Stanley Tucci joins Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson in ‘Hunger Games’

“The Hunger Games” has added one of its biggest grown-up cast members to its stable of stars: Stanley Tucci.

The “Lovely Bones” actor will play Caesar Flickerman, the TV host to the brutal and thrilling annual Game. Known for his wild dress and big personality, Caesar “is famous for turning any conversation around to the positive and finding humor in even the most dire circumstances.”

Tucci joins the cast of lead Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson as District 12 partner Peeta, Liam Hemsworth as Katniss’ childhood friend Gale, relative unknowns Amandla Stenberg and Day Okeniyi as Rue and Thresh, Paula Malcomson as Katniss’ mom, Willow Shields as Katniss’ sister Prim, Wes Bentley as “Head Gamemaker” Seneca Crane and Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket.

The Gary Ross-directed film is an adaptation on Suzanne Collins’ young adult sci-fi book trilogy of the same name. The plot follows teenaged fighters in a post-Apocalyptic dictatorship, in which representatives — “tributes” — have to fight each other to the death on live television, as punishments to the Districts for rebelling against the rulers, the Capitol. The series has become a worldwide bestseller.

Want to know about the movie and the phenomenon? Check out HitFix’s Cheat Sheet here.

Lionsgate is backing the project, due in theaters on March 23, 2012.

Tucci has been busy with another big-budget franchise flick as Abraham Erskine in “Captain America: The First Avenger,” out this year, and is currently filming “Jack the Giant Killer.”

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