Oscar Winner Philip Seymour Hoffman Joins 'The Hunger Games' Sequel

Oscar winner and Rochester, N.Y., native Philip Seymour Hoffman has signed on to join Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games. Hoffman will play Plutarch Heavensbee, who is apparently the new head gamemaker after Wes Bentley and his awesome beard didn't survive the first movie.

The Hunger Games was a huge blockbuster, and there's no reason to expect Catching Fire won't be huge either. Bringing Hoffman on board gives the movie a bit of critical heft, as one would expect actors with resumés like Hoffman's to carefully consider his career choices. I mean, unless you're Cuba Gooding Jr., you're not going to bring you Oscar-winning talents to just any random movie.

I haven't read Catching Fire yet, and there's a chance I might not get around to it. I really enjoyed the film adaption of The Hunger Games, but I lost interest in the book after getting through the first third. Not judging everyone who loves this series, but the young adult level of writing just didn't capture my attention.