Mockingjay.net Staff React to Sam Claflin as Finnick
It was all the way back on July 17 when we heard the first rumor that Sam Claflin had been offered the role of Finnick Odair in next year’s ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.’ After weeks of rumor after rumor from various sources, Lionsgate finally announced on Wednesday that Sam has, indeed, been cast as Finnick.
Even though we’ve all had five weeks to imagine Sam as Finnick, reactions from the fandom were still very varied last Wednesday. Read on to see what the Mockingjay.net Staff has to say about Sam Claflin taking on the role of our beloved Finnick.
Beth
One thing is for sure: I did not jump up and down in excitement when I saw this official announcement. I have nothing against Sam. I’ve only ever seen him in SWATH. There’s a scene in there where he’s ʺpossessedʺ by the evil queen, and he rocked it. But for Finnick? I’m wrapping my head around this one. This is the one character that everybody loves – myself included. Naturally, I was always going to be really picky with whoever they decided to cast. I’ve even had several weeks of speculation to get used to it, but I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about it.
I’m sure I’m coming across as super unfair, and feel free to tell me, ʺhaters gonna hate.ʺ It’s really not hate, though! I don’t hate Sam. I’m sure he’s stoked about this, as he should be, and for that, I’m happy for him. In my eyes, he’s just not necessarily Finnick, yet. Emphasis on the yet. I know a lot of people weren’t thrilled when Jen was cast as Katniss, and she proved everyone wrong. So fingers crossed that Sam kicks some major ass and puts everyone at ease. The producers know what they’re doing, okay? Let’s enjoy it.
Kimmy
I feel like I’m in the rare few that is super duper happy about Sam as Finnick. I think it’s because I saw him in ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’ and he really showed off his acting chops, and when I saw him in interviews he really just has that ‘Finnick’ charm. It’s not like me to discount appearance entirely, since obviously he doesn’t look like a bronzed California looking male model, but I just think he’s going to nail the sassy, adorable side of Finnick’s character that made us all fall in love with him. Which is the most important, in my opinion. Plus, I think he’s really attractive! His face also just looks so….Finnick to me, and I don’t know why. 
Camille
Sam is not who I first pictured to be Finnick. But I saw him in ʺPirates of the Carribeanʺ and I really really liked him in it. I trust that they chose him because he was the best. So welcome Sam, and please be the best Finnick we could ever wish for!
Ciara
I’m totally cool with Sam Claflin, from what I’ve seen him in (even though ʺPirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tidesʺ was a bit pants) he wasn’t half bad in it. I really can’t explain this, he wasn’t my first choice, it’s got nothing to with his looks but something about Sam just feels… right. Maybe it’s because he seems like such a nice guy and so thankful for the opportunities he’s had, I know he’ll work hard and pull this off. And he’s pretty easy on the eyes. Plus Nina Jacobson was part of this casting process – if anyone can cast Panem, she can. I’m glad this leaked early on, I’d already accepted him a few weeks back. Sam, you’ve got my thumbs up and can’t wait to see you at your trident wielding best.
Crystal
People who read the comments on this site know my feelings on the matter and I’m still not completely convinced. He just is not Finnick to me yet. It does, of course, help that he’s a real sweetie because I’d take him over Alex Pettyfer’s attitude any day of the week and twice on Sunday. However, that doesn’t mean I’m confident he’ll do the role the justice it deserves and I’m pretty sure he must know what a awful task he was taking on trying to please every Hunger Games fan in the world, so kudos to him for doing it anyway. He’ll have a long road ahead of him, but if he does well, it will for sure be amazing for his career.
One problem I’m having a hard time with is Sam just seems way too ʺnice guyʺ to fill both sides of such a complicated character. Regardless of my feelings on the matter though, I remain an unflinching supporter of the novels and while this announcement may be a disappointment for me since I was really heavily entrenched in the Garrett Hedlund camp, I will continue to support Sam and this film in the coming months and I sincerely hope that I’m pleasantly surprised next November.
Erin
If I’m completely honest with myself, there’s not a man alive that would make me happy as Finnick (except for maybe Chris Hemsworth, a couple years younger, long hair, cleanshaven, and a chest and abs like he had in ʺThorʺ). That being said, I was still let down when they made the official Finnick announcement. I’ve only seen Sam in SWATH, and while I thought it was a pretty good movie, I wasn’t wowed by what little screentime they gave to Sam’s character.
However, I have always claimed to have 100% faith in Nina Jacobson and Suzanne Collins, and if they okayed this decision, then I’m sure I’ll come around. I truely believe that there’s something in Sam that I just haven’t seen yet, and I’m starting to allow myself to get a little excited about watching him become Finnick. It will be a tremendous job to please all the rabid Hunger Games fans and Finnick lovers, and I hope he’s up for the challenge. But, more than anything, I hope his performance in ʺCatching Fireʺ sends me straight to my computer, where I will compose a heart-felt apology telling him ʺI’m so sorry I ever doubted you!ʺ
Sarah
To be totally honest, I feel like whoever was selected for this role was going to be scrutinised and hated by die-hard Finnick lovers because, lets face it, I can’t think of one actor on this planet that everyone would be 100% happy with playing him. When it comes to casting for a film which is based on a beloved book series such as this one, you form your own personal ideas of the character and have certain expectations which can perhaps never be met. We all have different ideas of our perfect Finnick, if they were going by what the fans wanted I think they’d struggle immensely.
Although I am a Finnick lover myself, I wasn’t too shocked or disappointed with the casting of Sam Claflin as our Finnick. I’ve maintained ever since he was rumoured to be cast that at least if he gets it, he’s a genuinely nice guy which is better than certain others that were rumoured for the part. I think that, as he hasn’t flexed his acting chops very far as of now, we might be very pleasantly surprised by his performance. I stand by what I’ve always said regarding casting for these films (and I’ve never been disappointed yet), if he’s good enough for Nina (and I’m guessing Suzanne, but we’re still waiting for her opinion), well then he’s good enough for me.
Tash
I will be honest and admit that Sam was not my first choice for Finnick, but he was not my last either – there were far worse possibilities. I made a promise to myself that I would be positive and supportive of all castings (which is going to make the next year much easier to cope with!), so I am welcoming Sam with open arms. He is certainly not unattractive either, and I would much prefer that they get the other aspects of Finnick right (the charm, bravery, love for Annie, strength, inner turmoil and so on) than just focus purely on his looks, and I’m sure that is what Nina and co saw in the audition room. I can’t wait to see the first shots of him in character as Finnick, and for him to make me go ʺWow, that’s Finnick!ʺ, so it’s up to Sam now to be the best Finnick possible. Oh, and to get a haircut too please. 
Now that you’ve had time to think about it, what do you think of Sam as Finnick?
I think that you guys are being a tad too harsh on him. Just remember that all these things were said when Jennifer was cast as Katniss.
The more I see of him, the more I’m beginning to warm up to him. He’s an excellent actor, but I’ll still have to wait and see if I like him as Finnick. Oh, and he looks extremely sexy in the photo used for this article
, not the creepy smile one I first saw him with.
He’s ok….but he will probably be the perfect finnick when we actually see him in the movie.
I’m perfectly fine with Sam Claflin as Finnick. I fell in love with him in Pillars of The Earth and thought he did well in Any Human Heart. I do notice that he does play a lot of “sweethearts”, but I know he’ll do a great job as Finnick.
I completly agree with all the comments from the staff, and i’m pretty sure he’s going to make a wonderful job. And look at him, he’s lovely.
You guys should check this http://vimeo.com/41452598. I saw that last night and the first thing that came up to my mind was “Wow.. that was intense”. He’s good and you can tell he’s going to work really hard to try to please the audience by making his best
Ya, I, too, am warming up to him! I can’t wait to see him do the “you want sugar cube?” scene…. Hehehe
It would be very awkward if a “younger” Chris Hemsworth is playing Finnick because it would just be like a blonde Gale/Liam, right?
