Adapting Mockingjay From Page to Screen: Francis Lawrence, Nina Jacobson and Peter Craig Talk to BuzzFeed

Francis Lawrence and Suzanne Collins at the Mockingjay Part 1 premiere in Los Angleles

Adam Vary at Buzzfeed News has a series of fantastic articles up in which he interviews director Francis Lawrence, producer Nina Jacobson and screenwriter Peter Craig about adapting Mockingjay from the novel to the screen with help from author Suzanne Collins. These are definitely MUST-READ for the Hunger Games fan - filled with really interesting information about the choices they made and the process they went through with Suzanne Collins to adapt the book. *MAJOR SPOILERS* for Mockingjay the book and both films in this article and the Buzzfeed pieces. Proceed with caution. 

Producers Jon Kilik, Nina Jacobson, author Suzanne Collins and screenwriter Peter CraigWe are going to post a few of our favorite bits here, but suggest you read both (Part 1 and Part 2) in their entirety over at Buzzfeed. 

Suzanne Collins was instrumental to all of the changes made:

In order to separate that story into two distinct films while remaining faithful to the book, the filmmakers turned to Collins, who created separate outlines delineating the major character arcs and story beats for each half of her novel, helping the filmmakers find the central organizing principles of each of the two films. (Collins received a rare “adaptation by” screen credit on the film for her efforts.)

“We felt that the first movie would focus on the propaganda war, and getting Peeta back,” said [Nina] Jacobson. “The second movie [was] about all-out war, and taking Snow out. … Those big ideas were very much informed by Suzanne’s approach to how we would split the book into two movies.”

Katniss was made more active in the film:

Katniss spends long stretches of Mockingjay facing inward, ruminating over her plight far more than she participates in the main action of the plot.

“The rebellion that’s going on — Katniss is hearing about it and thinking about it, as opposed to us being able to go out into the districts to see it,” said Lawrence. “So turning a very internal half of a book into something more visual and cinematic, I think, was probably the biggest challenge, and something that Peter and Suzanne and Nina and I really worked on.”

Or, as Jacobson put it, “How do you have an active hero who’s not just shaking off the effects of war?”

One solution was simply to give Katniss more to do. “We did find places for her to be courageous,” said Craig, “and also stay true to Suzanne’s wish that she be very [affected by] PTSD, and she’s not somebody that anything is coming easily for anymore.”

Read more about depicting the rebellion in Panem, bringing Effie back into the fold, softening President Coin and District 13…for now, creating Peeta’s rescue mission, and choosing the ending HERE.

Read more about how a big change In “Mockingjay – Part 1” will affect “Part 2” HERE.