After adding Oscar winner Viola Davis to the ensemble, the Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is now ready to launch. Davis will join an impressive cast that also includes Hunter Schafer (Euphoria), Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones). Davis is set to play the role of Dr Volumnia Gaul, the alleged chief game developer for the tenth annual Hunger Games. When asked about Davis’ casting, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group President Nathan Kahane praised his acting skills, saying, “Viola Davis is a natural.” Casting has always been a strength of The Hunger Games films, and we’re happy to carry on that tradition with Viola Davis in the role of Volumnia Gaul.
She is a fierce and powerful character who will give depth and terror to the narrative. Director Francis Lawrence, who helmed the first two Hunger Games films and will return to the role for the prequel, has also spoken positively about working with Davis. Davis’ portrayal of Dr Gaul was praised for being “as nasty as she is inventive and as scary as she is formidable,” he said. For some time now, the production team has had its sights set on Davis to play the part, as stated by Lawrence, “because of the beautifully nuanced intelligence and passion she gives to every performance.”
You may expand on this by saying that Gaul is “a smart and eccentric strategist, and he plays a significant role in moulding a young Coriolanus Snow into the man he will become.” To have an actor of Viola’s amazing range and presence in such a vital part is a tremendous blessing. Since starting her career in earnest in 1992, Viola Davis has played a wide variety of characters. Davis has experience in the villain genre, having played the fearsome Amanda Waller in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. She played a serial murderer on an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which was probably the most diabolical part she has ever played.
Before we see Davis as the villain in the Hunger Games prequel, we’ll get to see her as the leader of an all-female army in the upcoming historical drama The Woman King. Davis will play general Nanisca, the leader of the Agojie of the African kingdom of Dahomey, as they fight to repel western forces that seek to disrupt their way of life. Davis has been recognised for her outstanding performance on both the big and small screens. She is the only African-American actress to earn the acting trifecta of Emmy, Tony, and Oscar. Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson, together with the film’s director, Lawrence, will produce The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Author Suzanne Collins and director Tim Palen are on board as executive producers for the Hunger Games film. On November 17th, 2023, you may expect to purchase The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Synopsis
The only scion of a once-proud family that has fallen from prominence in a post-war Capitol, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is the final chance for his fading heritage. The 10th Hunger Games are rapidly approaching, and young Snow is worried about his assignment to guide Lucy Gray Baird, the female tribute from poor District 12. But after Lucy Gray’s rebellious singing at the reaping ritual captures the attention of all of Panem, Snow feels he has a chance to change the outcome. In their struggle to stay alive, Snow and Lucy must combine their natural flair for performance with their newly acquired political acumen.