‘Hunger Games’ prequel star Tom Blyth on Jennifer Lawrence: ‘I don’t know her’
He volunteers as tribute.
Tom Blyth, 29, who starred as a younger version of the villainous President Coriolanus Snow in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” said that he’s game to return if the spin-off prequel movies continue.
“I would love to,” he said, about the chance of reprising the role.
“I love the people, and I love the world. And I think [author] Suzanne Collins writes such a vivid world. It’s so cool. The fact that that all comes from her mind – she’s just the smartest woman. And the character of Coriolanus, I think, is deserving of more digging. I think there’s more to tell.”
“The Hunger Games” franchise began with four movies starring Jennifer Lawrence, 33, that came out between 2012 and 2015, based on bestselling dystopian novels by Collins.
They were set in a future version of America where teens were forced to fight to the death on live TV, all overseen by the villainous President Snow (Donald Sutherland).
2023’s “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” is set several decades before the events of “The Hunger Games,” and starred Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer and Peter Dinklage.
While promoting Season 2 of his MGM+ show “Billy the Kid” (returning Sunday at 9 p.m.), Blyth reflected on how joining “The Hunger Games” franchise changed his life “hugely.”
“I’ve been acting since I was like 14,” he said.
“So, for fifteen years, I’ve been trying to do this, in earnest. It took me quite a few years to get started, properly. [‘The Hunger Games’] kicked down so many doors that I’ve been knocking on for quite a few years.”
He added that Season 1 of “Billy the Kid,” which he filmed prior to “The Hunger Games,” really “was the thing that started that process.”
“Because it was my first lead role in a real production,” he went on. “And there was no better training than that huge set with hundreds of people, horses, weaponry – the most vivid sets you could imagine, built from the ground up just for us.”
He reflected that that was a “magical experience,” but then, “‘The Hunger Games,’ obviously, was like that times ten. I feel very lucky and grateful that I get to do what I do.”
But, Blyth said, after he joined the hit franchise as its new star, he didn’t end up getting any advice from Lawrence.
“I don’t know Jennifer, we’ve not spoken,” said Blyth.
“I think she actually said this publicly, that she wanted to let us have our moment, and have our own experience of what it was like to do that – which was extremely gracious of her. I’m grateful for that.
He added, “But I’d be interested to swap some war stories at some point along the way, now that I’ve been through it.”
“Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” had “the same producers, the same director, same cameraman – a lot of the same people [as the original ‘Hunger Games’ movies],” he explained.
“They were so welcoming, and I didn’t feel like we were copying something else. It felt like we were doing it for the first time, which was a credit to them. They took it and made it fresh.”
Blyth relishes playing morally gray characters.
“I think its why we tell stories, to try and understand humanity,” but, “it would be nice to, at some point, play someone who is just a lovely guy!” he told the Post. “He doesn’t ever have to reach for a gun, or become a murderous dictator … Also, I’d like to do a rom com, at some point.”
