Still, the future president Snow, played in the Hunger Games films by Donald Sutherland, is no less ambitious as a high school student. Set roughly 64 years before the saga told in the original Hunger Games quadrilogy, the new film-based on Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins’s 2020 novel-follows Coriolanus Snow ( Tom Blyth) decades before he becomes the most powerful man in the dystopian land of Panem. “A very intimate love story.” He isn’t wrong. “It’s this kind of love story set in a different kind of a world in a different time,” he adds. The sentiment may be surprising, coming from the director of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes-but there’s far more to this prequel than the Games you’re expecting. Lionsgate executive Adam Fogelson introduced the clip at CinemaCon and talked up the film’s “massive fan base,” which he says “could not be more engaged or enthusiastic for this next chapter.“This is very much a story about love,” says Francis Lawrence. The prequel story debuts in theaters on Nov.

Other cast members include Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Peter Dinklage and Davis.įrancis Lawrence returned to direct “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” having previously helmed three of franchise’s prior installments, “Catching Fire,” “Mockingjay - Part 1” and “Mockingjay - Part 2.” Michael Lesslie wrote the screenplay. The film stars “The Gilded Age” actor Tom Blyth, who plays Snow, and “West Side Story” star Rachel Zegler, who plays Baird. “What happens in there…” warns Volumnia Gaul, “see how quickly civilization disappears?”

The trailer doesn’t include any footage of Lucy’s singing talent, but offers a grim look at the familiar canon as the tributes find themselves in possibly the worst version of hunt or be hunted. “You really want to take care of me in that area? Start believing I can actually win,” Lucy tells her mentor. But in the early footage of the movie, Baird is not yet encouraged that her mentor has faith in her ability to survive the dangerous arena. With her talent and charm, Snow believes he may be able to turn the odds in their favor to win the games. In the novel, the unassuming Lucy Gray sparks everyone’s attention by singing during the reaping ceremony. For anyone who needs a refresher, the Hunger Games are a televised event in which teenagers are chosen via lottery to fight to the death.

In the new film, a young Coriolanus Snow (who eventually becomes the tyrannical president of Panem) takes the spotlight as he is chosen to mentor an impoverished tribute named Lucy Gray Baird during the 10th Hunger Games. “As a mentor,” Highbottom says, “Your job is to turn these people into spectacles, not survivors.”īased on the most recent novel by “Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” takes place decades - 64 years, to be precise - before the adventures of Katniss Everdeen, which were immortalized on screen by Jennifer Lawrence.

The hunger games the ballad