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The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

2023 film directed by Francis Lawrence

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a 2023 American dystopian science fiction adventure film in which a young university student Coriolanus Snow of the prestigious Capitol University in the city of Panem of a dystopian future and the events that eventually lead him on the path to becoming the tyrannical leader of Panem, including his relationship with the Hunger Games tribute Lucy Gray Baird during the year of the 10th Hunger Games. It is a prequel to The Hunger Games.

Snow lands on top.
Directed by Francis Lawrence. Written by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt, based on the 2020 novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the prequel book to The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.
Everyone hungers for something.taglines

Coriolanus "Coryo" Snow edit

  • The Hunger Games, they're to punish the Districts. Those tributes don't have a choice.
  • My name is Coriolanus Snow, and welcome to your academy orientation.
  • Those words you speak. The people with whom you associate. And the style with which you present yourself.
  • I am going to get you out of there. But if I'm going to risk everything, tell me, is this real?
  • Snow lands on top.
  • It's the things that we love most, that destroy us.

Lucy Gray Baird edit

  • You seem like a good man, Coriolanus Snow. It would have been nice to meet you under different circumstances.
  • You really want to take care of me I’m that Arena? Start by thinking I can actually win.
  • There's a natural goodness built into us all. No, really. We can either cross that line into evil, or not. And it's our last work to stay in the right side of that line.
  • If you can trust anyone in this world, you can trust me.

Dr. Volumnia Gaul edit

  • You're good at games. Maybe you'll be a Gamemaker like me.

