enobaria, Bruno Gunn as Brutus, Alan Ritchson as Gloss, E. Roger Mitchell as Chaff, and Stephanie Leigh Schlung as Cashmere.

Catching Fire is in theaters November 22, 2013. Lionsgate announced yesterday that filming is officially underway. Learn how to win a trip to the Catching Fire set!

View the latest articles in: The Hunger Games

http://www.facebook.com/iDomi Domi Ed

I REALLY wanted him to play Finnick.
BUT I have made my peace with Sam playing Finnick and…oh well.

I’m sure he’ll do great.
I was VERY on the fence about Josh and Jen when they were cast.
Now I LOVE THEM!
- Guest
  
  I agree! but everybody from the first film, I was happy with, but I did really want him to be Finnick. He’s the only one that really fit for me, but I’ll trust the casting+directors choice!
PestiferousTuktat65

#!!http://goo.gl/Xr6Wg
Marissa

He honestly seems to be stretching the truth a bit. You don’t turn down The Hunger Games just because you were too “immersed” to read it. In the end, I’m sure Lionsgate knew they were making the right decision with Sam. Maybe they liked Garrett, but I don’t think they fully offered the role to him…
Laura

On the Road was filmed in mid-2010, wasn’t it? But… that was before Jennifer Lawrence was cast. Before Gary Ross was even announced as the director. Do they really approach people that early?
- Savanah
  
  I don’t think he was talking about On The Road. If you listen to the interview, he says “this film” and does not say On The Road. I understood it to be like this: “I was working on this OTHER film”. He was just saying “this”, not referencing to On The Road but the other film. (sorry if that was extremely confusing)
  
  He COULD’VE been talking about On The Road, but I didn’t hear it like that. But I can see where you are coming from and it’s definitely a possibility.
  - Guest
    
    I’m not American, so I can’t watch or listen to anything on MTV. But since On The Road was added in brackets in the quote up there, I assumed that’s what he was talking about.
    - Savanah
      
      That’s where Hypable messed up again. If you go back to the original article on MTV, it did not have On The Road in brackets. They added that in (but really, Garrett never specified).
      
      I love you Hypable, but you made too many assumptions with this piece of news!
Gary65

LOL he is so gonna regret this when he does read Hunger Games. Not only is it a fantastic role that would do wonders for his career aswell, you can easily read the books in under 2 weeks. I think he expected some gargantuan undertaking like reading Harry Potter or Game of Thrones in a short amount of time. I feel a tiny bit sorry for him. Good luck to Sam :D
- Me
  
  I feel like since he mentioned how everyone is flipping out over the hunger games right now, he understands how successful it’d make him. He’s being a legit actor.
  - Gary65
    
    I know that. But it sounds like he turned down the role cos he didn’t think he would have the time to read the books and get familiar with the role before filming starts. Sam was announced a month ago so its fair to say Garrett was offered the role in early July. Filming just started. You could read HG 7 times over in that space of time. I’m just saying i think he over-estimated the burden of reading HG.
    - Me
      
      He explicitly says he had more than one project, which meant that he probably did not have had the time. No matter how short. I have to say that I respect him for missing out on it because he felt he wouldnt be able to play the part to his or anyone else’s standards.
      - Gary65
        
        But Jennifer Lawrence was supposed to be in some indie film when they were filming HG and she pulled out of it so she could play Katniss. He could easily have done it if he’d wanted to. That’s beside the point that, if his schedule was so chock-a-block, why was he even having discussions with Lionsgate in the first place? There would have been some negotiation before they offered him the role. Why even negotiate if you never had the room in your schedule to play the role anyway?
      - Me
        
        All it says is that he was approached. And who knows if at that time he knew if it would conflict or not.
- http://www.facebook.com/nikolausaldrich Nick Aldrich
  
  He is also attached to the TRON series. I think he’ll be fine.
http://twitter.com/writingfreak88 Christine Rogers

Thank goodness. He is a terrible actor.
- Team Haymitch
  
  THIS
http://www.facebook.com/LaDracul Joanna Boese

Personally, I would’ve rather have had more of him as Murtagh, son of the forsworn in the “Inheritance” saga, but the sad thing is, once Fox FINALLY gets a clue, “Eldest” and the other books would have to be recast. :(
http://twitter.com/akacj7 Caroline J.

no no no i wish i never knew this! i wanted him to play finnick so bad i think he’s such a good actor, and he said no because he couldn’t read the books? i dont know, sounds like a bit of a made-up lame-o excuse to me. but UGH now i’m going to be imagining him as finnick and being sad until we get some info on sam claflin as finnick to get my mind off it. ARRGHH
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1045615098 Riana-Tiana Menezes

Call me skeptical but I don’t think Lionsgate would have offered any actor the role if they hadn’t read the book esp when it comes to such a complex character like Finnick. Lionsgate is smarter than that.

(P.S Older and more established actors like Donald Sutherland or Woody Harrelson do not count in my above generalization)
- Savanah
  
  I think Hypable is making an assumption. In the interview, Garrett says that Lionsgate approached them. That COULD’VE been for the part, but it also could’ve been just for an audition (and I’m 99.999% sure it was the latter for the reasons you stated).
- just sayin
  
  wow i think you really overestimate movie studios. they don’t make casting decisions based on who will be most true to the character or whether or not they’ve read the books, they’re a company for making money and i think it has much more to do with how big a name is or how popular someone is. did you really think all of the actors had read the books?
TheBwaldorf

By his looks, he would’ve been a much better Finnick than Sam.. just saying..
rafael

by his looks, he would’ve made a much better finnick than sam.. just saying
- Team Haymitch
  
  You should care about acting talent, not looks. Just sayin’.
  - Sara
    
    then he’s still the better choice
http://twitter.com/dreamfall31 Kevin Slechta

Because he’s too busy smokin that Tron Legacy salary!!!!!
http://twitter.com/twixie09 Lauren Gizzi

I seriously respect him for making that decision. I’m surprised that he didn’t want to touch the role simply because he didn’t know the character. (:

Anyway, Sam is cuter, so it all works out. xD
http://twitter.com/aadnama Amanda Douglas

While Garrett was my first choice, I fully respect his decision.

To Gary65, why would he regret it? From what I know of Garrett, he doesn’t take a role unless he really knows the material. If he had no time to really get to know and become attached to the material, then maybe he didn’t feel comfortable taking it on.

Also, Garrett is one of those actors who doesn’t take a role because of the success it will bring him. He’s not stupid. He knows that this would open up so many doors for him. That apparently doesn’t matter to him, though, so cool.

I doubt he’ll regret it. Plus, in all honesty, Garrett is a fantastic actor. He’ll have doors open for him with or without Catching Fire on his resume.
Mrs_Badcrumble

That sounds like a crap excuse… The book can be read in a night!… If an actor is offered a role such as this one, if he was the least bit interested he would have found the time to at least look into it right?
SofiaCalista

He’s not my Finnick, even Sam’s not my Finnick, but Sam’s better looking than Garrett Hedlund,thank goodness he wasn’t cast.
- Team Haymitch
  
  I totally agree with you. No one is ever going to satisfy everyone’s imagination. However, I prefer Sam in a heartbeat.
Glaciusx

GOOD. I didn’t want him to be Finnick, anyway.

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Garrett Hedlund reveals why he turned down role of Finnick in ‘Catching Fire’

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