Jesse Plemons admits it 'felt slightly spooky' playing Philip Seymour Hoffman's Hunger Games character

Jesse Plemons has admitted the prospect of playing Philip Seymour Hoffman's character in The Hunger Games prequel "felt slightly spooky".

The Breaking Bad actor stars in Sunrise on the Reaping as Plutarch Heavensbee, a role originated by the late actor in three of the four original films.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Plemons admitted that the thought of playing a younger Hoffman almost stopped him from joining the project.

"Comparisons and all that are just sort of a strange thing as an actor. I obviously have so much admiration for Philip Seymour Hoffman. There's something that almost felt slightly, I don't know, spooky about it," he said of his The Master co-star, who died in 2014.

"Anytime you really look up to someone, there's a part of it that's like, 'I don't know if I wanna touch that.' Then I started looking at it just as a character rather than playing a younger Philip Seymour Hoffman. And I really liked the character."

Director Francis Lawrence noted that he didn't want his actors to be too concerned with channelling the performances that came before, such as Joseph Zada as Woody Harrelson's Haymitch and Ralph Fiennes as Donald Sutherland's President Snow.

Plemons previously admitted on the Happy Sad Confused podcast last year that he questioned whether he "wanted to do it", especially as he had known and worked with Hoffman.

Ultimately, he explained, "I think I just decided, you know what? I want to do it. I like the part, and I like the script, and I like the director and the cast."

Sunrise on the Reaping, which is set 24 years before the events of the first film, depicts the 50th annual Hunger Games tournament through the eyes of Haymitch.

The prequel, also starring Mckenna Grace, Glenn Close and Elle Fanning, will open in cinemas on 20 November.