Dialogue edit

[A man chops the leg off of a Districts Rebellion casualty]
Young Coriolanus: Why is he doing that?
Young Tigris: He's starving.
Gradma'am: Your father is dead, Coriolanus. It was a rebel, they say. A trap out in the forest in 12. It's up to us now, to make him proud.
Clemmie: Why, Coriolanus Snow.
Coriolanus: Clemmie.
Clemmie: Are you sweating?
Coriolanus: It's Reaping Day. We gave driver the day off.
Clemmie: Ugh, the ingrate should be begging to chauffeur you around today. Just don't forget. I was your class partner while you're gloating over the Plinth Prize.
Coriolanus: Prize? Please! I just want to serve Panem.
Clemmie: Hmm. Hungry?
Coriolanus: Cook served steak for breakfast. We had to throw half of it out.
Clemmie: [They enter auditorium] Shame on you Coryo. Don't you know they're starving in The Districts? Good luck. Not that you'll need it.
Arachne: Finally, the star pupil. That's a snazzy shirt. What are those buttons, Tesserae?
Coriolanus: Huh. That's why they remind me of the maid's bathroom.
Felix: Have you tried this lamb? It's scandalous!
Festus: Only the vulgar eat with their fingers, Felix. What, did Daddy not teach you any table manners?
Felix: Maybe he would have if he wasn't so busy running the country. Hey, they called us her for the Plinth Prize, right? Because I heard Dr. Gaul's in the building. "Plinth". I mean, look at his spawn. Who would have thought that you could buy your way into the Capitol?
Festus: Well, you can't buy class. Did you see his mother's outfit? Sorry, his "Ma's".
Coriolanus: Dress a turnip in a ball gown and it'll still beg to be mashed.
Arachne: Don't do that. We all know you like him.
Coriolanus: I don't like him, Arachne. I tolerate him. He's district.
Festus: Tolerate him. Don't encourage him.
Arachne: Okay, yeah.
Festus: I hear one more time how immoral these Hunger Games are, I'll put him in the arena mys- [Sejanus appears] Sejanus. You made it to the Reaping for once.
Sejanus: And you made it to graduation, Festus. We're both shocked.
Arachne: Spill it, who won the prize?
Sejanus: Oh no, I'm not gonna ruin my father's big day. No one here actually likes him, but they do love his money. You know what that's like, don't you, Arachne?
Arachne: Funny.
...
[All Reaping mentors are seated]
Sejanus: [Whispers to Coryo] Hey, um, listen, I know you had high hopes for today, but there is no prize today. Not anymore. I'm so sorry.
Coriolanus: What?
Dr. Gaul: [Takes speakers podium] How tantatilizing to see all your shining young faces on this auspicious day. I am Dr. Volumnia Gaul, your humble head homemaker, in charge of the War Department and all of its affiliated concerns. I've broken free of my laboratory today to examine. The leaders of the next generation. I won't be around forever, after all. And now to that end, I am honored to introduce to you the creator of The Hunger Games themselves. Dean Casca Highbottom.
Dean Casca: Um. Select students, faculty, and of course, Dr. Gaul, I have summoned you all here today for the 10th Annual Reaping Ceremony in which we choose two children from each district to throw into the Capitol arena to fight to the death in the Hunger Games.
Clemmie: I can't believe they still allow him to speak in public.
Dean Casca: And here sit, our own 24 top prospects, all waiting to hear the results of hard study in this prestigious institution, eager to learn who's won that Plinth Prize, no doubt. And a golden future. However, I am her to tell you that there has been a change this year. One final assignment to prove your worth. Because... the esteemed citizens of the Capitol have grown bored of the Games and simply aren't watching anymore. And if the Games are to continue at all, there must be an audience. So, Head Gamemaker Dr. Gaul has stepped in to... incentivize patriotic values with her own unique flair, starting with you. The Plinth Prize will no longer be determined by who has the best grades...
Arachne: Excuse me?
Dean Casca: ...but by who is the best mentor in the Hunger Games. This is a brand new role. As the Reaping progresses live, I allocate each district tribute, a Capitol mentor behind the scenes, one who must persuade them, to perform for the cameras.
Festus: Obviously, the best mentor will be the one whose tribute wins the Games.
Arachne: What if I get a pathetic runt girl from one of the poor districts, like 8 or 12? They're just going to die in two minutes like they did last year and the year before.
Dean Casca: Your role is to turn these children into spectacles, Ms. Crane. Not survivors. Victory in the game is only one of our considerations. Your entire future rests on this last project. Oh, and I must tell you, anyone caught cheating to giver their tributes an unfair advantage... will just not have a future at all. Oh! Here we go! Let the Reaping ceremony begin! District 1. Boy goes to Livia Cardew. Girl goes to Palmyra Monty. District 2 Boy... how apt. Goes to Sejanus Plinth.
Coriolanus: [To Sejanus] You got the pick of the litter.
Sejanus: You forget. I'm part of that litter.
Dean Casca: 4, boy. Persephone Price. Girl, Festus Creed. 7, boy, Vipsania Sickle. Girl, Pup Harrington. 8, boy, Juno Phipps. Girl, Hilarius Heavenbee. 10, boy, Domitia Whimsiwick. Hmm, girl, Arachne Crane. 11, boy, Clemensia Dovecote. 12, girl, Felix Ravenstill. 12, boy, Lysistrata Vickers. Oh, you'll be happy to hear about this, Ms. Crane. The "runt girl" from District 12, she belong to Coriolanus Snow.
...
District 12 mayor: Lucy Gray Baird. [Lucy starts walking to the stage]
Mayfair: [Whispers to self] Sing your way out of this Lucy Gray.
Arachne: [Watching Lucy on TV] What is that dress? Is she some sort of clown?
