Prequel
“The Hunger Games” is back on the big screen
Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow and Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird in a scene from the film “The Hunger Games – The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes”. photo
© -/Leonine/dpa
Fans can look forward to a new film from the Hunger Games universe. Featuring a top-class cast, the prequel film is anything but a classic hero story.
Eight years after the release of the last film, the “Hunger Games” series returns with a new prequel. The focus of the story of “The Hunger Games – The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” is the young Coriolanus Snow, long before he became the tyrannical President of Panem, which fans already know It’s a film about a young person who is torn between the classic question of good and evil.
A great burden and responsibility lies on the shoulders of 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow. He is the last hope for the once wealthy Snow family after they lost their reputation and wealth during the war years. The young Capitol resident senses a chance for social advancement when he is chosen to mentor Lucy Gray Baird from District 12 on the tenth anniversary of the murderous Hunger Games. Her chances of winning are slim, but Lucy quickly attracts everyone’s attention.
The new prequel from director Francis Lawrence takes place 64 years before the events of the well-known science fiction series “Hunger Games”. The 61-year-old filmmaker, who comes from the USA, has directed three of the four original Hunger Games films. The film with blockbuster potential is based on the novel “The Hunger Games
Top-class cast
Even though audience favorites like Jennifer Lawrence, who played Katniss Everdeen from District 12 in the original film series, don’t play a role in the prequel film, “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” impresses with a top-class cast. Tom Blyth (“Benediction”) plays the young Coriolanus Snow. Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story”) takes on the role of Lucy Gray Baird.
Oscar winner Viola Davis (“Fences”) stars as Hunger Games playmaker Dr. Volumnia Gaul, can be seen. Also in front of the camera were “Euphoria” star Hunter Schafer as Snow’s cousin Tigris and Josh Andrés Rivera (“West Side Story”) as his best friend Sejanus Plinth. Jason Schwartzmann (“Darjeeling Limited”) and Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”) can also be seen in other roles.
Many filming locations in Berlin
A large part of “The Hunger Games – The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” was filmed in Germany in collaboration with Studio Babelsberg. Berlin in particular became the setting. “We got the locations we needed here,” said director Lawrence.
The German set designer Uli Hanisch based his selection of filming locations on Berlin in the 50s and 60s. There were ideal conditions in Berlin for the historical aspect of the film, “because we find the Empire, the Third Reich and the GDR/East Berlin in the buildings,” explained the 56-year-old.
The production largely works without purely virtual landscapes. “Because it is a fictional world, it is even more important to give it a basis and something real,” said Hanisch. In addition to Berlin, filming also took place in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Duisburg and Poland.
Several German actors and actresses stood in front of the camera for the international film project, including Irene Böhm (“Babylon Berlin”), Dimitri Abold (“Beckenrand Sheriff”), Luna Kruse (“Schloss Einstein”) and Kjell Brutscheidt (“Polizeiruf 110”, “Sarah Kohr – Wisps”).
Filming in English – this was a challenge for German actor Kjell Brutscheidt when working on the set of the new “Hunger Games” film. “Of course you weren’t allowed to have a German dialect in English,” said the 27-year-old. A dialect coach helped the Germans involved in the filming to speak an American accent.
“The Hunger Games – The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”, USA 2023, FSK: 12, by Francis Lawrence, with Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage