Behind-the-Scenes Look at ‘The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ Movie

Behind-the-Scenes Look at ‘The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ Movie

by Alex Billington
October 19, 2023
Source: YouTube

“We get to sort of reinvent the world of Panem.” Lionsgate has revealed an extended 5-minute featurette for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes that is called “Welcome Back to Panem.” This prequel is set 64 years before Katniss voluntees as tribute. Leading up to the 10th Hunger Games, Snow mentors and develops feelings for the female District 12 tribute, Lucy Gray. We’ve already posted two other official trailers, both of which look good, and this adds more striking footage into the mix. Rachel Zegler (from West Side Story) stars as Lucy Gray Baird, and Tom Blyth co-stars as a young Coriolanus Snow. It’s directed again by Francis Lawrence, who also made The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Mockingjay movies. The cast also including Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Burn Gorman, Jason Schwartzman, Hunter Schafer, Fionnula Flanagan, and Ashley Liao. They discuss many of the elements of returning to Panem yet redesigning it with a different look and feel. It’s still amusing how much of it is literally just buildings in Berlin CGI’d as Panem. Also glad they talk about composer James Newton Howard in here.

Behind-the-scenes promo for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, on YouTube:

You can rewatch the first trailer for The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes right here, or the second trailer here.

Return to The Hunger Games, the landmark film franchise that has earned over $3 billion globally, with Lionsgate’s adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ bestseller The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the girl tribute from impoverished District 12. But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow & Lucy Gray’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is once again directed by filmmaker Francis Lawrence, director of Constantine, I Am Legend, Water for Elephants, Red Sparrow, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire + Mockingjay 1 & 2 previously. The script is by Michael Arndt and Michael Lesslie. Lionsgate will release this in theaters starting November 17th, 2023 this fall. Planning to go watch this?

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