Olivia Rodrigo Song Featured in ‘The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’

Lionsgate’s unveiled two short videos in support of the November 17, 2023 theatrical release of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, including one featuring the new song “Can’t Catch Me Now” by Olivia Rodrigo.

The three-time Grammy winner revealed her involvement in the film during a special event broadcast on TikTok.

“From the very beginning of this franchise, we have been fortunate to attract some of the world’s most talented recording artists, whose music has accentuated and complemented the drama of the films while underscoring the emotional weight carried by the characters,” said director Francis Lawrence. “With her highly charged lyrics and urgent voice, Olivia Rodrigo taps into all of that as much as any artist today. She’s an absolute thrill to work with, and we couldn’t be more excited that her music is a part of the movie.”

The studio’s second clip features Rachel Zegler as District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird in the arena just as The Hunger Games is getting underway.

In addition to Rachel Zegler, the cast includes Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow, Oscar winner Viola Davis as Head Gamemaker Volumnia Gaul, Peter Dinklage as Dean Cesca Highbottom, Jason Schwartzman as Lucky Flickerman, Josh Andrés Rivera as Sejanus Plinth, and Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow. Jerome Lance is Marcus, tribute from District 2; Ashley Liao is Clemensia Dovecote, one of Coriolanus’s closest friends and mentor to a tribute from District 11; Knox Gibson plays Bobbin, tribute from District 8; Mackenzie Lansing is Coral, tribute from District 4; and Aamer Husain plays Felix Ravinstill, mentor to a tribute from District 11.

Fionnula Flanagan plays Grandma’am, Coriolanus’s strict grandmother; Isobel Jesper Jones plays Mayfair Lipp, daughter of the mayor of District 12; Flora Li Thiemann is Livia Cardew, mentor to a tribute from District 1; and Burn Gorman is Commander Hoff, Scott Folan is Beanpole, and Carl Spencer is Smiley, Peacekeepers sent by the Capitol to District 12.

Honor Gillies, Eike Onyambu, and Konstantin Taffet play members of the Covey, a group of nomads in District 12. Michael Greco and Daniela Grubert are Strabo Plinth and Mrs. Plinth, wealthy parents to Sejanus Plinth.

The Plot, Courtesy of Lionsgate:

Experience the story of The Hunger Games — 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 (Blyth) who is the last hope for his failing lineage, the once-proud Snow family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With his livelihood threatened, Snow is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler), a tribute from the impoverished District 12. But after Lucy Gray’s charm captivates the audience of Panem, Snow sees an opportunity to shift their fates.

With everything he has worked for hanging in the balance, Snow unites with Lucy Gray to turn the odds in their favor. Battling his instincts for both good and evil, Snow sets out on a race against time to survive and reveal if he will ultimately become a songbird or a snake.

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