I love all the old classic Disney movies. 'Pinocchio.' There are obviously tons of them that anybody growing up on that stuff takes with them their whole lives, and I'm an admirer of a lot of classic animation and fairy tales. I grew up on a book of Grimm's fairy tales that I kind of wore out again and again. That's all stuff that lingers with you.

Ross took on the high-profile project of co-adapting and directing the film adaptation of the first book in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. He went on to write several other successful films including Mr. Co-written with his neighbor Anne Spielberg (sister of Steven) it led to an Academy Award nomination and a Writers Guild of America Award.

Gary Ross (born November 3 1956) is an American writer director and actor. Big was his first produced script. Although the movie was financially and critically successful Ross opted to not adapt or direct the sequels citing his focus on the first film in the series as his main reason.