Man: [Groveling to Lucy as she walks past him] Lucy Gray. I didn't know. I didn't know. I'm sorry.
District 12 mayor: [Lucy puts a snake into Mayfair's dress who becomes hysterical] My daughter! Help her! Help her! Help her!
Mayfair: Get it off! Get it off! [Snake comes out of her dress]
Peacekeeper: [Lucy walks up to mayor who slaps her knocking her to the ground] That's enough! Leave her be! [Mayor is manhandled away]
Lucy: Just give me a minute, boys.
Woman: [Starts singing] You can't take my past
Tributes: [Joining in singing] You can't take my history, you could take my pa, but his name's a mystery, nothing you can take from me, was ever worth keepin', nothing you can take, as ever worth keepin'.
Arachne: Singing? Is she out of her mind?
Lucy: Can't take my charm, can't take my humor, can't take my wealth.
Cameraman: Capitol says keep rolling.
Lucy: 'Cause it's just a rumor, nothing you can take, [Walks to mic stand] was ever worth keepin' [Unhinges mic] You can't take my sass, you can't take my talkin' [Shouts] You can kiss my ass! [She curtsies and walks away] Come on, boys.
Arachne: Well, she's mentally ill.
Casca: Proud, I see. Like your father. Yes. He and I were best friends. Once. Enlighten me, Mr. Snow. What are your plans after these Games?
Coriolanus: I hope to go on to the University, sir.
Casca: Naturally. And if you fail to win the Plinth Prize, what then?
Coriolanus: We'd pay the tuition, of course.
Casca: Look at you. Your makeshift shirt and your too tight shoes. Trying desperately to fit in when I know the Snows don't have a pot to piss in. Good luck with that poor little songbird.
Coriolanus: He's sabotaging us. That girl's not gonna win these Games. You saw her. She's underfed, unstable.
Tigris: The Dean said it's not just about winning.
Coriolanus: Everything is about winning. If not the Games now, then the crowd. Lucy Gray won't survive a minute inside that arena. So that means we have to make every second before then count. I'll get her to sing again.
Tigris: I wouldn't sing a note for you if I was her. I wouldn't do anything at all. Unless I could trust you.
Coriolanus: She's district, Tigris.
Coriolanus: She knows we hate her, and she wants us dead. How am I supposed to get her to trust me? Imagine it was your name that they pulled and you had been ripped from your home. I'd just wanna know that somebody still cared about me out here.
Tigris: Don't discount her just because she's district, Coryo. You might have more in common with her than you think.
Dr. Gaul: You passed all my tests. I've asked President Ravenstill to grant you a full pardon.
Coriolanus Snow: I can't afford the University.
Dr. Gaul: A certain Mr. Strabo Plinth has offered to pay for everything you need while you're there. But before I take you under my wing, let me ask you one final time. What are the Hunger Games for?
Coriolanus Snow: To remind us all who we truly are.
Dr. Gaul: And who are you?
Coriolanus Snow: The victor.
Dr. Gaul: Welcome home, Mr. Snow.
Lucy: [Walking through forest with Coryo] Are you thinking about Sejanus?
Coryo: I just wish there was more I could've done? I'm sorry you have to leave this place.
Lucy: Yeah, I'll miss the Covey. Hope they'll follow me someday though.
Coryo: You know what I won't miss? People.
Lucy: People aren't so bad. Not really. It's what the world does to them. Like all of us in the arena. I think there's a natural goodness born into us all. No, really. You can either cross that line into evil... nor not, It's our life's work to stay on the right side of that line.
Coryo: It's not always that simple.
Lucy: Hmm... I know. I'm a victor. Sure will be nice not to have to kill anyone else up north, huh?
Coryo: Three's enough for me. I'm going to make a walking stick, you want one?
Lucy: You killed three? Whose the third?
Coryo: What?
Lucy: Person you killed, Coriolanus. You said you killed three people, I only know about two. Do not lie to me.
Coryo: [Walks up to her] Can you help me get this out?
Lucy: There was Bobbin the arena and Mayfair. And whose the third?
Coryo: [Hesitates] My old self. I killed him so I could come with you. [Pinches her chin] Come on. [Walks away with her looking on]
Officer: How's the arm, Private? The medic said you took quite a bite.
Coryo: Nothing I won't quite have forgotten about by the time I reach two, sir.
Officer: There's been a change of plans, Private Snow.
Dr. Gaul: [Coryo walks up to Gaul feeding eels in the Zoological habitarium] Congratulations, Mr. Snow. You've passed all my tests. I've asked President Ravinstill to grant you a full pardon, effective immediately. I also told him that you are too promising to waste in the military. So you'll be studying under me now at the Capitol University.
Coryo: I can't afford University.
Dr. Gaul: A certain Mr. Strabo Plinth has offered to pay for everything you need while you're there. All for being a good friend to his Sejanus. He doesn't know quite how good a friend you were, of course. I never made mention of your little recording. Quite impressive, how you sent your only friend to the noose just to get my attention.
Coryo: That's not what I did.
Dr. Gaul: Are you sure? Because I think that won you the Plinth Prize, after all. The president has agreed to another year of The Games. People watched. And I have to thank you for that. But before I take you under my wing, after everything you've seen out there in the real world, let me ask you one final time. What are The Hunger Games for?
Coryo: I used to think The Hunger Games were a punishment for The Districts. Then I thought they served as a warning to us here in The Capitol about the threat The Districts posed. Now I know the whole world is an arena. And we need The Hunger Games. Every year. To remind us all who we truly are.
Dr. Gaul: And who are you, do you determine?
Coryo: The victor.
Dr. Gaul: Welcome home, Mr. Snow.
Grandma'am: You look so handsome.
Coriolanus Snow: [To Tigris] What do you think?
Tigris Snow: I think... you look... just like your father, Coriolanus.
Coryo: [Dumps a box next to a sleeping Casca in a lecture hall waking him up] Sejanus Plinth's personal effects from District 12. [Dumps out box's contents] I was going to return this to his parents tonight. As a gift. It would have been his 19th birthday. [Picks up photo] But I think... they would prefer this. [Turns it to show Casca a photo of Sejanus with Mayfair] Best friends.
Dean Casca: You grew a heart in The Districts.
Coryo: No, not in The Districts. In The Hunger Games. I should be thanking you.
Dean Casca: The credit for The Hunger Games goes to your father. Half of it, at least. I only dreamt them up as an assignment. A joke. I was drunk. Devise a punishment for our enemies so extreme, they will never forget how badly they wronged us. When I sobered up, I wanted to destroy it, but your father, my best friend, he'd stolen it from me. Put both our names on it, taken it from Gaul to rise up himself. I tried morphing... then night that first child fell. I hoped The Games might die out. I tried to stop them however I could. But then you came along. Now the blood of so many more generations or so will be on my hands. Because you've show us the price people are willing to pay for a good show. Tell me... was she sad when you left 12? Your little songbird?
Coryo: I expect it made us both sad.
Dean Casca: My contacts inform me that she's disappeared. That the mayor may have killed her out there. But there's no proof. It's a mystery. And mysteries have a way of driving people mad. Look at you. Heir to the Plinth fortune, nothing in your way.
Coryo: Snow lands on top.
Dean Casca: Yeah. [Coryo walks out of lecture hall with Casca drinking his Morphling vial only to succumb to poisoning]
Coryo: [Holds out a white rose to Lucy having just gotten off the train] Welcome to the Capitol.
Lucy: When I was little, my mama would bathe me in buttermilk and rose petals. [She peels off a petal and eats it] Tastes like bedtime. You look like you shouldn't be here.
Coryo: Well, I shouldn't. But I'm your mentor.
Lucy: A rebel. What does my mentor do besides bring me roses?
Coryo: I do my best to take care of you.
...
Lucy: Good luck with that, gorgeous. [Walks away]
...
Coryo: [To Peacekeeper] Excuse me, can I... Excuse me, I'd like to escort my tribute... [Seizes the opportunity of guards distracted by a tribute making an escape attempt and runs into tribute transport truck]
Coryo: Hi.
Reaper: What's the matter, pretty boy? You in the wrong cage?
Coryo: No. This cage is delightful.
Treech: [Reaper lunges at Coryo] Get him, Reaper.
Reaper: [Rams Coryo up against a wall] I will kill you right now.
Dill: He'll do it too. Reaper killed a Peacekeeper back in 11.
Reaper: Quiet, Dill.
Bobbin: I say we all kill him.
Brandy: I'm in. Nothing left to lose now.
Lucy: Y'all got family back home? They'll kill them if you hurt him. Then you. Besides, he's my mentor. I might need him.
Coral: How come you get a mender?
Coryo: Mentor. You each get one.
Coral: Oh, and we'll just trust you on that? Right?
Coryo: I'm just here to help you.
Coral: Why does rainbow girl here get special treatment, hmm? Why aren't our menders here?
Lucy: Just not inspired, I guess.
[Truck stops and dumps all the tributes out into a zoo-like enclosure]
'Lucky: Ouch. Well, we'll give them a chance to stand up and catch their breath. I'm jealous of that entrance. I'm Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman, a man who needs no introduction. You all know me as your favorite weatherman and amateur magician. [Throws coin in air] But guess where I am today. Here's a hint. That's right. The Capitol Zoo, where this year's tributes will be held here on display behind these bars for your viewing pleasure. That's right. All 24 of them 'cause... What in the gem of Panem? You see, that's the Academy rouge, no? Excuse me. Hello, sir. Yes, you. In the red. Who are you and why are you in there with them? We're live. The Capitol is watching.
Lucy: [Grabs Coryo's arm] Own it.
Lucky: Are you all right? Sir? Who are you?
Coryo: Lucy Gray Baird, may I introduce you to my neighbors?
Lucky: A response would be greatly appreciated, but anything would be nice. [Coryo puts white rose in Lucy's hair] Hello? Can they not hear me in there? Well, that's something you don't see every day. They're holding hands. Yes, yes, yes. Who are you, sir? What are you doing in the cage here?
Coryo: [Walks up to a boy and girl at the fence] Hi. How do you do? My name is Coriolanus Snow. And this is my tribute. Lucy Gray Baird from District 12.
Lucy: Hi there. What's your name?
Boy: My name is Pontius.
Lucy: It's nice to meet you. Is this your sister?
Boy: That's Venus. She's only four.
Lucy: Well, I think four is a very smart age to be.
Girl: Where'd you find that snake?
Lucy: Well, he found me. Must have been a music lover. My singing calmed him right down.
Girl: Can I touch your dress?
Lucy: Of course. I like your dress too. Oh. And who might you be?
Lucky: You don't know who I am? [To cameraman] Don't laugh. Not everyone has televisions out in the districts. [To Lucy] I'm Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman. But more enticingly, who are you, Lucy From District 12?
Lucy: Oh. It's Lucy Gray. And I'm not actually from 12. No, my people are Covey. We're like a family. We're musicians by trade and we travel from place to place as the fancy takes us. At least we used to. Before the Peacekeepers rounded us up.
