Francis Lawrence Regrets 1 “Manipulative” Hunger Games Decision That Affected Rachel Zegler Prequel Film

Francis Lawrence received a lot of flak for dividing Hunger Games: Mockingjay into two parts for the big screen. Although the movies did well at the box office, both critics and the audience were not happy that they were divided into two parts that would  be released one year apart. Todd McCarthy, who reviewed the films for The Hollywood Reporter, even commented that the films were “disappointingly bland and unnecessarily protracted.” Recently, Francis Lawrence appeared in the Happy, Sad, and Confused Podcast to discuss his film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and opened up about his regret and how it affected the prequel movie. 

“I was not a big fan of doing it:” Francis Lawrence opens up about splitting Hunger Games: Mockingjay into two parts

The Hunger Games films were a tremendous success from the get-go. However, when it was time to work on Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Francis Lawrence decided to make the movie in two parts, which immensely displeased the fans. Many complained about having to wait a year to watch the second film, and the decision did not even make sense to many critics. In the Happy, Sad, and Confused Podcast by Josh Horowitz, Francis Lawrence recently made an appearance and opened up about how he regrets his decision from before: 

“I was not a big fan of doing it. I would wish we would have done just one complete movie. 

Also Read: The Hunger Games: Worst Decision Of Each Main Character

While talking about how his past decision affected The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, he said: 

“Jumping to Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes…when I got involved in that it was the longest of the books. The idea was like ‘should we split it?’ and I was like ‘no way.’ I don’t care if it is a long movie, I am doing one standalone movie. I am not taking sh*t for splitting a movie again.”

Josh Horowitz then asked the director if he felt, in retrospect, that the movies would have done better as one film. He said: 

“One hundred percent, yeah. Just because it feels and like I understand, like you know now, that you sort of trick yourself into thinking that you are telling these two distinct stories, which we kind of are, but, it still is a little manipulative, you know? When you make the first half of the movie and then you make them wait a year for the second half, I can see how it’d annoy as opposed to just doing a complete piece.”

Earlier in October of this year, Francis Lawrence sat down with People Magazine and expressed his regrets for splitting Hunger Games: Mockingjay into two parts. 

“I totally regret it. I totally do. I’m not sure everybody does, but I definitely do.”

At the time it came out, Francis Lawrence vehemently defended his decision to the BBC by saying he stood by his idea. He elaborated on iO9 later on and said: 

“You know, we got some flack for splitting the movies; I think they’re two distinct stories, but really, that kind of evolution [of the characters] would be a much, much, much more difficult thing to do in the course of two hours versus the course of two films.”

Also Read: Jennifer Lawrence Reveals Her Future in New Hunger Games Movies

He went on to say to People how he understands now that the wrath of the fans was not misplaced. In a TV series, one has to hardly wait a week to get to the next episode in the event of a cliffhanger. With OTTs taking over the world of media, audiences can even binge-watch the show. But by putting the films one year apart from each other, he made the audience frustrated, and that is understandable and justified.

Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence calls Katniss Everdeen ‘asexual’

The Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence revealed in an interview with Empire Magazine around the release time of Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes that he sees Katniss Everdeen as “asexual” while Lucy Gray “wears her sexuality on her sleeve.”

“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. She really is a performer.”

While comparing the two characters, he described Lucy as a big extrovert with great interpersonal skills, whereas Katniss was painted as an introvert and a survivor. 

Also Read: Hunger Games: Weirdest Rules Every Tribute Has To Follow

The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is set 60 years before the events of The Hunger Games. Jennifer Lawrence, of course, did not appear in the movie. The cast boasted Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray and Tom Blythe as Coriolanus “Coryo” Snow. 

The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is slated to release on VOD platforms on Tuesday, December 19th, 2023.