The Hunger Games producer Nina Jacobson says the prequel film will give audiences a new insight into the original movies.
Set 64 years before the first film, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes gives a fitting backstory for future Panem President Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), as he becomes a mentor to District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler). As the pair fight for her survival in the 10th annual games, we see Snow turn from an impoverished schoolboy to a more familiar, and deeply disturbing, version of the character.
Speaking to 12DOVE, producer Nina Jacobson, who also worked on all of the previous films in the franchise, says it will add another layer to your next rewatch. "It has, for me, changed the way that I look at President Snow stepping foot in District 12, going to see this uppity, troublemaking girl who's disrupted things, who's named Katniss, and realizing the connection back to his own youth. I think it will absolutely change [things], and it’s part of why we use that line from the original series: 'It's the things we love most, that destroy us.'"
Getting this to work in the final film required walking a tight line of how to show Snow’s darker side, alongside getting audiences to root for him. The producer calls it a "push and pull," that continued into post-production when they were deciding which takes to use.
"It is a very fine line that you're sewing with a very fine thread," she continues. "You are still being shaped and you are still becoming the person you will be. The people around you have enormous sway and influence in who you become, and he is being pulled in these opposing directions." She adds how the film explores that, while "it’s not a given that he will embrace his darker side, but nobody has any illusions that he has that darker side."
The complex nature of Snow is something that really drew actor Tom Blyth to the role, too, he tells GR+, and he hopes it will give audiences the backstory that they need to be able to really understand who the Panem President becomes later on.
"I loved the original movies where Donald Sutherland played him and played him with such precision and evil complexity," Blyth explains. "I think it will be really exciting for fans to be able to kind of try and forget what they know about him and see him in a new light. And also, hopefully, like him a little bit, and then get to be disappointed in him later on."
Blyth smiles, "It's really fun to be able to kind of play all the ups and downs that happen in the film, and where he ends at the end is very different to where he begins."
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes arrives in theaters on Friday, November 17. For more exclusive insight, check out what director Francis Lawrence had to say about the film’s lengthy runtime, his upcoming BioShock movie, and keep an eye on our website and the Inside Total Film podcast this week.
For more upcoming movies, check out our list of the remaining 2023 movie release dates.
