For most audiences, their introduction to Elizabeth Banks saw her wearing a pageboy wig and manning a desk at the Daily Bugle in all three of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films.  Banks has never been pigeonholed as Betty Brant or anything else, for that matter.  The actress is perhaps most associated with comedies, having memorably appeared in films such as The 40 Year Old Virgin, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Wet Hot American Summer, and Role Models, amongst others.  She's also an accomplished actor in more dramatic fare like The Next Three Days, Seabiscuit, Invincable, and the upcoming Man on a Ledge.  She even played Laura Bush in Oliver Stone's W.

For her role in the anticipated The Hunger Games, Banks reunites with her Seabiscuit director Gary Ross to bring the vivid futuristic world of Suzanne Collins's bestselling young adult novels to the cinematic life.  The film, which studio is Lionsgate is hoping will be the first of a trilogy including Catching Fire and Mockingjay, takes place in a dystopia where young people from twelve impoverished districts are forced to compete in an annual televised survival competition.  Banks plays Effie Trinket, a crucially important character throughout the trilogy who acts as a sort of public relations escrot to the District 12 tributes, played by stars Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson.

For the better part of a year, Lionsgate has cultivated the air of a blockbuster around The Hunger Games, the first in a planned trilogy adapting the dystopian young adult novels of Suzanne Collins.  The studio has done so with endless reports on casting, then with consistent official images reminding the world that The Hunger Games is indeed on the way and is indeed something that a lot of people are looking forward to.  Today, Lionsgate did so yet again with a batch of six official images.  Two are behind the scenes photos featuring director Gary Ross and Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, while the other four are stills from the film, one of which features Lenny Kravitz, Woody Harrelson, and Josh Hutcherson as Cinna, Haymitch Abernathy, and Peeta Mellark.

Hey, Simpsons fans, remember the episode where Homer tries to become an inventor?  His inventions include the "Everything's Okay Alarm" and the "Makeup shotgun," a double-barreled weapon rigged to blast makeup onto the face of a woman?  In The Hunger Games, a bunch of characters look as though, every day, they start things off by blasting themselves with makeup shotguns at point blank range.  See, the young adult novel by Suzanne Collins takes place in a futuristic dystopia comprised of twelve Districts and the Capitol; while the economically exploited Districts are drab and utilitarian, the Capitol of Panem is ludicrously opulent and showy, with inhabitants decorating themselves in outlandish fashion.  The film adaptation will do the Capitol justice, and the distinctive styles bring with them a most peculiar merchandising tie-in: The Hunger Games "Capitol Colours Nail Polish."

There are now 100 days until the theatrical debut of The Hunger Games, the science fiction adventure based on the first novel in the bestselling trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  With that in mind, Lionsgate unveiled the new poster for the film in participatory fashion by pollinating the internet with 100 individual puzzle pieces.  Collected and properly assembled, the pieces form the one sheet, which features Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen taking a look at herself and Peeta Mellark, played by Josh Hutcherson, on some jumbotron screens.  For those of y'all not in the know, Katniss and Peeta are participants in a televised survival competition, the primary source of entertainment in the futuristic dystopia of Panem.

Ever since that trailer that impressed fans last months, things have been pretty quiet on The Hunger Games front.  Now, though, it seems the adaptation of Suzanne Collins's hugely popular Young Adult novel is swapping one A-list composer for another familiar composer.  The previously announced fan favorite Danny Elfman has had to bow out of the film, but don't worry, this isn't indicative of behind the scenes drama and won't throw a wrench into the post-production, which is proceeding apace under director Gary Ross.  Nope, it will apparently be a smooth transition from Elfman to new composer James Newton Howard, taking over for as the provider of musical accompaniment.

After debuting the full theatrical trailer for The Hunger Games on Monday, two new images from the adaptation of the first novel of Suzanne Collins' science fiction trilogy have made their way online.  That trailer represented the most substantial look at the world of Panem after months and months of images from the film simply showed the same three characters hanging out in the woods.  One of these two images is in a similar vein, with Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth as Katniss and Gale chilling together in a field, but the other includes Lawrence alongside Elizabeth Banks in her intentionally ridiculous getup as Effie Trinket, the publicity person charged with making sure the public loves Katniss.

After a brief teaser trailer featuring Jennifer Lawrence running through woods and dodging fireballs failed to light the world on fire (no pun intended) in August, Lionsgate has released a second trailer for The Hunger Games, and it provides by far the most extensive look at how director Gary Ross is tackling the world of Suzanne Collins' novel.  The principal character of Katniss, played by Lawrence, as well as Gale and Peeta, played respectively by Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson, are all established, as are the titular games, a televised annual survival game pitting twenty four young people against each other in this futuristic dystopia's version of bread and circuses.  For fans of the book, this is the first look outside of Katniss's native District 12, taking her to the garish and pompous Capital, while for those unfamiliar with the novel series, it succinctly sets up the basic ingredients, using only material from the story's first half.  In the process, it omits the brutality and violence inherent in the games, but the desperation of the players hints at the grisliness to come.

A few weeks ago, eight character posters from The Hunger Games indicated that we might be on the verge of a new leg in the film's marketing, one which would be less reliant upon images of actors wearing muted colors in the woods.  Fans of the novel series by Suzanne Collins were no doubt hoping that the coming weeks would bring glimpses of the gaudy and colorful capital city in the futuristic dystopia of Panem.  Well, good news and bad news, folks.  Good news: Today we have a brand new image of heroine Katniss Everdeen, with Jennifer Lawrence righteously wielding a bow and arrow.  Bad news: Once again, she's standing in the woods.

After The Fighter became a huge critical and commercial success last year, director David O. Russell found himself in a good position for his next project, but what that project would be took a little while to pin down.  The man behind Three Kings, Flirting With Disaster, and Spanking the Monkey was attached to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but he departed that shamblefest and is currently making The Silver Linings Playbook, a dramatic comedy centered on a broken man who moves in with his mother after spending a few years in an institution.  An official synopsis has made its way online, along with the first official images from the film, featuring Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, and Jacki Weaver.

After a few months of laying unexpectedly low, the hype-topus for The Hunger Games has once again begun flailing all eight of it's tentacles, as Lionsgate has released eight new character posters for the adaptation of the bestselling young adult novel by Suzanne Collins.  The first three feature the familiar faces of Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth as Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, and Gale Hawthorne, but the next five constitute our very first look at major players in this tale, as well as its hoped-for sequels, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.  The first glimpses of Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, and Lenny Kravitz in character also give a tiny idea of the ostentatious stylings of the Capitol in director Gary Ross' take on the dystopian future Panem.