Jennifer Lawrence and Natalie Dormer Wrap Up 'Mockingjay' Shoot With Farewell Dinners in Atlanta

Acccording to Jennifer Brett at Access Atlanta, the Mockingjay team bid farewell to Atlanta with a few separate dinners around town:

Natalie Dormer was spotted in Atlanta Thursday night. The actress dined at Veni Vidi Vici in Midtown and posed for this nice photo with beverage manager Madison Burch.

Up in Buckhead, her colleague Jennifer Lawrence, along with director Francis Lawrence and producer Jon Kilik, ate at the sushi counter at Buckhead's Umi Sushi. The Hunger Games team have been loyal patrons of Umi and, to say goodbye, Chef Fuyuhiko Ito prepared a special farewell dinner.

Producer Nina Jacobson confirmed the Mockingjay team wrapped in Atlanta today. The Mockingjay shoot moves on to Europe after a short break with shooting locations including Paris and Berlin. Filming is expected to continue until early June.

'Mockingjay' Wraps in Atlanta

According to Mockingjay producer Nina Jacobson, filming has wrapped in Atlanta. They'll head to Europe soon to shoot in Paris and Berlin. Filming is expected to continue until early June.

Marian Green, our District 9 female tribute in Catching Fire was also busy on twitter today! She revealed that she's also been working on Mockingjay. We're assuming it's as a stunt woman or stunt double but we'll have to wait and see.

Update on Sat, April 19, 2014 by PanemPropaganda

Francis Lawrence addd his thanks to the Atlanta Mockingjay crew with this tweet on Saturday:

Lionsgate-Summit Marketing Shake-up: Tim Palen Now Head of Lionsgate, Summit & Pantelion Theatrical Marketing

Image courtesy The Hollywood ReporterAccording to The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate marketing chief Tim Palen will now oversee all theatrical marketing for Lionsgate, Summit, and Pantelion with the late April departure of studio executive Nancy Kirkpatrick. Tim Palen is the maverick marketing chief responsible for all of The Hunger Games films' marketing campaigns. He even photographs the campaigns himself (read more on Tim Palen and the Catching Fire marketing campaign here):

When Lionsgate bought Summit two years ago, their respective marketing operations were kept separate in order to service Summit's remaining stable of films. Kirkpatrick continued to serve as worldwide president of marketing for Summit, while Palen continued to head up marketing for Lionsgate.

Upon Kirkpatrick's departure, Palen will have oversight of Lionsgate and Summit titles, as well as Pantelion Films. He'll also have expanded merchandising and theme park duties.

Among other Summit properties, Kirkpatrick ran the marketing campaigns for the blockbuster Twilight franchise. More recently, she successfully launched Divergent, the first title in a new Summit franchise.

“Now was the right time to take the next step in integrating the marketing departments of our Lionsgate and Summit film labels as we continue to achieve significant operational synergies following the acquisition of Summit Entertainment two years ago,” said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-chairman Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger.

It's Officially Not Official! No 'Mockingjay' Teaser Trailer at Cannes

Sooooo, this morning a very nice Cannes Film Festival blog, Cannes Coverage, posted a tweet that said they had confirmed a Mockingjay teaser trailer would debut at Cannes. We also know from this January Variety article that there will be a Mockingjay marketing presence at the film festival, but it's NEVER been confirmed that a trailer will be released there. Just speculation and hope (and we have certainly been guilty of both here at Panempropaganda).

Lionsgate has confirmed with us this morning that there will NOT be a trailer shown at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Adam Vary of Buzzfeed also confirmed with the studio (see his tweet here) that there is no Mockingjay teaser trailer planned for the festival.

FYI, studios deal behind the scenes at the Cannes Film Festival to acquire films and sell existing properties to foreign buyers. Cannes is basically the marketplace for the international film industry. Lionsgate will certainly present something to foreign film distributors at the festival. Lionsgate marketing head Tim Palen:

“A big part of the second film [Catching Fire] was growing the franchise, and the greatest potential was international,” he says. “We did a major presentation to distributors in Cannes, and did six premieres outside the U.S. And we still have room to grow. We’ve matched Iron Man 3 on domestic, but we can do better on international.”

What does this mean for fans? Cannes is a huge show - last year there was a massive Catching Fire beach party to celebrate the Covergirl partnership, lots of marketing presence and red carpet appearances by Jennifer Lawrence, Sam Claflin, Liam Hemsworth and Francis Lawrence. But it was all very hush-hush right up until early May. So, if you like pretty cast pictures and marketing reveals (hey - we LOVE them!) the Cannes Film Festival could be a bonanza for you this year.

But no Mockingjay teaser trailer at Cannes. At least that's the "official" word for now.

First Casting Call For 'Mockingjay' In Berlin!

 

The first extras casting call has gone out for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay in Berlin! Our friends at Mockingjay.net first discovered this post in a German newspaper Berliner Morgenpost. I've re-translated it here for you so it's a little bit easier to read and understand. Such exciting news! German tributes - let us know if you get a peek at any of the filming.

From Berliner Morgenpost:

Hollywood returns to the region – and many can join. The casting agents of Berlin agency “Film Faces” are looking for approximately 1000 extras for an international film which shoots in the early summer at, among other places,studio Babelsberg in Potsdam. The applicants should have “character” faces, as the agency said. The men must be between 18 and 65 years, and of foreign nationality – for example African, Asians, south Europeans and Middle-Eastern as well as African-Americans.