Lucky: I see. But now you're District 12.
Lucy: If you say so.
Lucky: Yes. Your dress is far from gray and it seems to be a big hit with the children.
Lucy: Oh, it is? Well, the Covey love color, me more so than most. But this dress was my mama's so it's extra special to me.
Lucky: Mmm-hmm. And she's in District 12?
Lucy: Well, only her bones, darling. Only her pearly white bones. Do you know my mentor? Says his name is Coriolanus Snow and clearly, I got the cake with the cream 'cause nobody else has even bothered to show up.
Lucky: The Gamemakers did tell you to jump in the cage with them?
Coryo: They didn't tell me not to. They just said that it was a mentor's job to introduce our tributes to the citizens of Panem. And I thought, well, if Lucy Gray is brave enough to be here, then why shouldn't I be, too?
Lucky: Hmm.
Lucy: For the record, I didn't have a choice.
Lucky: For the record, I think you're about to be whisked away, young man.
Peacekeeper: [Grabbing ahold of Coryo] Let's go.
Lucy: [To Coryo] Oh. Hey... Get us some food, please. Jessup and I haven't eaten since the Reaping.
Lucky: The 10th annual Hunger Games are soon approaching. So come down to the zoo, and see these tributes before it's too late. And I mean, too late. For Capitol News, I'm Lucretius... "Lucky" Flickerman.
[Coryo enters lecture hall]
Dean Casca: Your little excursion was in violation of about five different Academy rules, Mr. Snow. Chief amongst them, endangering a Capitol student.
Coryo: What? Who?
Dean Casca: You. I'm moving for the Gamemakers to disqualify you as mentor immediately. You said we had to get our tributes to perform, not that we had to stay away. I'll add insubordination as well.
Arachne: Holding her hand, Coryo, introducing her to people, you make it look as if we're one and the same as those animals.
Sejanus: Coriolanus didn't show those people anything they didn't already know.
Coryo: I don't need your help, Sejanus.
Sejanus: That the tributes are human beings. Just like us. That's why nobody wants to watch the Games. It's because people know deep down that winning a war doesn't justify starving people's children, taking away their freedoms, their rights.
Dr. Gaul: Snow fell down in the cage. It fell down in the cage but it landed...
Coryo: On stage.
Dr. Gaul: You're good at Games. Maybe one day, you'll be a Gamemaker like me.
Coryo: If the Games continue at all.
Dr. Gaul: Oh, they'll continue. With performances like young Mr. Snow's in that zoo. And I came here to ask your star mentor a question. What are the Hunger Games for?
Coryo: They're to punish the districts for their uprising, to commemorate the end of the war...
Dr. Gaul: "Commemorate the..." Dull, dull, dull. Punishment can take myriad forms. Why not drop bomb, cancel food shipments, stage executions? Why Games?
Sejanus: Shouldn't we be asking ourselves whether or not they're right in the first place?
Dr. Gaul: You have a problem with my Games?
Sejanus: Some of those kids were two years old when the war ended. The oldest of them were only eight. The Capitol is supposed to be everyone's government now. It is supposed to protect all of us. I don't see how making children fight each other to the death is protecting anyone.
Dr. Gaul: That sort of sympathy might interfere with your mentoring assignment.
Dean Casca: Perhaps the Capitol students are ill-suited to be mentoring tributes. Perhaps the Game's time has passed.
Coryo: Dean Highbottom is wrong. My classmates, too. Maybe Sejanus is onto something here. Maybe we should be viewing those tributes as human beings. I mean, you saw those kids in the zoo, they just... they just wanted to get to know Lucy Gray. If we need people to watch, we should be letting them get closer to the tributes before the Games. To make the stakes personal.
Dr. Gaul: Who will watch the Games if they care what happens to the tributes?
Coryo: Everyone. If they thought the tribute they cared about had a chance of winning. People need someone to root for and someone to root against. We need them to invest. And if we bend a few Capitol laws, we could even have them place bets. Look, I know Lucy Gray may not win in the arena but if you give her a chance, I would bet the Plinth Prize that she can win people's attention.
Dr. Gaul: I'd like you to write up a proposal of these thoughts tonight, Mr. Snow.
Clemmie: Wait. You mean you might actually use his ideas?
Dr. Gaul: If it'll help the ratings, why not.
Clemmie: Coriolanus and I are class partners, Dr. Gaul. We do all of our assignments together.
Dr. Gaul: [Chuckles derisively] It'll be an interesting test.
Coryo: You trying to fatten that poor girl up so you can finally start taking bets? You think they'll give those kids a scrap if we don't give them a reason to do it? How do you think your tribute will have a chance if he can't eat?
Sejanus: He was my classmate. Back in 2.
Coryo: It's not your fault it's him.
Sejanus: See, I know. I'm so blameless, I'm choking on it. My father bought him for me, you know, at the Reaping, Just so he could show me that I could never go back to 2. But being Capitol is gonna kill me.
Coryo: So do something about it.
Sejanus: Quite the rebel.
Coryo: Oh, yeah. I'm bad news.
[Coryo and Sejanus walk up to tribute enclosure]
Sejanus: [Holds out a bread] Marcus. Hey. It's me. Marcus, look. Here, I got some food for you. Here. Come on. Marcus. [Marcus looks away disapprovingly]
Lucy: [Walks up to Coryo] Is that for us? ['Coryo gives Lucy a bundle with Lucy offering a cube to Jessup] Jessup.
Jessup: I'm not hungry.
Lucy: You think I can't hear your stomach growling, Jessup Diggs? Come on.
Coryo: What happened to his neck?
