Ahead of the release of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes in November, its director, Francis Lawrence, spoke to Empire about his thoughts on the upcoming prequel. The new movie (and latest book) in the Hunger Games franchise takes place 64 years before we meet Katniss Everdeen. It tells the story of an 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow being introduced to the games firsthand and just what it it means to be a gamekeeper. And, of course, in the middle of it all, Lucy Gray Baird.
Lawrence, who directed three of the four original films (Catching Fire and Mockingjay Part 1 and 2) has returned to make this film but admitted in the interview that he was nervous about making this one because it doesn’t feature heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence). He said the question played on his mind: “Will people go see a new Hunger Games movie without Katniss?”
But then he compared Katniss and this film’s new heroine, Lucy Gray (Rachel Ziegler), calling Katniss an “introvert” and saying that Lucy is an “anti-Katniss.”
“Katniss was an introvert and a survivor,” he said. “She was quite quiet and stoic, you could almost say [she was] asexual. Lucy Gray is the opposite. She wears her sexuality on her sleeve, [and] she really is a performer.”
As someone who pored over the books when I was in my early teens and watched the films when they came out, I’d have to say I think Lawrence is right, to a degree. I can see the asexual element in Katniss’ character, but then, she was involved in such traumatic events at such a formative age that it kind of makes sense that she wouldn’t really be interested in exploring her sexuality or having sex on the brain.
Meanwhile, Lucy is most definitely an anti-Katniss, and I’m excited to see it play out onscreen.
(featured image: Murray Close/Lionsgate)
