An Insider's View of the 'Mockingjay' Party at Cannes

Jennifer, Francis, Josh & Liam thanks to http://staywithmealwayslove.tumblr.com/We're hearing a lot about the Mockingjay party at Cannes from those who attended the Lionsgate soiree on Saturday night.

Variety reports:

The hot ticket at the Cannes Film Festival was the Saturday night “Hunger Games” party hosted by Lionsgate that was such an extravaganza it would have made Jay Gatsby jealous.

A look at the new MJ pin thx to Total FilmAfter receiving a Mockingjay pin, guests were transported by buses to a sprawling $340 million mansion in Antibes owned by a Russian oligarch. The property, located on the Mediterranean Sea, was prominently decorated with “Hunger Games” posters and logos, not to mention a staff in goth costumes from the film.

“This party is like the Capitol at its worst,” quipped Jennifer Lawrence. She spent most of the night in a VIP area with her co-stars Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, dancing and lip syncing to tunes from Missy Elliot and Whitney Houston.

Producer Nina Jacobson, who optioned the rights to the books from author Suzanne Collins, said the cast had just arrived from a month in Paris, where they had been concurrently filming Mockingjay: Parts 1 and 2.

More after the jump!

One particular fond memory, she said, was shooting in the suburb of Noisy Le Grand, which unlike the other closed sets from the franchise, allowed fans to gathered and flood Twitter with distant snapshots of the cast.

“We had a ton of people around, hoping for a glimpse,” Jacobson said. “It was a warm welcome, except every now and again when we were shooting, someone would toss an egg at us.” Thankfully, nobody got yolk on Katniss.

And Vulture says:

The cast had arrived long before the guests and spent their time sequestered in an area where their chairs seemed like actual thrones. Jennifer Lawrence had a memorable dancing moment almost-twerking over Josh Hutcherson, whom she'd backed into a corner and was looking up at her from a chair. They locked eyes and mouthed the words to "Work It." Liam Hemsworth showed off some pretty good moves, too, before they all absconded to the Vanity Fair party to meet Justin Bieber and show us all how A-list stars get rid of their hiccups.

For the rest of us, getting to said villa (see the video above for a look inside the over-the-top festivities) required a 20-minute shuttle bus ride to Antibes from Cannes, and then venturing so far up an obscure hill road that several of the buses got lost trying to get there. Every guest got a Mockingjay pin — presumably to demonstrate we were on the right side of the revolution. Getting to the actual party from where the buses dropped us off required walking through a giant stone archway with a Mockingjay seal, then stumbling in heels down a very long, dimly lit path, before finally arriving at the enormous mansion. Inside, we were greeted with waiters and models wearing intricate black, armorlike, skintight costumes, and black eye makeup. In the backyard was an enormous, red-lit, glass-roofed tent, as big and opulent as any nightclub. Chandeliers hung 30 feet off the ground, and the only hors d'oeuvres being passed seemed to involve foie gras. The mood was more subdued than last year's, since Mockingjay is about a revolution, but still lavish enough to make it clear that Lionsgate is really, really glad it bought that YA series and wrangled these stars. And if, like Katniss, you needed to get away from it all, there was another long, dimly lit set of stairs leading all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.

See all the photos and video of the party HERE.

See photos and video of the Mockingjay cast at the photocall in Cannes HERE.

Photos of the cast from the Vanity Fair/Armani party in Cannes HERE.