Now that Lionsgate has tracked down a director for Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire in Francis Lawrence, the studio is apparently on the hunt for someone to re-write Simon Beaufoy’s initial script drafts for the incoming megaphone man. It’s turning to Toy Story 3 craftsman Michael Arndt.
The writer, who also won an Oscar for his Little Miss Sunshine screenplay, hasn’t actually locked in a contract to do any work on the Fire script yet, but negotiations are under way.
If he does make a deal, Arndt will be under a time crunch, because the sequel is on a tight schedule looking to kick off filming later this summer in order to allow Jennifer Lawrence time to also shoot the X-Men: First Class sequel for Fox.
Still, it’s definitely not the first time a production team has had to race to make a pre-announced release date, and with Lionsgate looking to strike as quickly as possible after the success of the first Games film, this was a foregone conclusion.
Arndt, who has spent a lot of time at Pixar helping out on various projects, has been also worked on the film version of animated series** Phineas And Fer****b** and contributed scripting time to Disney’s ever-evolving Snow White take-off Order Of The Seven, which, coincidentally, was also on Lawrence’s radar for a time.