During an exclusive chat with Empire Magazine for the outlet’s new issue, the Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes director Francis Lawrence, teased fans of The Hunger Games franchise about how the upcoming film’s main character, Lucy Gray Baird, will differ from Katniss Everdeen. Lawrence, who directed three of the first four films in the franchise, probably knows better than most.
The upcoming adventure drama, Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel based on the 2020 novel by Suzanne Collins. The movie stars Rachel Zegler, Jason Schwartzman, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, Viola Davis, Burn Gorman, Tom Blyth, and Josh Andrés Rivera. The film is set more than 60 years prior to the events involving Jennifer Lawrence’s character, Katniss.
Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will follow a young President Coriolanus Snow (previously played by Donald Sutherland and now Blyth) mentoring District 12’s female tribute, Lucy (played by Zegler). Still, despite the massive popularity of the franchise, Francis Lawrence wonders, “Will people go see a new Hunger Games movie without Katniss?”
Of course, even without Katniss, Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will give fans of the franchise plenty to get excited about with Zegler’s Lucy, who is chosen to compete in the 10th annual Hunger Games.
So what can fans expect from the character in the upcoming prequel? Well, according to Lawrence, Lucy is what he calls the ‘anti-Katniss.’
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“Lucy Gray Is the Opposite” of Katniss Everdeen
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He explained, “Katniss was an introvert and a survivor. She was quite quiet and stoic, you could almost say [she was] asexual. Lucy Gray is the opposite. She wears her sexuality on her sleeve, [and] she really is a performer.”
The filmmaker went on to further note the contrast between the two characters. While fans will remember that Katniss wasn’t a fan of being thrust into the spotlight, the director stated that Lucy is the complete opposite. Lawrence said:
She loves crowds. She knows how to play crowds and manipulate people.
The diametrically opposed characters aren’t the only ways in which the Hunger Games prequel will differ from the original franchise. Previously, while speaking to Deadline, producer Nina Jacobsen offer Hunger Games fans a hint of what they can expect to see with the upcoming prequel.
Jacobsen noted that the franchise’s upcoming prequel “doesn’t feel like it’s trying to duplicate the past films. It’s a new story, with new ground and new characters. We were able to create a completely different visual language… one that is still recognizably Panem, but also different and fresh.”
Lawrence stated, “This is the kind of playground that doesn’t come along very often, so when you have a chance to return, it’s enormously gratifying.”
The director additionally noted that the film’s title reflects “a duality of spirit; light and dark, good and evil, joy and sorrow — it’s inside all of us… We are all songbirds and we’re all snakes, but can we find connection with the people around us? That’s the question.”
Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes hits theaters on November 17th.
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