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Catching Fire Casting Scoop: Fan Fave Jesse Williams Talks Finnick!

Exclusive: Grey's Anatomy's resident hunk talks about the possibility of playing opposite Jennifer Lawrence

By Ted Casablanca, John Boone May 02, 2012 10:42 PMTags
Jesse Williams, Jennifer LawrenceGetty Images

We've got a director (that'd be Francis Lawrence, taking over where Gary Ross left off), a release date (Thanksgiving 2013!) and huge expectations for the Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire.

Especially when it comes to casting Finnick Odair, a new face that will be joining Jennifer Lawrence in the second installment! And while a million names have been tossed out to play the tortured heartthrob (Armie Hammer! Taylor Kitsch!), one fan favorite is Grey's Anatomy's Jesse Williams.

So what does the sparkling-eyed TV star think of the big-screen gig?!

"I have heard that! I've seen a lot of that on Twitter," Jesse told us when we asked him if he'd caught wind of the fan campaign. "I didn't know what the heck a Finnick was when I was getting a lot of the questions about it."

Didn't know what a Finnick was?! Where the heck has he been?!

It's only the most anticipated casting since, well, Peeta, probably! And while we were previously rooting for Friday Night Light's Kitsch to earn his box-office redemption—after John Carter bombed…hard—we think Jesse is more than hot enough to step into Finnick's Tribute shoes.

Plus, he charmed our pants off in Cabin in the Woods, so we think he has the chops to pull it off.

"I've since been educated, and that's fun. People are really, really excited about it," Williams explained about his casting potential. "There's a website that's dedicated to it—Jesse for Finnick. It's kind of taking on a mind of its own. People are creative about that kind of stuff, and now I'll try to figure out if that's something that's interesting to me."

Uh, spoiler alert, Jess, it should interest you. The first movie only made a bajillion dollars, and we expect the next two (or three, if they end up splitting Mockingjay into two flicks) will make even more than that.

Not to mention getting to rub elbows with Oscar nominees like J.Law or wear sexy fishnet-inspired outfits.

"It certainly is a big, successful project, and I read the first book, which was great," he revealed to us. "In this day and age, I think it matters what the fans think and they envision certain things."

Well grab a copy of Catching Fire ASAP, Jesse, and get your envisioning on. Because Francis Lawrence will be picking his Finnick soon and your fans are more than ready to serve you up on a silver platter.

—Additional reporting by Christina Dowling