Let's Analyze The Latest Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes Set Video

We got a sweet little gift the other day in the form of some video from The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes film set in Germany (thanks to @miha_berlin). So let’s over-analyze the video together, shall we?! 

This was filmed at the Altes Museum in Berlin. We can see from the golden plaque that they’re using this location for Heavensbee Hall at The Academy.

The biggest thing that stood out to me was the Academy students/mentor uniforms. In the book on Reaping day the mentors are wearing their own clothing, not their uniforms - Tigris remakes an old shirt of Coriolanus’ father for him to wear, and he gets a little jealous of Sejanus’ fine suit. So, either this sequence is not reaping day OR they’re shooting exteriors of people entering the hall on reaping day and we can’t see any mentors in this shot. Maybe they’re filming this scene where Coriolanus enters The Academy on reaping day:

“The grand staircase up to the Academy could hold the entire student body, so it easily accommodated the stream of officials, professors, and students headed for the reaping day festivities.”

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New Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Set Photos: Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow, Capitol Zoo Scenes!

We’ve finally got our first blurry pictures of Tom Blyth in costume on set as Coriolanus Snow with his signature blond curls! This is at the Britzer Garten in Berlin where they’re filming the Capitol Zoo scenes. 

In these photos we also see some Peacekeepers, Capitol citizens in their 1930’s-looking vintage finery, and other Academy students or mentors. 

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The Grandma’am, Covey Members, Plinths and More Cast For The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Finally we have a Grandma’am! The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes has announced another round of actors joining the growing cast. Covey members, Capitol citizens, and District 12 Peacekeepers have been added. Let’s get into it. 

From left to right row 1: Fionnula Flanagan is set to play the Grandma’am, grandmother of future President Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) and his cousin Tigris Snow (Hunter Schafer). Michael Greco and Daniela Grubert will play Strabo and Ma Plinth, the parents of Sejanus Plinth, Snow's “best friend.” Flora Li Thiemann (Nelly's Adventure) will appear as Livia Cardew, mentor to District 1 tribute, Facet (whose casting hasn’t officially been announced).

Row 2: The Covey cast has been rounded out as well. Honor Gillies will make her professional acting debut as Covey bass player and cousin of Lucy Gray Baird and Maude Ivory Baird, Barb Azure Baird. Konstantin Taffet​​​​​​​ - also in his film debut - plays fiddler Clerk Carmine, younger brother of Billy Taupe. Eike Onyambu is mandolin player and “lost soul” Tam Amber.

Row 3: The Peacekeepers cast are Burn Gorman, (who many may recognize from Pacific Rim), as Commander Hoff. Scott Folan will play Peacekeeper recruit Beanpole along with Carl Spencer as Smiley. Lastly, Isobel Jesper Jones has now officially joined the cast as Mayfair Lipp, replacing Laurel Marsden, who was initially cast, confirming months of speculation that this was the case. 

Confused? eed help keeping track of all the new faces? Check out a helpful visual guide to the cast and characters of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes here. 

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes will be released in theaters on November 17, 2023. 

Propaganda Posters, The Hanging Tree, Peacekeeper Vehicles, Extras and More! Inside The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Set In Germany and Poland

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is currently filming District 12 scenes in Germany. They’ve been spotted at Landschaftspark area in Duisburg, Germany filming the hanging tree scenes, the District 12 reaping, Peacekeeper recruit training scenes, and more. We’ve had fans send us some awesome photos from the set.

Photos from around the Landschaftspark set:

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Trish Summerville and Jo Willems Are Back As Costume Designer And Director of Photography for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Trish Summerville, genius costume designer for Catching Fire is back for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes according to producer Nina Jacobson! Nina tweeted a reply confirming the news to a fan on twitter that asked who was designing costumes for Ballad.

Jo Willems

Nina also confirmed via twitter that Jo Willems is also back as Director of Photography. Jo worked on Catching Fire, both Mockingjay films and also did Red Sparrow with Francis Lawrence plus a lot of other things you may have seen (Hard Candy, American Gods). 

Uli Hanisch

According to Nina, the new addition to the team is production designer Uli Hanisch who is probably best known for his gorgeous work on The Queen's Gambit, for which he won an Emmy. 

Dream team activated! 

Our First Official Look at Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler as Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray Baird In The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Image via Vanity Fair. Click for full size 

Vanity Fair has our first official look at Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler as Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes! In addition to the photo we get some excellent insight into the new film and how the production design will differ from the original films. It's a whole new world!

Speaking to Vanity Fair, director Francis Lawrence said, "This is very much a story about love. It’s this kind of love story set in a different kind of a world in a different time,” he adds. “A very intimate love story.” 

More from the article:

“He is a young man finding his way in the world, but he also makes choices that presage the man he is becoming,” producer Nina Jacobson says. Over the course of the film, he’ll find himself caught between two forces of nature: the charming Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) and the villainous Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis). “He is a shapeshifter who craves control, but is drawn to a woman who threatens everything he thought he wanted.”

