Nice Try, ‘Hunger Games,’ But Your Fake Shooting Name Didn’t Fool Us

Lionsgate continues to batten down the hatches in keeping Hunger Games casting news secretive, but they’re no match for smart fans. Exactly a month ago, on April 5, Tona B. Dahlquist Casting set up a Facebook page for a new movie called Artemis, which would be shooting outside of Asheville, North Carolina. But much as they tried to stick to their uber-secretive ways, three things gave them away:

1. The area around Asheville is much more rural than other parts of the state: Since the Arena is mostly woodlands, this is the ideal space for the 24 tributes to be scattered about and fighting one another in trees and by rivers and lakes.

2. Among Dahlquist’s requests was one item that asked for “over a thousand adults”: Considering that we’ll be seeing into each of the 12 districts, it makes a lot of sense. What other movie would need that many extras?

3. The Facebook page mentions that Artemis‘ director is Gary Ross: The man has practically become a household name, so there’s no way he could be working on something else that big.

A few weeks ago, Picktainment’s Fireside Chat interviewed three women who had visited casting calls. One attendee, Deitre, mentioned that some of the people were dressed professionally, but others who realized what the project was appeared dressed in-character for the various tributes.

This fascinating account from a writer for Asheville’s Citizen Times gives more details, and a clearer idea of what the casting agents were looking for when she stood in line.

So, it was pretty obvious from the start that this was a whole lot of subterfuge for The Hunger Games. We’re scratching our heads as to why Lionsgate would have picked Artemis as a code name; the only connection we’ve heard is someone pointing out that Artemis was the young, female hunter of Greek myth, which matches up nicely with Katniss Everdeen’s (Jennifer Lawrence) primary mode of survival.