The Official trailer of the film, “Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” was released three days ago, on Sept. 20, 2023.
The movie, “Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, directed by Francis Lawrence, is a prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy. The film is set to be released later this year, on Nov. 17, 2023. The movie comes nearly eight years after the final movie in the Hunger Games trilogy, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” (also directed by Lawrence).
Starring in the film are major name celebrities such as Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, and Hunter Shafer. The main leads of the film, however, will be actor Tom Blythe, portraying a young President Snow, and actress Rachel Zegler, playing the character Lucy Gray Baird.
“The Hunger Games” prequel, was originally a book released in 2020 and was written to later be turned into a movie. Production on the movie started in July 2022 and ended later that year in November.
The film, “Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, is set 64 years before the 74th Hunger Games, where Katniss Everdeen bravely volunteers as tribute in place of her sister. While the movie is 64 years before the Hunger Games trilogy, it is 10 years after the war which caused the Hunger Games.
In the dystopian country named Panem, a Hunger Games occurs every year with two tributes, one male and one female, to compete to the death. Only one victor from one district can emerge. The Games were made after the end of the war between the Districts and the Capitol, to ensure that they would never revolt against them.
In an article released by Vanity Fair in 2022, film director, Francis Lawrence, described the film as, “…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. A very intimate love story.”
The love story in question is between a young Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray Baird. In the trailer, a young Snow is shown as a mentor to Lucy Gray Baird, a tribute from District 12. Snow is caught in a sticky situation because he wants to be involved with the Capitol, but the girl he loves is competing in the Games, making him question everything.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, film producer, Nina Jacobson, states, “He is a shape-shifter who craves control, but is drawn to a woman who threatens everything he thought he wanted.”
The movie shows a “villain origin” for Snow, and provides supposed reason for why he is such a villain in the later Hunger Games trilogy. Fans will get to see a brand new world, never before seen of the Capitol and the Districts; fans will also finally learn the backstory for the song “Hanging Tree.”
Tom Blyth, the actor who portrays Snow, is a relatively new actor in Hollywood, having only been in a few small films prior to this. Blyth first appeared in the movie “Robin Hood” (2010), playing the small role of a child. More recently, Blyth starred in a TV show, “Billy the Kid”, as well as a movie called “Benediction”.
Rachel Zegler, playing Lucy Gray Baird, is also a new face in Hollywood. Zegler got her first big break in Hollywood starring in the film “West Side Story” (2021) directed by Steven Spielberg. Zegler is also set to star as Snow White in the live-action remake, coming out in 2024.
With familiar faces and new faces set to be in the “Hunger Games” prequel, it definitely appears to be a movie to put on the watch list.
Fans can watch “Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” when it arrives in theaters on Nov. 17, 2023. May the odds be ever in your favor.