We were joined back on the Popternative show by Mackenzie Lansing (The Creator, Mare of Easttown) to discuss the new film, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, playing now in theaters. A prequel to the Hunger Games films, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is set 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem. With his livelihood threatened, Snow (Tom Blyth) is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zigler), a tribute from District 12.
Mackenzie plays Coral, the female tribute from Disctrict 4 who is viewed by many as one of the most dominant female tributes in the 10th Hunger Games. In our interview, Mackenzie explains that she originally didn’t know which character or film she was auditioning for: “My character Coral is explored a lot more in depth in the movies; in the books she’s beautifully written but they develop her a little bit more, so I didn’t make the connection.”
She also discusses the importance of the source material available: “The source material is so important. Suzanne Collins is so heavily involved in making these films and giving them her approval, you don’t want to do a disservice to the fans who are so passionate. So you do have to reference the source material and become familiar with the books. I was a huge fan of all the movies and had already read a couple of the books and had to refresh.”
Watch the full conversation with Mackenzie Lansing below.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is currently playing in theaters.
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