FEATURETTE: How The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Brings Lucy Gray Baird’s Songs to Life

Check out a behind-the-scenes look at The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes with an in-depth look at how Rachel Zegler and the filmmakers brought Lucy Gray Baird and the Covey's songs to life.

There's also a new Billboard interview with director Francis Lawrence, producer Nina Jacobson, and music producer Dave Cobb on the music of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes that shares insights into the music-heavy prequel film.

An exerpt:

Four years after he finished work on the final big-screen adaptation of the zeitgeist-y Hunger Games book trilogy, director Francis Lawrence got a phone call from producer Nina Jacobson, another veteran of the series. And she wasn’t looking to reminisce.

Suzanne Collins – the mind and pen behind the dystopian sci-fi series – had just rung up Jacobson with some news: “Hey, surprise! I’m almost finished with a new book.” Lawrence sums up their reaction: “Wow…. Okay!”

After reading the book in early 2020, not long before it arrived on shelves, Lawrence was officially in. “I love a villain origin story,” he says of Songbirds, which tracks the rise of trilogy antagonist Coriolanus Snow. The same went for Jacobson. “Suzanne trusting me with this series, we’ve had an incredible rapport and bond,” she says. “I was all in.”

“[Collins] told me about the history of Appalachian music of the ‘20s and ‘30s and how often they were based on songs or ballads or poems that had been passed down for generations and collected over time,” Lawrence says of the music that inspired the character of Baird. Collins advised the director to check out Ken Burns’ 16-hour documentary Country Music (“this was during the pandemic, so I had time,” he adds) for context, but both of them realized that finding the right musical collaborator for the film – someone who lived and breathed this music — would be essential to making sure Baird felt like a dusty, jagged diamond in the rough.

Enter Dave Cobb. A Nashville mainstay who’s produced albums for Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson (i.e., country singers who value grit over studio polish), Cobb’s contributions for 2018’s A Star Is Born and 2022’s Elvis proved he could work within the Hollywood system without sacrificing his musical ethos.

When his name came up during pre-production, the team got on the phone to feel out his interest level. The connection was immediate.

As for the nine-time Grammy winner, Cobb tells Billboard that Collins’ vast knowledge of history – music, political and otherwise – made him excited to hop on board and write songs to accompany her lyrics from the book.

“One of the things that was so attractive about working on this film [is that] I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a more intelligent person in my life than Suzanne Collins. She’s an absolute genius, by any measure,” Cobb says. “Suzanne telling me the impetus of the story had me captivated. I’m a history buff, and everything in this film — everything she’s written for Hunger Games — is derived from real history. “I had to make [the songs] feel like turn-of-the-century, timeless classics. That’s a very hard thing to do.” 

“Rachel is such an incredible talent that she ended up singing everything live [on set],” Cobb says of Zegler. “She’s so naturally gifted – it was effortless for her. Rachel has this beautiful, almost ‘30s American pure voice. She can sing anything.” 

The Mockingjay and The Songbird - Jennifer Lawrence and Rachel Zegler Together at the Dior Show in Paris

The Ballad of when Jennifer Lawrence and Rachel Zegler broke the internet. Hunger Games stars Jennifer Lawrence and Rachel Zegler posed for photos together at Dior’s show during Paris Fashion Week. The Mockingjay and The Songbird finally united!

Rachel posted this video of the two on her instagram stories and twitter:

The Hunger Games Returns to Theaters for 2 Days Only!

The Hunger Games returns to theaters nationwide for two days only on October 15 and 18! There will be an exclusive, never-before-seen look at The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes after the film. The runtime of the re-release is 2hrs 40 minutes and the runtime of The Hunger Games is 2hrs 22 minutes, so we could be getting 18 minutes of exclusive footage at the re-release event!

You can order your tickets through Fathom Events or check your local theaters. 

‘Hunger Games’ Dark Days Prequel Novel From Suzanne Collins Coming In 2020 + Lionsgate In Talks For Movie

Rejoice, tributes! Scholastic announced today that will be publishing Suzanne Collins’ new Hunger Games prequel novel next spring! The currently untitled book about the Dark Days of Panem will hit shelves on May 19, 2020.

The novel will be set in the world of Panem on the morning of the reaping of the 10th Hunger Games - 64 years before the events of the original Hunger Games trilogy and well before the lifetime of Katniss Everdeen.

