Back in October, Lionsgate tapped the relative newcomer Danny Strong (The Butler) to pen The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, with the stipulation that Strong would move on to adapt the final film if the studio was happy with the treatment for the penultimate Part 1.  Apparently, all is good in Panem as Strong has reportedly been granted the go-ahead for Part 2.  The final book in Suzanne Collins’ trilogy is arguably the weakest of the three, yet Lionsgate intends to split it into two films.  It’s unclear exactly where this split will occur, but apparently Strong has chosen wisely.  Hit the jump for more.

Though production just now got underway on the sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Lionsgate is already putting the wheels in motion for their two-part adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy closer Mockingjay.  We learned in July that the studio was looking for a new director to tackle the two-film adaptation, signaling that Catching Fire helmer Francis Lawrence would not have time to prep and shoot Mockingjay given his Catching Fire commitments.  Now it appears that Lionsgate has hired Emmy Award-winning scribe Danny Strong to tackle the screenplay adaptation for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2.  Hit the jump for more.

The 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards were given out last night, and longtime favorite Mad Men had a pretty rough evening.  Matthew Weiner’s AMC drama was shut out in every category in which it was nominated (Christina Hendricks was robbed), denying the series a record-breaking fifth consecutive Best Drama Series Emmy in favor of Showtime’s excellent freshman series Homeland.  The cable thriller nearly swept the drama series category, even landing Damian Lewis a surprising Best Actor win over perennial favorite Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and Mad Men’s way overdue Jon Hamm.  It’s hard to complain, though, as Homeland had a positively stellar first season and star Claire Danes gave a powerhouse performance as a psychologically plagued CIA analyst, for which she was awarded Best Actress.

On the comedy side of things the awards were a tad more predictable, with ABC’s Modern Family pulling off another sweep in the genre. Julia Louis-Dreyfus took home the Best Actress award for her hilarious work on Veep, and Jon Cryer inexplicably won Best Actor in a Comedy for his role in Two and a Half Men despite that show not being funny.  Hit the jump to read the full list of winners.

HBO Films’ Game Change (premiering on March 10^th) follows John McCain’s (Ed Harris) 2008 presidential campaign, from his selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (Julianne Moore) as his vice presidential running mate to their ultimate defeat in the general election. Told through the eyes of McCain strategist Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson), the man who championed Palin for the ticket, the film revisits a defining moment in U.S. politics. It pulls back the curtain to show the intense human drama, and the strength of the performances, especially from Harris, Moore and Harrelson, create a riveting story that you just can’t stop watching, even though you know the final outcome. Directed by Jay Roach, the film also stars Ron Livingston, Peter MacNicol, Sarah Paulson, Jamey Sheridan and Bruce Altman.

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, writer/co-executive producer Danny Strong talked about why he enjoys collaborating with Jay Roach (with whom he also did Recount with), why the Sarah Palin story is so intriguing and unique, the different types of research that he did in writing the film, his first reaction to seeing both Julianne Moore and Ed Harris in character, and Steve Schmidt’s reaction to the final film. He also talked about the appeal of taking on screenwriter duties for The Lost Symbol, the next Robert Langdon story from author Dan Brown, that it looks like his script for The Butler (with Lee Daniels directing) will go into production in the next three of four months, and how he’s looking forward to making his directorial debut. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

The adaptation of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol is becoming a surprisingly interesting project. After Ron Howard opted out of directing a third film focusing on symbologist Robert Langdon, immensely talented director Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go) became the frontrunner to take the helm. Now Danny Strong, who penned HBO’s Recount and the upcoming 2008 election-centered HBO film Game Change, has been tapped to write The Lost Symbol. Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) took the first stab at the script after which Brown himself did a pass, but now it looks like Sony is handing the project off to Strong. Hit the jump for more on the follow up to The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons.

A couple of casting stories for you this evening. Deadline reports that Julianne Moore has been tapped to portray Sarah Palin in Jay Roach’s (Dinner for Schmucks) adaptation of Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s book following the behind-the-scenes turmoil of the 2008 presidential election. Roach previously directed another HBO Films flick, Recount, which examined the fallout of the 2000 presidential election. The script for Game Change is being penned by Danny Strong (Recount), and follows both the Obama campaign and the McCain campaign from the party primaries up through election night, so we’ve got quite a few more roles to be cast (Obama, Clinton, McCain, etc.).

Eric McCormack is set to star in the supernatural thriller Barricade for WWE (yes, that WWE). Heat Vision reports that filming on the Andrew Currie-directed flick is set to begin later this month. The story follows a recently widowed psychiatrist who takes his children to a remote cabin to unwind. Obviously, they’re not exactly alone and the father must battle “unknown forces” to save his family from peril. Hit the jump for a synopsis of Game Change.

Warner Bros. has scooped up the rights to David Liss’ novel A Conspiracy of Paper. Ridley and Tony Scott will produce the film through their Scott Free production company. Published in 2000, the novel is a mystery period tale set in London leading up to the bursting of the South Sea Bubble in 1720. Variety reports that Danny Strong (Recount), has been hired to write the screenplay.

Strong recently appeared the latest season of Mad Men as the incapable Danny Siegel. After being nominated for an Emmy for writing Recount, Strong has been a hot commodity lately. He wrote The Butler for Lee Daniels (Precious), is currently rewriting the alien-invasion film EDF for Sam Raimi, and is set to reteam with Recount director Jay Roach on HBO’s Game Change. Hit the jump to read a full synopsis for Liss’ novel.