Melissa Leo Not Happy She Lost Role In ‘Hunger Games: Catching Fire’

Melissa Leo, who was being considered for the role of Mags in the upcoming sequel to the Hunger Games, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, has found out she will not be playing the role. Leo expressed her disappointment to MovieFone.

Leo said,

“I would have liked to have done it, but it doesn’t look like it’ll be mine,”

Elizabeth Banks, who plays the role of Effie Trinket in the Hunger Games franchise released on her blog that “Lynn Cohen is Mags” on Monday morning. Lionsgate confirmed the casting shortly before that last week.

Leo had been doing an interview with MovieFone about her new upcoming film Why Stop Now when she found out that Cohen had been confirmed to the Hunger Games role. Leo told the reporter “Who? Oh, I’ll have to look her up.”

Leo had been interested in being in the Hunger Games sequel after seeing the trailer for the first film, which she admitted got her interested. Seeing the fans reaction made her want to do it even more, even though she admits she hasn’t read the books.

She said of her lack of knowledge about Hunger Games:

“I’m not much of a reader and that might very well be part of the reason that I did not get the role.”

Elizabeth Banks, for her part, was thrilled about the choice of Cohen to play Mags. She gushed over her on her personal blog saying,

“She seems like a pretty rad lady and I’m excited to work with her. I know she’ll mentor Finnick like nobody’s business.”