The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Actor Shares Funny Jason Schwartzman Story

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is coming to 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD next week. In honor of the upcoming physical media release, ComicBook.com had the chance to chat with some of the film's cast about the making of the movie. The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is based on the novel by Suzanne Collins and takes place during the 10th Annual Hunger Games, 64 years before the events of the first book/movie. Just like the 74th Annual Hunger Games, the earlier games have a host. The movie features Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman, who is an antecedent of Caesar Flickerman, the character played by Stanley Tucci in the previous films. In the latest installment, Lucky often takes his frustrations out on one of the "mentors," Festus Creed (Max Raphael). While chatting with Raphael, ComicBook.com learned that was all Schwartzman's idea. 

"I'll preface this by saying that in real life, I have no bad blood with Jason," Raphael began. "He's my favorite human being in the world. He's just an absolute joy. And when we were shooting, it was my first day working with him, and I'd been so nervous beforehand. I don't think I've ever even said this publicly. So if by any chance he watches this, I'm about to be really embarrassed..."

"But Jason Schwartzman was my childhood hero," Raphael began. "I grew up watching his movies, and him as a writer, and a filmmaker, and an actor, everything he does I was obsessed with. So when I found out that I was going to be in a movie with him, it blew my mind. And then when we got on set for the first day, I spent the whole morning really consciously avoiding talking to him, because I didn't want to be that guy. I didn't want to go up and be like, 'Oh. Hi Jason. It's so lovely to meet you,' whatever."

"And then he actually, I think, came over to me, and we met for the first time, and it was everything I ever imagined," Raphael continued. "And he said to me, 'I think I needed an enemy.' And I've been talking to Francis [Lawrence], and I think that should be you.' And I went, 'Brilliant. Sign me up.' We've got a whole backstory here. Festus, maybe he wants a career in broadcasting. Maybe Lucky babysat him when he was a kid, and he's just never gotten over how annoying he was. I don't know. That's for the fans to decide. I have my own personal history, but it's very personal to me." 

"There's four hours of Jason just bullying me that exists somewhere in a vault of Lionsgate," he added.

You can watch our interview with Max Raphael at the top of the page. 

 Stay tuned for more from our interviews with the cast of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, which is being released on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on February 13th.