On returning to Panem and The Hunger Games Collins said, “With this book, I wanted to explore the state of nature, who we are, and what we perceive is required for our survival. The reconstruction period ten years after the war, commonly referred to as the Dark Days - as the country of Panem struggles back to its feet - provides fertile ground for characters to grapple with these questions and thereby define their views of humanity.

“Suzanne Collins is a master at combining brilliant storytelling, superb world building, breathtaking suspense, and social commentary,” said Ellie Berger, President of Scholastic Trade. “We are absolutely thrilled - as both readers and publishers - to introduce the devoted fans of the series and a new audience to an entirely new perspective on this modern classic.”

Lionsgate is in talks with Collins about adapting the prequel novel into a film, according to a statement from a Lionsgate executive: “As the proud home of the Hunger Games movies, we can hardly wait for Suzanne’s next book to be published. We’ve been communicating with her during the writing process and we look forward to continuing to work closely with her on the movie,” said Joe Drake, Chairman of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group about the potential plans for a movie.

Stay tuned!

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth appeared on a pre-recorded segment of Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, a popular British television show. The skit was recorded when the trio were in London for Mockingjay Part 2 press last fall, and finally aired last night. 

http://panempropaganda.tumblr.com/post/140941807389/lilieaurelie-jennifer-lawrence-josh-hutcherson

Check out the sketch above featuring Jen playing The Hungry Games. 

Jennifer Lawrence Wins Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award For Favorite Movie Actress

Jennifer Lawrence won Favorite Movie Actress at last night's Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award for her performance as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2! Jennifer Lawrence was not in attendance to pick up her blimp.

Sadly, we lost our 2 other nominations: Favorite Movie to Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Favorite Book Series to the Diary of A Wimpy Kid seies. 

Congrats, Jennifer! 

Jennifer Lawrence Featured In The 2016 Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue

Click to enlarge

Jennifer Lawrence is among the 13 amazing actresses gracing the cover of Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood Issue. Legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz captured the cinema’s finest actresses for the portraits, measured by years, awards, or performances. Here are Jennifer's portraits:

Jen and Jane Fonda

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18 FILMS, INCLUDING JOY AND THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY—PART 2 (2015); ONE ACADEMY AWARD, ONE BAFTA.

With almost more life force than ought to be allowed, Jennifer Lawrence has seized the forefront as a dragonslayer with a goofy streak, a female Lancelot with a playful glint, capable of getting up to no good. It is this champagne tickle beneath her oval surface that has enabled her to scale from the rawboned resilience of Winter’s Bone—the film that first put her in the firmament—to the rallying defiance of the Hunger Games series and mutant agonistes of the X-Men franchise without becoming an ennobled drag. Every emotion shines through her fresh and untinted. The creative threesome with writer-director David O. Russell and the never demure Bradley Cooper—Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle (her tutorial on the dangers of the “science oven” belongs to the ages), and Joy, where she mops up her fourth Oscar nomination at the infernally young age of 25—gave her room to carom and showcased the irrepressible side of her that makes her every red-carpet appearance and awards ceremony a potential Happening, especially if Amy Schumer is in on the caper.

 

Congratulations to FOUR (!!!) Time Academy Award Nominee Jennifer Lawrence!

Congratulations to Jennifer Lawrence on her Best Actress in a Leading Role Academy Award nomination for Joy! Jennifer Lawrence is now the youngest actor ever, male or female, to earn four Oscar nominations. We're so proud of her! Jennifer has been honored with four Oscar nominations over the past six years, beginning with 2011’s nod for Winter’s Bone, 2013 (won) for Silver Linings Playbook and 2014 for American Hustle .

Of her nomination, Jennifer released the following statement to the press and on her Facebook page:

I am beyond grateful and humbled by this nomination. I feel incredibly honored to be recognized among the other amazing women in this category. Joy is an incredibly inspiring story about an ordinary woman who does extraordinary things. For me, working with David O. Russell has been nothing short of extraordinary, and I share this nomination with him as well as our incredible supporting cast. I could not be more proud to be a part of this film and thankful to the producers and Fox for their unyielding support.
-Jen

We'll certainly all be rooting for her at the Oscars! The 88th Academy Awards ceremony airs February 28th at 7e/4p on ABC.