“Songbirds & Snakes” director Francis Lawrence on the search for Tom Blyth; Chief Star talks about Coriolanus Snow’s next steps and Lucy Gray Baird’s whereabouts – Crew Call Podcast

Warning: This podcast contains spoilers about the end of Lionsgate The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

“In 2015 we thought it was ready.”

That’s what filmmaker Francis Lawrence thought about the final gross of more than $3 billion The Hunger Games Franchise with Mockingjay part 2Until writer Suzanne Collins alerted him and series producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson in late 2019 that a prequel manuscript set 64 years before the original film and focusing on the origin story of main villain Coriolanus Snow was their side.

But instead of just more bows and arrows and fierce arena battles, there was a whole other sublime element to the prequel, and that was the country music underpinning, inspired by early 2000s bluegrass and the folk sounds that came from their lineage has. Scotland, England and Ireland. Such texts in the book help to tell the story of District 12 member Lucy Gray Baird, played by Rachel Zegler, who is part of a traveling group of musicians. During the first Hunger Games, she becomes a tribute and Snow becomes her mentor. Opposites attract; The two turn each other’s worlds upside down when the stylish offspring realizes his purpose in the world after his father’s death years ago.

Similar to the transfer of the cast to the original Hunger games Together, Lionsgate started with a new face songbirds and snakes, Zegler’s big film debut is Steven Spielberg’s 2021 musical entertainment west side story as Mary.

But the lead role of Snow went to British Juilliard graduate Tom Blyth, who “came out of the blue,” says Lawrence. The filmmaker of Hunger Games Catch Fire And Mockingjay parts 1 and 2, the cast video captured the actor on a train ride through Germany, where he was filming the prequel. Here, Lawrence tells us why Blyth was ready for the role and how they decided not to cut the young Donald Sutherland. An important part of Blyth’s preparation: to literally step into the shoes of his character and run around.

But with some serious romantic scenes between Zegler and Blyth that the interludes of love storyWhere and what causes Snow to turn into Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw at worst, especially a man who poisons his rivals to climb the government ladder?

Blyth explains: “If anything changed, it was when he met Lucy Gray. She questions it all. She represents freedom, liberty and music and love and hope and she challenges his views and he begins to fall in love with her.

He also says: “And by letting his guard down, he lets chaos in.” And by allowing the chaos, he learns that the Capitol was right all along, and that he was right when he feared chaos and needed to control it. . “

Blyth also talks about this mysterious ending songbirds and snakes and what’s next for Snow? As the actor unravels this mystery in his acting process, he says, “For me, it’s much more about not knowing.”

songbirds and snakes It opened to $99 million at the global box office last weekend.

Listen to our conversation with Lawrence and Blyth about the first crew call of the 2022-2023 awards season below: