As The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes continues to roll its way to production from Lionsgate, the film is adding even more members to what is becoming quite the star-studded cast. The latest addition, joining Hunter Schafer and others is none other than Jason Schwartzman.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the prequel to the original The Hunger Games trilogy and will center around a much younger Corialanus Snow. The young boy who is trying to fight his own way through the Hunger Games in his era will eventually become the cutthroat and downright evil President Snow when he has to face off against Katniss Everdeen. Several members of the cast of the new movie have been announced already, including Euphoria's Shafer, who will play a young Tigris Snow. While some of the announced cast of the upcoming film will be playing characters that the audience and fans of the original books know well, it appears that Schwartzman is playing someone that hasn't been seen on screen yet.
In the prequel, Schwartzman is slated to play Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman according to The Hollywood Reporter. Lucky is the host of the 10th annual Hunger Games and just happens to be the ancient ancestor of Caesar Flickerman, who is played by Stanley Tucci in the original Hunger Games films.
While he likely appear as a younger version of the host that fans are used to see in these films, it's not hard to imagine that he could almost look like a son to Tucci's character, instead of someone who is actually quite a bit older. Schwartzman is just the latest addition of named members of the cast on the Lionsgate film.
In addition to Schwartzman and Shafer, the film has cast a few of the main characters including Tom Blyth as the young Snow. For those who still might not remember just who Snow was or what he will become after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the character was played by Donald Sutherland in the original films. The film has also cast Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray, who is the tribute from the impoverished 12th district. It turns out that Snow and Gray must team up together in order to beat the 10th Hunger Games.
While the cast of this new prequel will be quite a bit different from the original Hunger Games movies, Francis Lawrence, who directed three of the four movies is going to be helming this new film. Franchise producer Nina Jacobson is also back as producer for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter