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| photo from Entertainment Weekly |
Francis Lawrence talks to EW about how Julianne Moore was cast as Alma Coin, and how we will be seeing more of her in the Mockingjay movies compared to the book. Read the article below:
Julianne Moore is a big fan of the Hunger Games series, so much so that she directly approached Mockingjay – Part 1 director Francis Lawrence about securing the role of President Alma Coin, the tenacious leader of District 13 who leads the revolution against the Capitol.We're very excited that we get to see more of President Coin - the short bit from the teaser where she's strategizing with Plutarch has hinted on that - and it'll be very interesting to see her outside of Katniss' perspective, similar to the additional scenes with President Snow in Catching Fire. What do you guys think?
“She actually sort of tracked us down and had an interest in the books through her kids,” Lawrence says. The Golden Globe winner’s interest acted as an audition, he notes.
“She didn’t audition. Once we knew she wanted it, that was it—done,” Lawrence says, laughing. “I sat down with her, she had great ideas, we got along and that was it.”
President Coin—who becomes reluctant allies with Katniss Everdeen in the rebellion’s efforts to overthrow President Snow—was written by author Suzanne Collins through Katniss’s perspective as narrator; she is perceived as ambitious and egotistical. But with Moore’s involvement, Lawrence says, the gray-haired politician’s role in his two-part finale has expanded significantly beyond her portrayal in the bestselling Hunger Games series.
“There’s more of her in this than in the book, and because of that, there’s some development,” Lawrence says. “I think the character has developed into something pretty amazing. And Julianne was a big part of that.”
The Hunger Games:Mockingjay – Part 1 is slated for release on Nov. 21, 2014.
Entertainment Weekly
Edited to Add: Francis Lawrence also talks to EW about how the first and second Mockingjay movies will be different from each other. Here are some highlights from the article:
On adding scenes that are not in the book:
And there won’t be any major changes from the novel—although Lawrence worked closely with screenwriter Peter Craig, producer Nina Jacobson, and Collins to create new elements that will “surprise even fans of the book.”
“Instead of changing the plot and changing characters what we did was have the opportunity to show scenes that could have been happening at different times in the book,” Lawrence says. “For us it’s world expansion instead of changing things. I think it’s exciting for the fan to see certain things. So we’ve been able to open the world up in this and see some new places. We get to see some new districts this time and the scope gets quite large.”
On splitting the book into two movies:
While Lawrence won’t reveal how he divided the final book in Suzanne Collins’ trilogy (“That’s going to be one of the really good surprises,” he says), he shares that the films will have “two different, very distinct stories.”
You can read the whole article here.
If you haven't checked out The Mockingjay Mockup yet, you should! Courtney and Tiffany discuss splitting the book into two movies, including possible omissions and additions!