Hunger Games star Tom Blyth explains the "trap" he wanted to avoid
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The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes star Tom Blyth has opened up about trying to avoid a big "trap" in his performance.
The actor takes on the role of the young Coriolanus Snow in the new prequel, a character previously played by Donald Sutherland in the original movie series.
As such, Blyth revealed in an exclusive chat with Digital Spy that he didn’t want to "try and copy" his predecessor's version of the character.
Related: How to watch The Hunger Games movies in order ahead of prequel release
"I think the trap is to try and recreate something that someone else has done really well – always, as an actor," he said.
"Even if you do a film that has been adapted before and is a fresh adaptation – whatever it is you’re doing, I think the trap to fall into is to try and copy a performance, or even trying to copy a voice or aspects of a performance.
"So obviously I wanted to honour what the fans knew about Corio already, but it’s also 64 years before what takes place in the later films. So I think it gave me permission to kind of make him my own, and to kind of bring myself to him, while also just giving a nod to the later President that we’ve already seen."
Related: Why Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is missing one element from the book
Blyth added that for him "it all starts and ends with the book", noting: "It all comes from the text. It all comes from the script. If in doubt, I always just go back to the text, and find what it gives me. In this case, I think that’s what Donald Sutherland probably did as well.
"As long as he and I, in our separate movies, both honour Suzanne’s writing – Suzanne Collins, the writer – then I think Corio ends up being, hopefully, authentic and multi-layered."
Co-star Josh Andrés Rivera, who plays Snow's friend Sejanus Plinth, said that he himself faced less pressure, as his character has never appeared on screen before.
Related: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes stars reveal what they took from the set
"That was definitely a luxury that I had," he admitted. "But I think because it’s 64 years before the original – we had space to play in this kind of new, younger world.
"And, obviously, because it’s an existing franchise, it’s going to be a huge undertaking for all of us. There is a lot of buzz around it, inherently. But I think everybody did a pretty good at using the literature as a tool to kind of build these characters from the ground up, which was a really lovely opportunity."
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will be released in cinemas on November 17, 2023. The previous Hunger Games movies are available to stream on Prime Video UK.
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