Francis Lawrence has done an incredible job withThe Hunger Gamessaga since he came onboard to directCatching Fire, the adaptation of the second book in the popular trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. However, the director has one major regret about his vision for the film adaptations.
The firstThe Hunger Gamesmovie, released in 2012, was an absolute success, expanding the phenomenon already created by the books, which are considered one of the most popular youth sagas of all time along withHarry Potter,TwilightorPercy Jackson. However, many of the other franchises were heavily criticized many times for the differences between the films and the source material, something thatThe Hunger Gamesmanaged to avoid thanks to a visionary director.Francis Lawrencecame to the saga with plenty of experience in adaptations, having brought DC Comics’ConstantineandI Am Legendto the big screen. But his work withCatching Fireis considered by many fans to be one of the best movie adaptations within this type of teen-aimed productions.
For this reason, Lionsgate did not hesitate to continue working with Lawrence to adaptMockingjay, the third and final book of Collins' original story. However, following a path similar to the oneHarry PotterandTwilighthad already taken, they decided to divide it into two films. Something that, in retrospect, was not a good decision according to the director.
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Splitting The Hunger Games: Mockingjay into Two Parts Was “Frustrating” for the Fans
In an interview withPeople Magazineto promote the upcoming adaptation of the prequel book from the saga,The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Lawrence confessed that one of his biggest regrets about the original trilogy was dividing the adaptation ofMockingjayinto two parts:
“I totally regret it. I’m not sure everybody does, but I definitely do. What I realised in retrospect—and after hearing all the reactions and feeling the kind of wrath of fans, critics and people at the split—is that I realised it was frustrating. And I can understand it. We got more on the screen out of the book than we would’ve in any of the other movies because you’re getting close to four hours of screen time for the final book, but in an episode of television, if you have a cliffhanger, you have to wait a week, or you could just binge it, and then you may see the next episode. But making people wait a year, I think, came across as disingenuous, even though it wasn’t. Our intentions were not to be disingenuous.”
Fortunately, Lawrence had no interest on doing the same withThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which will be thelongest film in the entire franchise:
“I would never let them split the book in two. There was never a real conversation about it. It’s a long book, but we got so much s**t for splittingMockingjayinto two—from fans, from critics, from everybody—that I was like, ‘No way. I’ll just make a longer movie.’”
The movie, which focuses on a young Coriolanus Snow’s first steps as a Hunger Games mentor, hits theaters on November 17 and stars Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis, Hunter Schafer, and Jason Schwartzman.
