The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Cast On How “Coriolanus Remains Haunted By Lucy Gray” Thanks To “Echoes Of Her Within Katniss Everdeen”
May the odds be ever in your favor!
The cast of The Hunger Games: Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes, including Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth, Josh Andres Rivera, and Hunter Schafer, gathered for a press conference to talk about the highly anticipated prequel film based on Suzanne Collins' 2020 book.
When asked to rank their level of The Hunger Games fandom knowledge, Zegler puts herself at a 9, Schafer a 9 to 10, Rivera a 7 or 8, and Blyth doesn’t give an exact number, but they all explain they loved and obsessed over the books and films growing up. This is evident in how they describe their characters, props, and music in this film in retrospect to the older films. Both Schafer and Blyth had the exciting challenge to bring a unique take to younger versions of established characters. Blyth is thrilling in his performance as young Coriolanus Snow before we know him as the powerful tyrant of Panem. He shared that his first instinct was to recreate or make a nod to Donald Sutherland’s performance as President Snow, but had to refrain himself citing a “death in spontaneity.” “[Director] Francis [Lawrence] and I talked about making [it] my own and asking what drives him now as opposed to what drives him later on when he's president, a dictator, and a tyrant. Because he is a different character in this movie and in this book. He's a character who is a brother, a grandson, a student, and an ambitious kid who wants to do well in his life,” said Blyth. “By the end of the movie, he's something totally different because of his relationship with Lucy Gray and his relationship to the Capitol in general. What he sees and what he learns… I think what the fans are drawn to as a character is seeing that he's not just one thing.”
Speaking of Lucy Gray Baird, we get to see how she is both similar to Katniss Everdeen while also distinctly her own person. “As actors, watching Jennifer's performance in the original trilogy is watching a masterclass in performance,” Zegler said to Jennifer Lawrence paving the way. “Lucy Gray is a war torn teenager who's had everything she knows ripped from her, yet she's still making the best of it. It was very similar to Katniss in that perspective. But she's a very different dynamic in response to being placed in an arena in front of a bunch of people and having to make the world root for her. She's very good at that. She's very persuasive in her performance and very good at getting an audience on her side. It was very fun to play that, but I do think that there's elements of Katniss within her. And that makes it all the more fun to go back and watch the original trilogy and see how Coriolanus remains haunted by Lucy Gray, even in his late life, because there are echoes of her within Katniss Everdeen.”
Although Tigris has a smaller role in the Mockingjay film, she’s striking as a character, both in the book and film, as Schafer points out. “Clearly, there's a pretty big jump from this movie to that. I'm kind of thankful for that because it allowed us to create our own take on this Tigris,” explained Schafer. “And on a visual level and on a character level, kind of allow so many of the literal layers of stuff that she's accumulated by the time we meet her in Mockingjay, to let those fall away for this and kind of just bring a bit of myself into this Tigris.”
Both Blyth and Rivera formed a strong bond. “We did have the luxury of sort of hanging out a lot during pre-production,” Rivera said while talking about the brotherhood they’ve developed both on and off set. They would go see movies together and even attended a Leon Bridges concert. Despite the serious tone of the film, they enjoyed funny moments together on set, particularly one during the intense Reaping Day scene. Since Coriolanus’ family is struggling, Sejanus is supposed to give him cookies as he can tell that he’s hungry. “Every time [Josh] went to give the little packet of cookies, I'd put my hand out to reach them and it would feel really light,” laughed Blyth. “I'm supposed to eat them in the scene. I go to open it and there's no cookies left because Josh has been eating them on set. Every time. We must've done, like, 12 takes of this one bit of coverage.” But don’t worry, Blyth actually has a mild peanut allergy so Rivera inadvertently saved his life by eating all the cookies.
Amidst talking about their character portrayals, the cast used music to get into character. If you want to get emotional, listen to “Sparks” by Coldplay as Schafer did to get into the zone for Tigris. Meanwhile, Zegler listened to “Don't Think Twice, It’s Alright” by Joan Baez since it gives off a “Lucy Gray vibe where she’s just kind of like you ruined my life, but it’s okay.” If you’re looking for an extensive playlist, Blyth has the answer for you with “Money Power Glory” by Lana Del Rey, “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles, and “Ride of the Valkyries” by Wagner. He felt that the unhinged Beatles song correlated to Corio’s transformation and Wagner’s piece echoed the essence of royalty.
Finally, Zegler and Blyth weighed in on the pieces of production they were more excited to see brought to life. “I was definitely curious to see what [costumer] Trish Summerville was gonna do with the rainbow dress because really the only description it gets in the book is that there are pink, blue, and yellow ruffles and that's it,” shared Zegler. “It was even better than I could've possibly imagined. I think it really speaks for itself. […] Because the rest of her outfits really don't get described too much in the boo, I think Trish just took that "Covey love color" line [and] ran with it in such a beautiful direction.”
Meanwhile, Blyth was in awe of The Hob location. “Just next level art direction. It was so well done. The Hob, for me, was a moment where I went, ‘Oh, I could never have imagined this in my wildest dreams.’ I thought it was just a marketplace with a little shack where the music is played when I read it.'“ This location was set in an old steel mine in Duisberg, Germany. The way that it echoed and the placement of certain paraphernalia that some fans might recognize from the first films all made it such a cool experience for him.
Be sure to stay tuned to Pop Culture Planet as we bring you all things The Hunger Games and watch The Hunger Games: Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes out now in theaters.