That woman, Lucy Gray, adds a soft touch to the franchise’s brutal world. Much like Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence in the original films), she’s a tribute from District 12. Unlike Katniss, Lucy Gray hails from a group known for their close-knit, musical culture. (“It’s thrilling to hear Rachel sing,” Jacobson says.) Her relationship with Snow starts in the arena—though it quickly grows beyond what the cameras see. As shown in this exclusive first image from the film, above, she calms Snow in a way that little else in his war-torn world can.

“This is not with judgment, but Lucy Gray is the anti-Katniss,” adds Francis Lawrence. “She’s a musician, she’s a performer, she’s a charmer… Snow has never met a girl like this before.”

Because this film is set decades before Katniss was born, it delves deeper into the mythology of Panem that the original films, and novels, were built upon. Snow and his contemporaries are still reckoning with the consequences of “the dark days,” the wars that led to the Hunger Games.

“It’s completely different stylistically, in terms of design, character and point of view,” says Jacobson. “To be able to show a different side of Panem at a different time in its history has been really exciting.” Lawrence teases that production designer Uli Hanisch (The Queen’s Gambit) has been working to create a “new version” of the dystopian nation, and that many aspects of it—from the architecture to interior design—reflect the broken nature of this story’s world and characters. “We also get to remake District 12, remake all of the Capitol,” he adds, “and a brand new arena.”

Of course, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will still have callbacks aplenty. “Suzanne has done such a great job of going back into the mythology and telling a story about the creation of the world,” says Lawrence. “You get a little background of Katniss. You will obviously get a lot of the background of Snow, the history of the Games, the history of some of the music, where songs like ‘The Hanging Tree’ actually come from.”

“Returning to the world of The Hunger Games has been a coming home,” Jacobson adds—as well as a journey toward a greater understanding of the series’ chief villain.. “As much as we may hate [Snow] in the later movies,” says Lawrence, “to see that he is a real human being… there is something really satisfying about that.”

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes debuts in theaters on Nov. 17, 2023. 

Viola Davis has been cast as Dr. Gaul in 'The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes'

The rumors were swirling for months and now it’s finally official. Viola Davis has been cast as the evil Dr. Gaul in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes!

Dr. Volumnia Gaul is the Head Gamemaker for the 10th Hunger Games, University Professor, leads classes for the 24 Hunger Games mentors at the Academy, and heads the science lab that produces muttations. She also loves animal cruelty and torture, so a real fun gal! She ends up being a huge influence on the young Coriolanus Snow, setting his course for the future. 

What happened in the arena? That’s humanity undressed. The tributes. And you, too. How quickly civilization disappears. All your fine manners, education, family background, everything you pride yourself on, stripped away in the blink of an eye, revealing everything you actually are. A boy with a club who beats another boy to death. That’s mankind in its natural state. . . .

- Dr. Volumnia Gaul

“The Hunger Games films have always been elevated by their exceptional casting, and we are thrilled to be continuing that tradition with Viola Davis as Volumnia Gaul,” said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group President, Nathan Kahane. “Her formidable and powerful presence will add layers of complexity and menace to this story.”

“Dr. Gaul is as cruel as she is creative and as fearsome as she is formidable,” said Lawrence. “Snow’s savvy as a political operator develops in no small part due to his experiences with her as the games’ most commanding figure.”

“From the beginning, Viola has been our dream for Dr. Gaul because of the finely layered intelligence and emotion she brings to every role,” added Jacobson. “A brilliant and eccentric strategist, Gaul is instrumental in shaping a young Coriolanus Snow into the man he will become. We are incredibly fortunate to have an actor with Viola’s extraordinary range and presence to play this pivotal role.”

Davis is a multi award-winning actress, known for, among many other things, The Help, Doubt, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom  - which all earned her Oscar nominations, and Fences in which she won her first Oscar in 2017 for her role opposite Denzel Washington. She’s also won 2 Tonys, an Emmy, multiple SAG Awards, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA! Next up she’s starring in Sony’s historical epic The Woman King, which she also produced. What a powerhouse! She seems like the perfect choice to bring all kinds of interesting layers to this twisted character. I can’t wait to see what she does with the role.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes debuts in theaters on Nov. 17, 2023. 

Arena, Hanging Tree, District 12? The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Rumored Filming Locations

It looks like the Centennial Hall and Wroclaw Zoo in Wrocław, Poland, and Landschaftspark in Duisburg, Germany are some of the recently discovered filming locations for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes film currently in production. 

POLAND

Centennial Hall

Some of the actors were recently spotted near Centennial Hall in Wroclaw Poland, along with shuttle vans bearing butterfly stickers in their windows (the working title for the production is Butterfly), lots of screened off areas, set lights, production trucks and trailers, some Peacekeepers in uniform and some Panem posters and symbols.

Image via @BalladofPanem on twitterImage via @BalladofPanem on twitter

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