Tom Blyth listened to “Money Power Glory” by Lana Del Rey while shooting The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes. Meanwhile, costar Rachel Zegler had Joan Baez on her HG prequel playlist. All of it filtered into the creative mix, helping the actors stay grounded in their characters, and bring the highly anticipated Hunger Games prequel film to life.

The action-adventure drama, directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1), and written by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt, hits theaters November 17. The plot, which unfolds 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem, also stars Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Hunter Schafer (Euphoria), Josh Andrés Rivera (West Side Story), Jason Schwartzman (Asteroid City), and Viola Davis (Fences, The Woman King).

In a recent moderated press conference we attended, Blyth and Zegler shared more about the massive production, what they wanted to bring to their roles, and so much more. Dive into this MovieWeb exclusive, and you can watch the full press conference above.

Tom Blyth on Playing a Younger Coriolanus

It’s been eight years since The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 bowed, and fans have been eagerly awaiting a prequel. The buzz grew when Suzanne Collins’ prequel novel dropped in 2020. Then came news that Billy the Kid’s Tom Blyth would play a younger version of Coriolanus Snow, the role Donald Sutherland so perfectly embodied in the original films. Here, the younger Snow must mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a tribute from the impoverished District 12. Soon, their fates are intertwined, and Snow sees a golden opportunity to alter their destinies.

“I was a huge fan of the original films,” Blyth told journalists, adding:

The part of Coriolanus was an absolute dream come true because as a fan of those original films, watching what Donald Sutherland did with him, was deliciously evil. Then to rewind the history tapes and look at why he became like that, and question his morality, was an absolute dream as an actor.

Lionsgate Films

As for how or if Sutherland’s character and style from the earlier films informed him on how to play younger Coriolanus, Blyth said:

“I had to refrain myself from going down the rabbit hole watching all those movies again and watching his performance again. Obviously the first instinct I had was to try and recreate it somehow, or to nod to it in a savvy way. But the thing is, that’s never going to be slick. Everyone’s going to be like, ‘It feels like you’re copying a performance that has already been great.’”

Very early on, he had to put all that aside. He worked closely with director Francis Lawrence about making the character his own in the dystopian drama. He said by the end of the movie, Coriolanus is totally different because of his relationship with Lucy, and because of his relationship to the Capitol in general.

“I think what fans are drawn to is seeing that he’s not just one thing,” Blyth explained. “He ends up as a tyrant, but 64 years before that, he was something else entirely. And the interesting part is seeing what he goes through to get there. I keep saying, I hope that by the end of the film, you see three distinct Coriolanus’ — Coriolanus the boy, Coriolanus who’s becoming a man, and Coriolanus Snow, the future president. Hopefully, you see his body and his voice change with that.”

Related: The Hunger Games | The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Review: Grim Prequel to an Already-Grim Story

Rachel Zegler Sees Some Katniss in Lucy
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Rachel Zegler, who garnered a Golden Globe for her role as Maria in West Side Story, said she read all of Collins’ books and saw all the Hunger Game movies. When the prequel book was published in 2020, she said:

I loved that Suzanne was adding onto this story that I loved so much. When I found out that there’s this brown-haired girl who loved to sing from District 12, I got so excited at the prospect of getting to do something like that.

She began imagining the opportunity to star as Lucy, and when the time came to casting the film, she said, “Francis called my agent and said that I was his top pick to play the part. I was so humbled and honored.” Watching Jennifer Lawrence’s performance in the original trilogy was like watching a “masterclass in performance,” she quickly noted. When it came to approaching the character of Lucy Gray, she realized that the character is a war-torn teenager who’s had everything ripped from her, yet she’s still making the best of it.

“It was very similar to Katniss in that perspective,” Zegler shared, “but she has a very different dynamic in response to being placed in an arena in front of people and having to make the world root for her. She’s very good at that. She’s very persuasive in her performance and very good at getting an audience on her side. I do think that there’s elements of Katniss within her,” she added.

It makes it all the more fun watching the original trilogy and seeing how Coriolanus remains haunted by Lucy Gray, even in his late life, because there are echoes of her within Katniss Everdeen.

Why Rachel Zegler Sang Live On Set
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Rachel Zegler is no stranger to singing. She was sublime in West Side Story and here, she wanted to bring something unique to the character of Lucy, who performs in front of people in the film. “It was my choice to sing live on set. I had done it before on my first film and I feel really confident in that sphere of performance, in general. That was what I kind of came out of the womb doing on stage. So, getting to do that for my peers and on set for the crew and creative team was something really special I could bring to the table.”

Related: Upcoming Rachel Zegler Movies to Look Out For

She quickly pointed out how audiences know the difference between lip-syncing and actual singing:

“I felt blessed that Francis trusted me to do that and that I got to bring that into the acoustics of The Hob or the Reaping Stage [in the film]. I don’t want to spoil what Lucy Gray gets to sing, but it just adds a completely different tone to the scenes. I was really important, not only to me, but also to the character, and I would be doing a disservice if I didn’t perform live every take. And it was very strenuous, but I trained to do it and I felt confident with the outcome. I hope audiences do, too.”

Hunger Games Banter and Playlists
Lionsgate

The entire production took many months to film and much to coordinate, with extensive art direction, costumes, and set designs. So, how did the actors blow off steam then hop back into their roles? Music playlists helped. When asked what music the cast listened to on set, Zegler singled out “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” but the Joan Baez version. “Because,” she said, “that’s really a Lucy Gray type vibe, where she’s just kind of like, ‘You just ruined my life, but it’s okay.’”

As for Tom Blyth, he admitted he had an extensive Coriolanus playlist. “Music’s a big way in for me,” he explained. “’Money Power Glory’ by Lana Del Rey is the first song on the playlist. Then it goes to “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles, because that song, since I was a kid, just made me feel kooky and crazy. It feels unhinged. So, when Coriolanus undergoes his transformation, that was a big one. Then it’s like, all the way to Wagner’s “Flight of the Valkyrie” when Coriolanus is feeling epic and like royalty. So, it goes all over the place.”

So will excitement from the fans. Experience The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, from Lionsgate Films, in theaters November 17. You can check out the trailer below.