Finnick is so perfect in our minds, there is no human man that measure up. We would be disapproving no matter who they picked. Give Sam a chance. He may not look like the Finnick in our minds but I hope he will show us Finnick’s soul. That is what is most important and will ultimately make us content with this pick.
Also, I can already feel the chemistry between Sam and Lynn Cohen (Mags). Pretty exciting!
No one better complain about this photo choice, lol! I thought this was a really good one, but I thought the others were good too and I always saw complaints.
let’s hope when we finally start getting leaked info of him in character, it’ll all be fantastic, and then even those who weren’t quite sure will warm up to him.
fingers crossed. i’m glad to hear you guys are at least willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.
my feelings about sam are well-known around here… i had my favorites for finnick, and i never really imagined him as a potential candidate, but i loved sam as an actor even before this whole finnick hoopla started– i think he’s hot, i think he’s got a lot of talent, and i think he’s a really sweet guy, so i’ll be looking forward to seeing what he can do with the role!
I, like Tash, made myself promise to be positive about all the casting choices, so positive I will be. That being said, it’s not that hard to do with Sam. He seems geniunely nice, he’s attractive if you ask me, and Nina knows what she’s doing. I’m sold.
So he is “not unattractive” and “he wasn’t half bad” in one of his movies? What ringing endorsements! Actually as someone who’s been horrified by this choice from the beginning.,
Oops I did not mean to post the above yet. All I was going to say is that your comments made me feel better. Instead of trying to convince me he will be perfect, you help me see I have to acknowledge that I have no idea how Finnick will be written or used and therefore no idea how this guy will fit in with the vision of the people who are actually making the movie. I’ll try to be positive and wish him the best.
I think Sam Claflin will be great.
Saying this from a man point of view, so maybe my beauty perception is a bit off, his face is sexy. His face is extremely gorgeous. His face screams Finnick to me.
His body not so much, he strikes me as a thin man, but guess what, he has lots of time to build up some muscle, so I really trust that when the time to film comes, he’ll have a Finnick body. Just look at what Josh Hutcherson did for Peeta. It can be done, and I’m 100% sure he’ll have a great body when there’s time for him to record some scenes.
So yeah, for me he has the looks to play Finnick. You can’t change the face, but the face is extremely great. And the body isn’t that good for a Finnick, but guess what, you can change the body!
Now for the acting chops. I haven’t seen Pirates of the Caribbean 4. I haven’t seen Snow White And the Huntsman. I have seen scenes of him in his other movies / tv things. Guess what, I think he’s great. He has the acting chops needed for a character with a depth like Finnick. He can definitely act cocky, but he can also act the other, darker sides of Finnick.
He’ll be great. Plus, he went through auditions and all the casting process, so he must have had something.
Now, yeah, he isn’t my perfect Finnick. He isn’t 100% alike the Finnick in my head. But I don’t care, cause he’s as good as the Finnick in my head to be Finnick, and he also happens to exist. So yeah, I’m very happy with the choice.
I have absolute faith in the casting, so I have absolute faith that Sam can portray Finnick the way he’s supposed to be portrayed. EVERYONE has a different Finnick in their head, that’s just how it is. He can ACT, so, that’s good enough for me. He’ll do great.
I thought Finnick would be a blondie….. But oh well congrats Sam!
Wow I feel like I am the only one completely excited and happy about this. I mean yeah Sam wasn’t the first person in everyone’s head for Finnick but who cares? Fancasts hardly ever happen and they’re usually the typical actor cast as any old character every now and then. Sam is a breath of fresh air from all those Armie Hammer, Garrett Hedlund and Alex Pettyfer rumors which I was really annoyed about. Go Sam! I really believe he’ll be amazing, why else would he be cast as the one and only Finnick Odair!?
I’ve said it before many times, but I’ll go ahead and be a broken record once again: we haven’t seen him in the role yet so it’s too early to pre-judge. I think Elizabeth Banks said it best when she said to trust the casting process. It’s not like they threw darts on names on the wall. If casting for the first film is anything to go by, they’ve auditioned all the unknowns pretty rigorously so they must be seeing something in Sam that we don’t know about.
“But he doesn’t look like how I pictured Finnick!”
