One of our PanemPropaganda admins recently had the pleasure of taking a Hunger Games vacation, visiting some of the filming locations for Catching Fire and the Mockingjay films in Atlanta. Elise (@lawrencexswift on twitter) wrote this fantastic report! So many behind-the-scenes details are included in the tour.

This past week, I traveled to Atlanta, Georgia in anticipation of seeing a few sets from Catching Fire and both Mockingjay movies. First, I went to the historic Swan House, which you know better as President Snow’s mansion. I’m fascinated by the history of this home, and it was such a surreal experience for me as I’ve never seen a Hunger Games filming location before. Anyway, I poked around the house for a while and then began the Swan House Capitol Tour. This was a guided tour of the specific rooms used for Catching Fire and a little bit of Mockingjay Part 1. My tour guide (Mirgill, who is fabulous and very informative-he was an extra on set!) said they were holding back Part 2 sets until the movie is released, but my group did see a video of one of the rooms decorated for Part 2. (I’m pretty sure that it was Snow’s office :))

We started out in the upstairs room, where Mirgill described how the production team assembled the sets. All the food that was used for the Capitol party in Catching Fire was actually real, except for the food that was offered to Peeta-that was actually play dough! It took entire day to make it all for only a two second appearance in the movie. There was a copy of Donald Sutherland’s script there, as well as some blueprints for the outside décor and the fake grass that they added on set.

 

Then we proceeded to another room, which held Snow’s desk, and the iconic white rose on it. The desk wasn’t the exact movie prop. The Swan House fully intended to keep the desk specifically for these tours, however, the President of Mexico (they didn’t expect THAT one coming) called them up before the house could claim it and purchased it. A little strange, but all the same, the Swan House was unable to keep it. Anyway, I (of course!) took my photo there and then let the others in the group take theirs. Mirgill casually stated after we were done that the white rose was used for Part 2 filming and we could hold it if we wanted. So I went back and did!

The Capitol flag was there as well as a few props from the film that were in the background.

Next was the dining room of the house, which I learned was the room that convinced Lionsgate to use the Swan House for the franchise due to its regal impression. They moved filming from North Carolina to Atlanta because all of the extras were located there, as well as the film equipment that they were renting. I’ll insert a few pictures below of the dining room as well as the scenes shot there.

Next up is the library, where Effie Katniss and Peeta walked through with the infamous mahogany line. Unfortunately, the library is not all mahogany. I believe it’s some type of oak wood if I recall correctly.

 

Image thanks to laurenxox99 on Pinterest

This room leads to an outdoor corridor where a few different scenes were shot; Snow’s granddaughter shared a meal with him there. 

One of the other rooms was the office, which served as Snow’s office. This room is painted all green. But…it’s white in the movie. How’d they do that?? Lionsgate actually hired a team of painters to paint the room white-it took seven coats! After filming was completed, they restored it to the original green.

The balcony is definitely the most recognizable icon of all. They digitally extended the actual house (picture below) to look more lavish and extravagant. It was so cool to be up there, let me tell you!

I also briefly visited the Atlanta Marriott Marquis where the elevator scene from Catching Fire and the rescue scene from Mockingjay Part 1 were shot. That was also a fun stop, and the elevator goes really fast!

The famous elevator scene from Catching Fire shot in a working elevator at the Marriott

The Mockingjay Pt 1 rescue scene shot inside the hotelI had such an exciting time in Atlanta, and there are plenty more sets to visit but I didn’t have time! I hope you get the chance to go if you haven’t already!

The Swan House Capitol Tours are offered Mon - Sat at 4:00pm at the Atlanta History Center in Atlanta, GA.