'Catching Fire' Role Offered to Philip Seymour Hoffman

Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for the BFI

Philip Seymour Hoffman received an official offer to play Plutarch Heavensbee in Catching Fire, Lionsgate’s sequel to The Hunger Games, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

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Hoffman’s name had circled the role for several weeks, but an offer formally went out Monday, the same day the actor ended his 18-year association with his agency, Paradigm.

Heavensbee is the new gamemaker of the life-and-death games, the same position occupied by actor Wes Bentley in the first movie.

Lionsgate, which had no comment, is eyeing a September start for the movie, which Francis Lawrence is set to direct after the departure of Hunger Games director Gary Ross. Jennifer Lawrence      will reprise her role as Katniss Evergreen. Hunger Games, released in March, grossed nearly $650 million worldwide.