Does any actor look exactly like how everyone pictured that character? Of course not, we all picture the characters a bit differently in our heads. Hair and make-up people can do amazing things (see again Elizabeth Bank’s Effie).
“But he was terrible in [insert movie name]!”
Yes, so? Like any other job, some people are better at playing certain types of roles than other ones. Look at Kristen Stewart. So many Twilight fans hate her as Bella but whenever she does indie roles, she gets critical praise for them. Sam might be no different so we can’t judge him from other roles he’s done. He could be a terrible pirate or whatever have you but still be a great Finnick, who knows?
“But he’s such a nice guy in real life, how can he play a bad/complex/etc. character?”
No offense to the mod who brought this up but it’s acting, which means the actor can play a vastly different personality from their real life one. Yes, there is a method component to it for many people but even still. There are some truly nice guys in Hollywood who have played some very diverse characters. Look up Clancy Brown if you don’t know him already – he played the evil guard in The Shawshank Redemption and a really nice mechanic on Earth 2…and he voices Mr. Krabs on Spongebob Squarepants. Trust me, it can be done. We won’t know if Sam can do it till CF comes out, but it’s definitely possible.
Anyway, sorry to write an essay about this, but bottom line being, I for one am just going to wait to judge when Catching Fire comes out. Feel free to join me.
I’m not happy about this casting choice. I was very happy when Jennifer Lawrence was cast as Katniss, and not so happy when Josh Hutcherson was cast as Peeta. All I can hope is that Sam Claflin will change my mind about Finnick’s casting like Josh Hutcherson changed my mind about Peeta’s casting.
Holy CRAP, that Vimeo clip is amazing. And he freaking nails an American accent.
He’s going to be fantastic as Finnick. Cannot. Wait.
@Crystal nah, the photo looks fine xD he doesn’t look weird in this one.
@anna that was a really good clip. Like other people have said he did a great job with the accent, so there’s that worry gone (except I imagined it less southern but we’ll see).
@khanster– well, D4 is supposed to be south texas/part of mexico, right? i doubt they’ll go with an accent for finnick, but the fact that he can do a southern accent is kind of fantastic, at least to my untrained ears.
did y’all see the other two scenes he did for that audition? it gets even better.
someone on tumblr already made a photoset of that clip superimposing finnick’s confessions to the camera in mockingjay and… ohhh, it just gives me chills:
http://hungergamesmovie.tumblr.com/post/30110249784/president-snow-used-to-sell-me-my-body-that-is
Overall people are not excited about this ! But I really like this guy he is awesome he was great in pirates.
I glad they picked him, I know they made the right especially with Josh!!
i share Kimmy’s opionon. i was super happy when they announced it was him! i can see him pulling off the Finnick charm perfectly and his looks match too to me plus he can go tanning before the movie or something! and i was never sure about josh until the trailer came out so i knw how you guys who arnt sure about sam feel
Thank you, anna, for sharing the link to that Vimeo clip with us
That was quite intense, that’s for sure, and I think he nailed it. I literally had goosebumps.
If I had any doubts about his ability to pull off Finnick’s complexity (particularly his mental instability in the two ‘Mockingjay’ installments), they’re long gone. I’m sold; I have faith that he’ll be fantastic in this role
Sam is a wonderful actor and I know he can pull it off. And while this is very superficial of me, I know, but I do not find him attractive. At all. I will wait to see the first photos of him as Finnick before I can officially judge, but as of now I just don’t see how he can be the hottest man in Panem.
I’m just glad I have faith in his acting because I know he can pull it off. He’s great. I just can’t grasp the physical element of Finnick with him, which is a big part. I had found I Finnick I liked and that’s the image I have so I can’t really say anyone would fully please me except the person I imagined.
Let’s just see what hair and makeup does!
I really don’t like him. He’s just not at all the Finnick I pictured. Until he proves to me in the movie that he can be Finnick, I’ll be disappointed.
