The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes co-writer Michael Lesslie explains how the movie subtly justifies leaving Lucy Gray’s fate unclear.
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Warning: SPOILERS ahead for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes!
Summary
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes co-writer Michael Lesslie has explained the film’s justification behind leaving Lucy Gray’s fate unknown by the end of the film. During the movie’s final sequence, Coriolanus Snow shoots at Lucy Gray from afar, though because he’s been bitten by a snake, he doesn’t know if he killed her or not. As such, the audience doesn’t know either, leaving her fate unclear by the movie’s end.
Speaking with TheWrap, Lesslie revealed how The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ ending was justified by always presenting Snow’s perspective. Using the tunnels in the 10th annual Hunger Games as an example, the co-writer explained how author Suzanne Collins wanted them to keep the point of view on the future President of Panem. Check out what Lesslie had to say below:
This is kind of in the weeds of the adaptation, but there were moments where we didn’t have cameras underneath in the tunnels during the games. When they go down and tunnels, Lucky says “We repurposed the security cameras.” Suzanne was always, and I think rightly, very insistent that we could only see Lucy Gray stuff if Coriolanus could see a version of it himself so we can only see what’s happening in the tunnels if Coriolanus can sort of either infer it from the camera angle of security or not. So there were versions where we had full cutaway scenes where there was no way he could have known what was happening in the tunnels like we didn’t have the cameras, but we would get to see it. And in that version, Suzanne was like, “If you do that, you have to show Lucy Gray in the end.” Because the audience has been given that perspective and we will need it and expect it. But if we are fundamentally locked in with Coriolanus and he is our POV, then you want to share his maddening mystery at the end and you definitely don’t go there, which I think is brilliantly smart.
More to come…
Source: TheWrap
Release Date: 2023-11-17
Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Peter Dinklage, Josh Andrés, Josh Andrés Rivera, Viola Davis
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 157 Minutes
Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama
Writers: Michael Lesslie, Michael Arndt, Suzanne Collins
Studio(s): Color Force, Lionsgate
Distributor(s): Lionsgate
Sequel(s): The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
Franchise(s): The Hunger Games