Lucy: A bat bite. The first night on the train, he didn't sleep a wink the whole journey 'cause he was keeping the bats off me, so I would get some rest.
Archne: [Taunting her tribute with a soda pop bottle through bars] Can you take it? Come on, try harder than that.
Lucy: One thing I learned in 12 is that hunger is a weapon. Your friend over there sure knows it.
Coryo: She is not my friend. She is poison with perfect teeth. Are you gonna share everything that I give you with Jessup?
Lucy: Wh... Why? You think I ought to build up my strength so I can strangle him in the arena? Not exactly my forte.
Coryo: I might have a chance to help you. To make some suggestions to the Gamemakers. I might even be able to get the audience to send you gifts in the arena. Food and water to keep you going. You just have to try singing again to win people over.
Lucy: I don't sing when I'm told. I sing when I have something to say. Besides, I've seen your arena. There's nowhere to hide. What's the point? The guards say you get money if you get more people to watch and you say you wanna help me. Which is it?
Coryo: Both.
Archne: One more time!
Brandy: I'm not playing this game!
Arachne: Come on!
Brandy You shut up!
Coryo: [Lucy offers Coryo a cookie] Uh... No, thank you.
Lucy: I saw you staring. Please.
Archne: Give me something. I've been sitting here for 15 minutes!
Lucy: Always thought there was plenty of food in the Capitol.
Coryo: [Laughs] You know, one time, during the war, I ate a whole jar of paste just to stop the pain in my stomach.
Lucy: And how was it?
Coryo: Pasty.
Lucy: [Laughs] That little one. She's so sweet. So young. Something about her reminds me of my cousin Maude Ivory. I can't stand to think of them without me like this.
Coryo: I'm sorry.
Lucy: You seem like a good man, Coriolanus Snow. Sure would've been nice to meet you under different circumstances.
Coryo: One of your shows, maybe.
Lucy: Yeah. We could have had a drink. A dance or two. Like we had all the time in the world.
Arachne: Come on, just take it. [Brandy grabs Arachne, smashes the bottle and plunges it into Arachne's neck with all visitors running away]
Coryo: It's okay. Hold on. Hey, look at me. Hey, hold on. It's okay. I'll get help. Somebody help us, please! [A peacekeeper fatally shoots Brandy and Coryo is manhandled away]
Grandma'am: It's starting again. This is how it begins. The war.
Coryo: It was my fault. I suggested we get closer to the tributes.
Grandma'am: You're just lucky that your songbird didn't peck out your eyes too.
Tigris: She's not a rebel, Grandma'am. She's just a girl.
Grandma'am: [Chuckles dryly] Trust me, that one hasn't been a girl in a long time. Outside this Capitol, they're savages, one and all. However, they may smile, she will use you. You must use her or you'll end up dead in the trees like your father.
Dean Casca: In spite of yesterday's tragic events, our president has decided that the Games must go on to show everyone the Capitol is unafraid of such acts of terror. To which end, Dr. Gaul wishes you to preview the arena this afternoon with your tributes. Later this evening, there will be a special televised presentation of each tribute to our audience to, you know, get to know them. You will have an hour to discuss strategy. [Sighs] You may begin.
Sejanus: Marcus, come on. You and I aren't gonna be friends, but I'm gonna win, and for that to happen, we need to make you more... [scoffs] marketable.
Wovey: I'm a really good climber. I used to climb in my mama's factory all the time.
Lysistrata: [Observing Jessup's bat bite] It's getting infected.
Jessup: I'm fine.
Pup: Look at me, Lamina. I want you to win.
Clemmie: It's Reaper, right? Um, let me read you what- [Reaper lunges forward startling Clemmie]
Lucy: I'm so sorry about your classmate.
Coryo: Thank you. Are you okay?
Lucy: Wearing my mama's dress is the only thing keeping me together here. It's like she's wrapping her arms around me.
Coryo: My mother, she used to smell like roses. She died in childbirth. I was going to have a little sister.
Lucy: Both your parents gone? So, you're an orphan. Like me. Look... I need you to sing in these interviews later. It's the night before the Games and your last chance to win people over. I can't send you gifts in the arena without their money. Maybe a guitar could persuade me, maybe. You really wanna take care of me in that arena, Coriolanus? Start by thinking I can actually win.
Dean Casca: Snow. Dovecote.
[Coryo and Clemmie are walking up steps escorted by peacekeepers]
Clemmie: She can't expect us to have written that proposal last night, can she? I was crying for hours. We did... write it. I turned it in this morning. All right, give me the bullet points.
Dr. Gaul: Mr. Snow. Ms. Dovecote. Come and see my new babies.
Clemmie: Is there a point to the color?
Dr. Gaul: There's a point to everything, Ms. Dovecote, or to nothing at all. Which brings me neatly to your proposal. Which one of you actually wrote it?
Coryo: Well, there was-
Clemmie: I was inspired by Coriolanus yesterday, of course. His little betting idea. But the sponsorships and the gifts in the arena, those were all mine.
Coryo: Clemmie?
Dr. Gaul: So it's your sweaty handwriting on that page. Very impressive, Ms. Dovecote. Unfortunately, my assistant mistook it for trash this morning and lined the shelf of this very terrarium with it. So, please, Ms. Dovecote, retrieve it for us, won't you? So we might all consider your inspired ideas. Don't worry, my little predators are perfectly docile with those they can trust. So if they're used to your scent, if you've handled their food, for example, or if they've inhaled the sweat of your palm on a page, they'll leave you alone. A new scent, however... [sighs] you'd be on your own, little girl. Retrieve it. [Clemmie screams over a bitten snake]