The casting call boasts working alongside actress Jennifer Lawrence (23) in the American science fiction film, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. At the German premiere of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Lawrence announced she’d be returning soon to Berlin. That time is finally here. Mockingjay Part 1 & 2 are being shot in different locations around Berlin and Brandenberg. Studio Babelsberg have already started pre-production on the project. Studio spokesman Eike Wolf did not want to confirm this for “privacy reasons” however.

"Film Faces" will be casting for extras 26 April in Berlin at the Delphi Movie Palace. Those picked should expect one to three days of shooting.

Gwendoline Christie Will Replace Lily Rabe as Commander Lyme in 'Mockingjay'

Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones

Breaking News: The Hollywood Reporter says Gwendonline Christie will replace Lily Rabe as Commander Lyme in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2. Be sill my fangirl heart!! I love Lily Rabe but I ADORE Gwendoline Christie and think she's a hell of a lot better casting for this role! 

From THR.com:

Gwendoline Christie, who plays the tough warrior Brienne of Tarth on HBO's Game of Thrones, has nabbed another military leader role. The actress will play Commander Lyme in Lionsgate's The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 2. She's replacing Lily Rabe, who was originally cast in the role.

Rabe had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict with a previous commitment to Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare in the Park.

Lyme is one of the leaders of District 13, the district in the futuristic Panem that is rebelling against the government. She hails from District 2 is a past victor of an unknown Hunger Games.

And as one of our readers (thanks Sabrina) pointed out, technically Commander Lyme is a military Commander and former Victor from District 2 who leads the rebellion in D2. From Mockingjay:

"The commander from 2, a middle aged woman named Lyme. She’s memorable enough, standing over six feet tall and heavily muscled. But it’s only when I see a clip of her in the field, leading a raid on the main entrance of the Nut, that something clicks and I realize I’m in the presence of another victor."

New 'Mockingjay' Set Photos Feature Jennifer Lawrence, Capitol Citizens, Peacekeepers

Hooray! New Mockingjay set photos are here! Thanks to the Daily Mail we have a peek at The Hunger Games: Mockingjay set in Atlanta and a tiny sliver of Jennifer Lawrence's beautiful mug inside a voluminous hood (most of the pics feature her stunt double), some Peacekeepers and Capitol citizens.

Looks like Jackson Spidell, who played our District 10 tribute in Catching Fire and was Sam Claflin's stunt double is also playing a Peacekeeper in Mockingjay. He has his helmet off in the photo below.

The large stone objects above are called Czech hedgehogs. They are an anti-tank defense that were widely used by Soviets in World War II. Czech hedgehogs were especially effective in urban combat, where a single hedgehog could block an entire street. They became a symbol of "defence at all cost" in the Soviet Union. Sounds like a perfect fit for The Capitol. (thanks to our followers Don Carpenter and Liam Baker for this info!)

Swan House Preps For 'Mockingjay' Return

Swan House stood in for President Snow's mansion in the Catching Fire party sceneAccess Atlanta's Jennifer Brett was on the Mockingjay set today and she spoke with Jeffrey Ellis of Atlanta Creative Studios, the team responsible for transforming Swan House into President Snow's mansion. Mockingjay will return to film at Swan House in the next week or so.

Workers are putting in long hours to ready Swan House for Mockingjay. All photos Jennifer Brett/AccessAtlanta

From Access Atlanta:

President Snow has some sumptuous accommodations awaiting him in Buckhead as Mockingjay continues filming in Atlanta.

The elegant Swan House, site of a good bit of filming for Catching Fire, is readying for the return of the Hunger Games series.

Catching Fire filmed in areas including the dining room, an outside courtyard and an upstairs room in scenes featuring Donald Sutherland's character, President Snow, along with lead Jennifer Lawrence's character, Katniss Everdeen and others.

This time, workers are prepping a downstairs room to serve as Snow's quarters. The room, normally stately and sort of subdued, has been rendered positively resplendent by Jeffery Ellis and his team at Atlanta Creative Studios.

Jeffrey Ellis preps a room in the Swan House for Mockingjay filming. Photo by Jeenifer Brett/Access Atlanta"We've been busting it," he said, and by that he means working long and hard hours. Initially he thought workers could spray-paint the ceiling and do the detail work by hand. But the Swan House and spray paint have nothing in common. All the work must be done by hand, to protect the interior of the home, on the grounds of the Atlanta History Center.

"They said, you're not spray-painting anything!" Ellis said. He also worked on Catching Fire, and other projects have included The Walking Dead, Zombieland, Stomp the Yard and a number of Tyler Perry productions. He also does corporate work but enjoys the hustle of movie-set design.

"The time element" is the biggest challenge, he said. "They keep changing it. You'll finish and they'll say, 'what about this?'"

There's a joke among folks in his line of work:

Q: How many artistic directors does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: Does it have to be a lightbulb? Could we try something else?

You get the idea.

Mockingjay is due to return in the next week or so, and as Ellis' team works inside, a crew outside is prepping some of the exterior areas. The outside of the Swan House was featured extensively in Catching Fire party scenes but Ellis wasn't able to say exactly what will be going on this time. He did salute everyone at the Swan House.

"All the people here are great," he said.