And now as the movie moves forwards, here’s some more news! The screenplay of ‘Hunger Games’ is now in the editing stages. The noted Billy ray is polishing the screenplay originally written by the books’ writer Suzanne Collins herself.

Ray has a number of action movies under his belt, including “Flightplan” and “State of Play” (as well as “Breach” and “Shattered Glass,” both of which also saw him sitting behind the camera). But perhaps most notable is that the writer-director has been chosen as the man to adapt “24″ for the big screen. (His pitch, which has Jack Bauer running around Europe, Jason Bourne-style, was favored by Fox executives.) There’s probably not a lot of overlap between the globetrotting battle to fight violent terrorists and fighting to survive in the futuristic nation of Panem, though, now that we think of it, there are looser comparisons out there. (It’s also worth noting that “Hunger Games” comes from Scholastic, the same publisher as the Harry Potter franchise.)

Fans have been wondering who’ll pay the young heroine in “Hunger Games” — Chloe Moretz, Dakota Fanning and Saoirse Ronan are among the fan favorites, as far as we can tell — but first the project needs to find a director. That could happen soon; Ray’s script is about to come into producers, if it hasn’t quietly been slipped to them already. And with that will commence the next step in the battle to create the next “Twilight,” a competition as fierce as anything in “Hunger Games” itself.

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