Elizabeth Banks eyeing role in "Hunger Games"

Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Elizabeth Banks is in talks to join the growing cast of "The Hunger Games," an adaptation of Suzanne Collins' popular sci-fi book series.

Banks would play Effie Trinket, a pink-haired showbiz type who becomes the handler of Katniss, the heroine played by Jennifer Lawrence.

The book's title comes from an annual event where boys and girls are chosen to fight each other to the death in a post-apocalyptic world.

Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth are already cast as love interests, while relative newcomers Amandla Stenberg and Dayo Okeniyi were cast earlier Monday as Rue and Thresh, respectively. Gary Ross is directing the Lionsgate movie.

Banks was last seen in "The Last Three Days" and is currently shooting "Welcome to People," the directorial debut of screenwriter Alex Kurtzman.