64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes follows a young Coriolanus as he unites with Lucy Gray Baird in the 10th Hunger Games, and battles his instincts for both good and evil.
The movie, which is now available to purchase on digital before hitting Blu-ray later this month, features over two-and-a-half-hours of special features.
In the second of our conversations with the movie's cast, we catch up with Mackenzie Lansing (The Creator) to learn more about her role as Coral. The tribute from District 4 during the 10th Hunger Games, her mentor is Festus Creed and, during the movie, we see Coral emerge as a formidable antagonist within the arena.
In this conversation, Mackenzie talks about her character's unique dynamic with the likes of Lucy Gray Baird and Festus, explaining how she set out to add depth to this "villain" and what it was like shooting [SPOILER ALERT] Coral's grisly demise.
We also hear from the actor on her preparation for the role, the challenges which came with wielding that trident, and what it was like working on the prequel's demanding action scenes. Finally, Mackenzie shares a desire to continue exploring unique characters on screen and, by the sound of it, that may one day include heroes and villains in the Marvel or DC Universes!
You can check out the full interview in the player below.
I’ve been looking forward to speaking with you as Coral is such an interesting character. What was it like to come on board this movie, I don’t want to say as a villain, but very much an antagonist in the arena?
I loved it. Honestly, I couldn’t have picked a character I would have preferred to play in this franchise so it felt right and I was excited to have joined something which felt so right for me. I love playing an antagonist, especially in this movie. It asks the question of, ‘Who is the real villain? What is a villain?’ It was really fun to be part of that narrative A privilege, really.
Were you familiar with the franchise before joining this project or was it a new world for you to explore?
I’d watched all the movies but I had not read the books. I was telling someone else, I’m very dyslexic, so I had to wait until I was fully on board with the movie before I said, ‘Alright, now I’m going to commit the time to reading these books!’ I’m so glad I did because they are incredibly written. I was so pleasantly surprised and was shocked I hadn’t read them before. I became a very big fan afterwards because this world is built so intricately.
Coral seems to have a real hatred for Lucy Gray, so when it came time to work with Rachel, how was it exploring that back-and-forth?
We organically developed a friendship on set. I think that aided in us being able to go after each other. We talked a little bit about our stories and how our characters felt about each other. I think having that close friendship helped a lot as it allowed us to dive deeper into these characters.
We see Coral go into the arena with a plan of recruiting a team, so was it fun to play such a strong competitor and young woman you could sink your teeth into as an actor?
Yeah, I loved it. It felt like a big responsibility, for sure, to be the first real female head of the pack we see in every Hunger Games movie. That was really exciting and I think we got to film, like you mentioned the recruiting, those scenes were improvised. Francis decided it was a great look into how these teams were built and so it stayed in the movie.
There’s that awesome scene with Lamina where you impale her using the trident and throw her off the rubble. Those must have been fun days on set?
Fun and scary. Before this, I was very afraid of heights. We had an archway which was built where we did all of our stuntwork and we practised every day. I practiced my trident every day and it was hard work, but honestly one of the most rewarding things to get over that fear and do all the physical work required for this character.
I talked to Max Raphael and he had nothing but good things to say about working with you. Your characters have such a fascinating relationship and Coral despises Festus, but how was your working relationship?
Oh, Max works in the same way I do so we just immediately clicked. We have a creepy amount of things in common, to be completely frank, so when we first met we said, ‘We’re the same person!’ It was so strange that we were cast and now part of this team in The Hunger Games. We work in the same way where we both liked to do a lot of homework but also improvise. We got to bounce off each other a lot and that was just so much fun while working with him. I do think Festus and Coral sort of hate each other, but also are sort of perfectly matched in that way.
Coral is a very dominant force and eventually comes in second place. Was that sense of achievement fun for you and how was it playing such a force of nature?
It took a lot of work to make sure I was coming across in an earnest way because I definitely didn’t want to be tough for tough’s sake, you know? It has to come from a real place and her being a survivalist. It is fun when you get to play these characters and let this other side of you completely come out. It was a great experience overall, for sure.
To get into spoilers, Coral’s demise comes courtesy of those CG snakes. What was that day on set like?
It was a very emotional day on set. Just before we shot Cooper Dillon, who plays Mizzen, his death, that was very hard for me to watch and I was very invested in it. Then we did my death scene and Francis really believed it would reveal who this character really is. We put a lot of time into that because we wanted to show this fully formed character and with the snakes being CGI, there was nothing there at all. That left a lot of liberty as an actor to decide how you’re interacting with them and that sort of thing. It was a very rewarding day on set because of the amount of creativity we were allowed to have but also a very stressful day. I knew this was an important scene we needed to nail in order for the character to come across properly.
Like The Creator, this is another huge movie. Moving forward, do you hope to continue exploring this blockbuster realm, whether it be Marvel, DC, or more sci-fi?
You know, I’m open. I want to play more of these kinds of characters. I think sometimes with women, we’re like, ‘Well, do you want to diversify?’ but some of my favourite actors are Bryan Cranston, Gary Oldman, Willem Dafoe…I very much look forward to following in those footsteps and playing more characters like that who are strong and maybe look a little different than we’re used to. That’s something I’m very excited about. So, DC, Marvel, villains, or in-between characters, I think that’s something I’m very excited to play. And I love sci-fi, so that as well!
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is available to purchase on digital on January 30 and on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on February 13.