Hard to believe, but coming into THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1, Francis Lawrence had only directed four other movies. Making his feature debut in 2005 with CONSTANTINE, Lawrence went on to tackle the adaptation of I AM LEGEND starring Will Smith, the 2011 drama WATER FOR ELEPHANTS and, of course, 2013’s CATCHING FIRE, the second installment of the HUNGER GAMES franchise. The strength of that film solidified Lawrence as the man who would see the series to the end with MOCKINGJAY PART 1 and 2. When it’s all said and done, he’ll be able to consider himself the director of a few of the most successful movies of all time.
MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 is certainly a different beast that the movies that proceeded it; a claustrophobic, dystopian film, it actually closes in – rather than opens up – the world of Katniss Everdeen by sending her underground, where she and the rest of District 13 plan their eventual assault on the Capitol. I recently spoke to Lawrence about the changes made for this film, the difficulty (if any) splitting one movie into two and his collaboration with Jennifer Lawrence.