@Crystal Re: thinking he’s too much of a nice guy – the only thing I’ve seen Sam in (apart from SWATH) is a BBC drama called “White Heat” where he played a charming lothario with a darker side. He absolutely pulled it off and annoyingly made the character quite attractive (even though he was sporting a dodgy 70s haircut), so I wouldn’t worry about him seeming too nice. I have confidence he can portray all aspects of Finnick’s persona!
You should have a “Fans Reacts” also, where fans can mail their reactions to you guys.
Anyway, I cannot help being disappointed with this casting. Most of the other castings have been totally awesome, but I’m kind of sad about this one. I’m not gonna judge Sam or anything, it’s just that he’s to cute and looks to kind to play Finnick. BUT, I will not say anything about his acting skills until I watch Catching Fire, because versatile as actors are he’ll probably make a good Finnick. Even though I’ve seen both SWATH and Pirates of the Caribbean, you’ll never know what can happen!
He rocked Pirates of the Caribbean, in my eyes anyways. I was so hooked on Garret Hedlund that I forgot how hot he looked in that movie! Another upside to this casting choice: if Astrid Berges-Frisbey plays Annie (she’s my pick) then we KNOW that they’ll be real good lovers.
That tumblr is awesome Carla; too bad the Vimeo clip is gone. I’m going to guess Claflin will be pretty darn good. All the casting choices so far have been incredibly talented actors, so I’m betting he showed them something special in the auditions and I’m with Tash in thinking that Finnick is more about his personal struggle, his humor and courage, and his love for Annie than the size of his biceps.
When I first heard that Sam was chosen, I just said, oh. But after it had fully sunk in, I could actually see him doing the sugarcube scene with Jennifer for reason and it felt natural if you know what I mean. With the other fan favourites I couldnt picture anything like Armie Hammer but once its set into stone, I could see Sam become Finnick. Lionsgate did a good job on the other roles so I trust them. Really excited:D!!
i want the couch. I mean seriously, a union jack couch!!!
OKAYYYY… The more I look at him the more I think he is in his thirties and is WAY too old to play Finnick.
At the risk of having tomatoes thrown at me, people need to prepare for the fact that the sugar cube line may never make it. The reason I say that is a whole lot of really amazing lines I’d been waiting for never saw the light of day in THG. I’m not going to attach myself to lines like that again!
I know what you mean because all the good quotes were lost especially, ‘it was all for the games wasn’t it’ but i read somewhere that the audition scenes used was the sugarcube one:P, it might not be using the exact words but the scene is important!
I thought Zac Efron will be cast as Finnick, I pictured him as Finnick all the time…I mean, he’s kind of flawless just like Finnick…(don’t get me otherwise, I do have a crush on Zac! )
However, Sam is not that bad! I hope he’ll show his talent and be our ‘perfect’ Finnick Odair!
We all know though, no one can ever be as perfect and cool as Finnick!
Ok, to be honest in some-I mean some-pics he is kinda gorge!!! :]
i don’t know…he doesn’t look perfect but maybe he rock at the beginning i didn’t like josh now am glad he joined the thg cast!!
ps. he looks hotter in the CF photo!!
Not exactly how i imagined him. Lets just wait and see what he can do.
I mean I didn’t picture him while I was reading the books but remember same things were said about Josh and now everyone likes him as Peeta but some said very harsh things about Josh just give Sam a chance we cant judge him like we judged Josh and Jen cause we were very wrong
I’ve seen him in Pillars of the Earth, Pirates< and Snow White. I thought he was a good actor in all of them, but there is something about his look that just doesnt seem finnick to me! Finnick is gorgeous, I don't view sam the same way. Yes, he's attractive, but not gorgeous.
In addition to Kimmys statement: I think he can also pull off the vurnerable Finnick. The way he said “Forgive me” at the end of PotC 4 was just perfect. And also the whole time he cared about that mermaid. I was super duper happy when I found out.
I don’t think that Sam Claflin has the Finnick look. I expected Finnick to look more suave and to look like he had lived by the sea his entire life. What I’m saying is that Finnick has to have something about him that everybody likes. This guy just doesn’t have it.
Hi, everybody knows where to buy the brown boots he is wearing in this picture??? I want them!