Coryo: Clemmie! [Clemmie falls off the stand] Clemmie, no! No!
Dr. Gaul: You asked about the colors, Ms. Dovecote? I want my enemies to see a rainbow of destruction engulfing the world. I'm not above using spectacle to create a little terror. A strategy your classmate here articulated very well in his proposal. They're good, your suggestions. I'm going to recommend my team implement as many as possible tomorrow.
Coryo: What? Will she die?
Dr. Gaul: The pleasure in breaking ground in one's research is one gets to find out. You better keep Ms. Dovecote's fate between us. I don't think her mother would be happy to learn how she caught this sudden... flu. Now run along, you have an arena to promote and it's time for my milk and crackers.
Announcer: Welcome to the arena for the 10th annual Hunger Games. Tributes, mentors, you have 15 minutes to survey the space and discuss strategy.
Reaper: Dill, you stick by me, understand?
Coral: Hey, lumberjack.
Treech: Lamina.
Coral: No, no, just you. Just you.
Lysistrata: Jessup? Jessup. Please.
Lucy: Coriolanus, please don't let me die in here tomorrow.
[Roof of arena explodes and with debris raining down on the tributes]
Festus: Oh, shit!
Coryo: Help me!
Peacekeeper: The gate's out! The gate's out. The gate's blown open. Come on, the gate's open.
Marcus: Come on. He wouldn't save you.
Peacekeeper: We've got runners! [They fire on escapees]
[Coryo wakes up in hospital to see Tigris and Sejanus]
Tigris: Coryo.
Coryo: [Gasps] Lucy Gray? Is she...
Tigris: She's alive.
Coryo: What happened?
Sejanus: It was a rebel bomb. They must have been planning it for months. Four tributes were killed.
Tigris: Everyone's terrified, Coryo. People are locking themselves inside their houses. Felix Ravinstill's on life support.
Sejanus: The rebels released a message. They said they wanted to tear down the symbol of the Hunger Games on live TV.
TV Lucky: ...savagely and cowardly attacked us...
Sejanus: Marcus got out.
TV Lucky: ...gravely injuring the president's...
Sejanus: He's the only one. Peacekeepers are hunting him in the streets but at least he has a better chance out there than he would tomorrow.
Coryo: Tomorrow? They're not still going ahead with the Games? Oh, no, Lucy Gray. Lucy Gray could've run.
TV Lucky: The show will go on.
Coryo: But she saved me.
TV Lucky: And now our final tribute. [Coryo starts to sit up in bed in attention to TV] I first met this young lady in the zoo not too long ago. From District 12...
Tigris: [Puts hand on Coryo's arm] Coryo.
TV Lucky: ...Lucy Gray Baird. Come out here with that guitar, you songbird.
TV Lucy: Good evening, Capitol. Districts. I wrote this song about a boy back in 12, and I hope he hears it. [Sings] When I was a babe, I fell down in the holler, when I was a girl, I fell into your arms, we fell on hard times and we lost our bright color, you went to the dogs and I lived by my charms, it's sooner than later that I'm six feet under It's sooner than later that you'll be alone, so who will you turn to tomorrow, I wonder, for when the bell rings, lover, you're on your own, I am the one who you let see you weeping, I know the soul that you struggle to save, too bad I'm the bet that you lost in The Reaping, now what will you do, when I go to my grave. [Audience cheers and applauds]
TV Lucky: Ding, ding, ding. Look at that. Record high for the evening. The Capitol is definitely watching. People sending in donations. See what happens when you do stuff?
TV Lucy: Yeah.
TV Lucky: Now, I don't love your odds, but may they be in your favor.
Coryo: Thank you for being here.
TV Lucky: Ms. Lucy Gray, District 12.
Coryo: Both of you.
Sejanus: It's what friends do.
TV Lucky: How wonderful is this night that we all get to be here for someone's final performance. Ms. Lucy Gray, thank you. Go home, go to bed, get a good night's sleep. You've got a big day tomorrow.
Coryo: [Enters the zoo at night and calls Lucy who appears] Lucy Gray. Lucy Gray. Hey. You're alive. Those bombs, they have changed everything. They blew the walls out. So that means you can escape up into the stands. There's a hole down in the floor. Leads down to some tunnels. I've tried it and you can disappear down there. So the moment you hear that bell ring, you ignore the weapon in the middle and you run as fast as you can for that hole. And you find a place to hide down below. Alone.
Lucy: Alone? No.
Coryo: Yeah.
Lucy: Jessup's my friend.
Coryo: No. The moment that bell rings, you can't trust anyone. Not even Jessup. Just lay low down there until it's safe to come out.
Lucy: Thank you for taking care of me.
Coryo: I can't let you die. You saved me. You saved me, Lucy Gray.
Lucy: I'm sorry.
Coryo: Hey.
Lucy: I'm more hopeful during the daytime, but when it gets dark, I just...
Coryo: It's okay. It's okay. I am gonna get you out of here. I promise. Back to the Covey, okay? Is this real? Just tell me. If I'm gonna risk everything. That song...
Lucy: That song was payback, that's all. My old boyfriend, Billy Taupe, he was cheating on me with the mayor's daughter.
Coryo: The girl from the Reaping.
Lucy: Yeah, she got crazy jealous. She had her pa read my name up on that stage and now everyone will know what they did to me.
Coryo:Here. You take this.
Lucy: No, no, it's too fine.
Coryo: No, it is not a gift. It's a loan. What's in here, don't touch it. Don't even breathe it in because small amounts can be deadly. Look, I have seen what war does to people, okay? I've seen it. And there will come a time when you need this. When you need to act. We all do things we're not proud of to survive. Hey. We are gonna win this, Lucy Gray. We're gonna win this together.


