The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is a 2014 American dystopian film directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Peter Craig and Danny Strong, based on the 2010 novel Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. The sequel to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), it is the third installment in The Hunger Games film series. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland and Sam Claflin. In the film, Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) joins Alma Coin (Moore), the renegade leader of the underground District 13, in a mass rebellion against the Capitol.
Development on a third Hunger Games film was announced in May 2012, after Lionsgate announced Collins's novel would be split into two parts. Lawrence was confirmed to return to direct the final two installments that November, which would be filmed back-to-back. Most of the main cast was rounded out by September 2013 when principal photography began, lasting until June 2014, with filming locations including Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Paris, and Berlin. The film faced controversy after its content was used in political protests in 2014 and 2015.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on November 10, 2014, and was released in the United States on November 21, by Lionsgate. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its acting, music, and political subtext, but criticism of its pacing and the decision to split the novel into two films. It grossed $755.4 million worldwide, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2014; it set the record for the largest opening day and opening weekend of 2014.
Among its accolades, Mockingjay – Part 1 was nominated for Best Science Fiction Film at the 41st Saturn Awards, while Lawrence was nominated Best Actress in an Action Movie at the 20th Critics' Choice Awards. The song "Yellow Flicker Beat" by Lorde, the lead single from its soundtrack, was nominated for Best Original Song at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards and Critics' Choice Awards. Part 2 was released in November 2015.
Plot
After being rescued from the destroyed arena in the 75th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen, Beetee, and Finnick Odair are taken to District 13, an underground district isolated from Panem that has been spearheading the rebellion. Katniss is introduced to President Alma Coin, the rebel leader. Katniss is told that her arrow destroying the forcefield led to riots in over half the districts, joining District 13 in the rebellion, which caused President Snow to bomb District 12 in retaliation. Coin asks her to become the "Mockingjay"—a symbol of the rebellion—as part of a "hearts and minds" strategy. She visits the ruins of District 12, her old house somehow untouched with white roses from President Snow inside. Katniss is reunited with her mother and sister Prim and reluctantly agrees to become Mockingjay after seeing Peeta being manipulated on state television to quell the rebellion.
Katniss meets her film team and is given Effie Trinket as a stylist and her close friend Gale as a bodyguard. They travel to District 8 where Katniss is filmed being saluted by dozens of wounded civilians at a hospital; Snow, seeing the footage, orders an airstrike at the hospital, killing everyone inside. The crew films Katniss and Gale shooting down two Capitol hovercraft and Katniss' rage-filled threatening speech, inspiring loggers in District 7 to revolt against the Capitol.
Katniss and her team travel to District 12 to film her singing "The Hanging Tree". Rebel forces in District 5, singing the same anthem, launch an attack against a hydroelectric dam, the Capitol's primary source of electricity. The attack successfully implodes and breaches the dam, causing a blackout throughout the Capitol. That night, Katniss watches Peeta being interviewed by Caesar Flickerman, the Games' former presenter, when Coin and Beetee hijack the signal to air a clip of Katniss. After seeing it, Peeta suddenly shouts a warning that the Capitol is about to attack District 13. Coin orders a mass evacuation further into underground shelters, and the facility survives the attack. Upon emerging, Katniss discovers the area littered with white roses; she concludes that Snow orchestrated this to inform her that whenever she condemns the Capitol, they will torture Peeta in retaliation.
Coin dispatches a strike team to rescue Peeta and the remaining victors Johanna Mason, Enobaria and Annie Cresta from their prison. Beetee hijacks the Capitol's defense system with a "propo" narrated by Finnick to convince more districts to side with the rebellion in which Finnick reveals that Snow would force "desirable" tributes (including Finnick himself) into prostitution with the threat of killing their families if they refused (which happened to Johanna), and that Snow only became the leader of Panem because he poisoned his opponents. When the propo proves not to be enough, Katniss communicates directly with Snow to buy enough time. Gale's team rescues the victors and escapes the Capitol easily, indicating the Capitol reduced its security on purpose. When Katniss greets Peeta, he unexpectedly attacks and nearly strangles her to death before being knocked out by Boggs.
Katniss wakes up and is informed that Peeta has been "hijacked" — brainwashed into trying to kill her, which explains why the Capitol allowed them to escape with him. Peeta is placed in solitary confinement, while a serum is developed to reverse the hijacking effects. Coin announces that the rebels' next objective is the Capitol's principal military stronghold in District 2, the only district remaining loyal to the Capitol.
Cast
Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket Julianne Moore as President Alma Coin Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee Jeffrey Wright as Beetee Latier Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman Donald Sutherland as President Coriolanus Snow Willow Shields as Primrose Everdeen Paula Malcomson as Mrs. Everdeen Sam Claflin as Finnick Odair Jena Malone as Johanna Mason Stef Dawson as Annie Cresta Mahershala Ali as Boggs Natalie Dormer as Cressida Evan Ross as Messalla Wes Chatham as Castor Elden Henson as Pollux Patina Miller as Commander Paylor Robert Knepper as Antonius Sarita Choudhury as Egeria
Production Pre-production On July 10, 2012, Lionsgate announced that the third and final installment in the series, Mockingjay, would be split into two parts. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 was released on November 21, 2014, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 was released on November 20, 2015. Many directors, including Rian Johnson, Francis Lawrence and Alfonso Cuarón were considered for the job. On November 1, 2012, Lawrence, director of Catching Fire, announced he would return to direct both final parts in the series.
On December 6, 2012, Danny Strong announced that he would be writing the third and fourth films. On February 15, 2013, Lionsgate confirmed the script for Part 1 was written by Strong, giving him permission to write Part 2. Later in August, Hemsworth confirmed that shooting of the film would begin in September 2013.
The film's production began on September 16, 2013, in Boston, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Studio Babelsberg co-produced and oversaw production services for the film.
Casting On August 26, 2013, it was announced that actress Stef Dawson had joined the cast and would portray Annie Cresta. Lionsgate announced on September 13, 2013, that Julianne Moore had joined the cast of both Mockingjays parts to play President Alma Coin. Over the next month, Patina Miller, Mahershala Ali, Wes Chatham, and Elden Henson joined the cast as Commander Paylor, Boggs, Castor, and Pollux, respectively. There was a casting call for extras on September 23. Robert Knepper was cast as Antonius, a character who does not appear in the books and is an addition to the adaptation. Knepper has stated that during his audition he knew that the lines he received were not what he would end up doing, adding that "they [Lionsgate] are so secretive about this." Wyatt Russell was originally offered a role in both parts of Mockingjay, but his father Kurt confirmed in September 2013 that he turned down the offer to star in 22 Jump Street.
Filming Shooting began on September 23, 2013, in Atlanta and concluded on June 20, 2014, in Berlin. Part 1 was filmed back-to-back with Part 2. In mid-October, the crews were spotted filming in Rockmart. The crew and cast took a break to promote The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and filming resumed on December 2, 2013. On December 14, 2013, shooting took place at the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta, Georgia. On December 18, shooting began at Caldwell Tanks in Newnan, Georgia.
Philip Seymour Hoffman died on February 2, 2014. Lionsgate released a statement stating that Hoffman had completed filming most of his scenes prior to his death. A dedication to him appears ahead of the closing credits.
On April 18, 2014, producer Nina Jacobson announced that filming in Atlanta had just wrapped up, followed by director Francis Lawrence announcing the next day about moving production to Europe. It was announced that they would be filming battle scenes in Paris and at Berlin Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. They began filming in the streets of Paris and in the city of Ivry-sur-Seine on May 7, where Lawrence and Hemsworth were spotted during the filming of some scenes among extras.
On May 9, it was reported that filming was taking place in Noisy le Grand, Paris where Lawrence, Hemsworth, Hutcherson, and Claflin were spotted on the set which re-created the world of Panem. It is the same location where Brazil was filmed in 1984.
Costumes Christian Cordella, a costume illustrator on the first movie, returned to sketch the outfits for District 13.
Music
The music was created to convey the dark feel of the film. On October 9, 2014, it was revealed that the Trinity School boys' choir recorded tracks for the score, written by James Newton Howard. Jennifer Lawrence performed the film's version of the song "The Hanging Tree", originally featured in the novel, but was not thrilled about having to sing and cried the day of the performance. As of the evening of November 25, 2014, the song was #4 on the Apple's iTunes top 150 list. "The Hanging Tree" also peaked at #1 in Austria and Hungary and peaked at #12 on Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
Marketing Tim Palen, the head of marketing for Lionsgate said, "When we started, we decided to look at this as one big movie that's eight hours long. Otherwise, it's going to be kind of overwhelming to do a new campaign for each movie." He also added that he saw the biggest potential in international growth and that they matched Iron Man 3 domestically, but were aiming to improve internationally for the two Mockingjay films. He revealed in an interview with Variety that there would be reveals of the marketing campaign at the Cannes Film Festival in May and San Diego Comic-Con in July.
On May 14, 2014 TheHungerGamesExclusive.com was launched. It featured three stills from the movie, featuring Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jeffrey Wright with an additional behind-the-scenes still of director Francis Lawrence and Mahershala Ali. The website also featured other content, including a short GIF image of Julianne Moore as President Coin and a video interview with Moore. There was also an in-depth interview with director Francis Lawrence, producer Nina Jacobson and screenwriter Peter Craig. A page from the script of Part 1 was also released in addition to a motion poster, with the tagline, "Fire burns brighter in the darkness."