shoot him, but she convinces him to eat nightlock berries together. Just before they do, Crane hastily declares them co-victors. Afterward, Haymitch warns Katniss that she has made enemies through these acts of defiance. Snow has Crane locked in a room with nightlock berries, after which the wily President considers his next move. Cast Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket Lenny Kravitz as Cinna Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman Donald Sutherland as President Coriolanus Snow Wes Bentley as Seneca Crane Toby Jones as Claudius Templesmith Alexander Ludwig as Cato Isabelle Fuhrman as Clove Amandla Stenberg as Rue Jacqueline Emerson as Foxface Jack Quaid as Marvel Leven Rambin as Glimmer Dayo Okeniyi as Thresh Willow Shields as Primrose Everdeen Paula Malcomson as Mrs. Everdeen Production Development In March 2009, Lions Gate Entertainment (known as Lionsgate) entered into a co-production agreement for The Hunger Games with Nina Jacobson's production company Color Force, which had acquired worldwide distribution rights to the novel a few weeks earlier, reportedly for $200,000. Alli Shearmur and Jim Miller, president and senior vice president of motion picture production at Lionsgate, took charge of overseeing the production of the film, which they described as "an incredible property ... a thrill to bring home to Lionsgate". The studio, which had not made a profit for five years, raided the budgets of other productions and sold assets to secure a budget of $88,000,000 for the film. Suzanne Collins' agent Jason Dravis remarked that "they [Lionsgate] had everyone but the valet call us" to help secure the franchise. Lionsgate subsequently acquired tax breaks of $8 million for shooting the film in North Carolina. Gary Ross, Sam Mendes, David Slade, Andrew Adamson, Susanna White, Rupert Sanders and Francis Lawrence were listed as possible directing candidates, but in the end, Ross was announced as the film's director in November 2010. Ross became interested in directing the film after his agent notified him about that a film adaptation of The Hunger Games was in development; having heard about the book due to his children reading it, Ross read the book quickly and called his agent to tell her that he wanted the job. Ross had many conversations with Collins about how to adapt the story, and was fascinated by how Ancient Roman culture inspired the books.