Dean Casca: That friend of yours. Plinth. You might wanna find him a seat near the door.
...
Lysistrata: Tell me this will be over quickly.
Jessup: What is this? The mines? I... I gotta get my tools. Pa said...
Lucky: Here we go. Here we go, everyone. Come on. Come on, let's go. Sit down, Festus, come on. Everyone, as you know, we're about to go live. Just because you're not hosting, doesn't mean you're off the hook. Help me. Don't get lost behind your screens. No yawning, no gum chewing. Keep your chins down, heads up, shoulders back. And smile. It's why we have teeth. Okay. Ready? We're gonna start, guys. Five, four, three, two... Good morning, I'm Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman. A man who needs no introduction. Weatherman, amateur magician, and today, I'm honored to say... first ever host of the Hunger Games. [Students applaud and cheer] In my hand, an envelope, sealed. My prediction, the winner to be opened by me upon the big show's end. Well, well... They're here. We're getting word... All right, we're about to start. We're starting, everyone, we're starting. Happy Hunger Games. Happy Hunger... Remember, when your tribute dies, get out of here.
PA announcer: [Repeatedly to audience] Enjoy the show...
Peacekeeper: Stand on your mark or you will be shot. Move!
Lucky: [Over sight of Marcus strung up on concrete beams] Ooh! Marcus. Guess we can all sleep better now knowing he's off the streets.
Sejanus: [Throws chair across room] You're monsters! All of you!
Lucky: What you're seeing now is a live feed of security cameras... Hy and Sol from the other side, pincering in on Lucy Gray... Here comes the Pack, surprising Hy and Sol. [Hy and Sol get fatally stabbed]
...
Coral: Hey, lumberjack, get in there and get her out.
Treech: I'm not sticking my head in there. She could be waiting with a brick.

Taglines edit

  • Everyone hungers for something.
  • You're invited to return to the games.

Cast edit

External links edit

 
Wikipedia
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