When I heard that Gary Ross, who in my opinion did an absolutely fantastic job directing
The Hunger Games, wasn't going to be taking on the challenge of Catching Fire, I'm not going to deny that I was incredibly disappointed. When you've spent so much time worrying about how a Director might completely ruin a book adaptation, only for them to prove you wrong, and offer one of the best adaptations, probably ever, it's easy to feel comfortable in the information that the rest of the series will be safely in that Director's hands.
It's like The Terminator without James Cameron, which let's be honest was a complete shambles without him at the helm, as Terminator 3 and 4 were both a bit rubbish compared to their Cameron predecessors.
So when news hit that Ross had chosen not to carry on, names of practically ever Director under the sun were thrown around by critics and fans alike, mainly of big-name Directors who were probably never going to pick up a film like this.
Personally, my favorite was Alfonso Cuaron, who was apparently considered for the position. I'm a huge fan of Cuaron's work, and even though I name David Yates as the greatest
Harry Potter Director, in my opinion, it was Cuaron who really turned the series around, converting them from slightly silly children's films into a series that was darker and more in-depth than your average children's flicks.
To find out that the man who has been offered the job is a virtual unknown, always sends vibes around the entertainment community questioning his ability. The problem is always the same, in that we don't have much to compare to, and when half of it is music videos, it becomes even easier to downplay a Director's potential. But, I think that people need to remember that everyone has to start somewhere, and these days especially, it is difficult to get big Directorial jobs straight away in a person's career.
Plus, the reason that I'm able to muster a little optimism out of Francis Lawrence being chosen (apart from having the name surname as the leading lady herself!! A fact that I didn't even notice initially, until Chris pointed it out!), but from the three biggest films that he has worked on: I Am Legend is an excellent Science Fiction Thriller, and Constantine and Water For Elephants aren't bad films, that's for sure. So, I do have a little bit of hope. It's hard not to return to worry about the series going down the crapper, but if Gary Ross can prove so many of us wrong, then there is always hope!!