'The Hunger Games' Movie Finds Its Thresh, Rue

Lionsgate has announced the addition of two unknowns to its highly-anticipated adaptation of Suzanne Collins’The Hunger Games. Dayo Okeniyi and Amandla Stenberg, 13, have been cast as District 11 tributes Thresh and Rue, joining a cast that already includes Oscar nomineeJennifer Lawrence as the lead, Katniss Everdeen,Josh Hutchersonas Peeta Mellark, andLiam Hemsworthas Gale Hawthorne.

In Collins’ young adult novel and the script by Billy Ray, teenage representatives from twelve districts are selected from a lottery to participate in a last-person-standing competition to the death forced by an oppressive central government known as The Capitol. Katniss and Peeta are the“tributes” from District 12 and the newly-cast Thresh and Rue are the picks for District 11, a large agricultural region in the dystopian nation of Panem.

Thresh is described as quiet and solitary with immense strength. Rue, 12, reminds Katniss of her sister, Prim, and the two form an alliance in the televised bloodsport.

This should provide some consolation for fans of the Collins trilogy who felt the studio and director Gary Ross had“whitewashed” the cast with Caucasian actors, particularly after the announcement of the extremely capable Lawrence to play the“olive-skinned” lead. Organizations likeRacebending.comhave taken the production to task for ignoring its“commitment to diversity” while Collins has downplayed the novel’s biracial descriptions of the futuristic characters.

Lionsgate will be rolling out and hyping upcoming tribute castings on the film’s Facebook page, if you care to follow along, though I doubt we’ll see any surprises in the bunch.

Stenberg played a young Zoe Saldana in the upcoming thrillerColombiana, which, according to her official website, required stunt training and has appeared in a number of commercials (embedded below). Okeniyi’s only credit is a short drama titledEyes to See.

Here is Stenberg’s commercial reel, if you’re interested:

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