Jennifer Lawrence, who portrayed Katniss in the film series, recorded a version of the song for the soundtrack of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2.
Club and Backstage. Rachel Zegler brought her powerhouse vocals to the set of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. In a behind-the-scenes clip shared exclusively with PEOPLE, the actress can be seen recording — and singing live — the many tunes her character Lucy Gray Baird performs throughout the film.
Rachel, who plays Lucy Gray Baird in the film, sings eight songs on the film's official soundtrack, including 'Pure as the Driven Snow', 'Nothing You Can Take From Me' and the franchise's iconic 'The Hanging Tree'. And if you're wondering if that's her singing them all... the answer is yes.
Jennifer Lawrence sang a few songs in the previous movies, but Zegler's singing is more prominently featured. Just as some of Katniss' songs played pivotal roles in the plots of past Hunger Games movies, the decision to put more music in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is also story-driven.
In Mockingjay — Part One, Jennifer Lawrence has to sing, and she's said in multiple interviews that it was her least favorite experience while filming the movie.
Jennifer Lawrence hated having to sing in 'Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1'
Why did Jennifer Lawrence not want to sing in Hunger Games?
Even though Jennifer Lawrence sang in a previous Hunger Games installment—the “Deep in the Meadow” lullaby to Rue—the filmmaker revealed that the actress is insecure about her voice.
Jennifer Lawrence. While filming The Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire, Jennifer Lawrence revealed that she temporarily lost her hearing due to an injury and multiple ear infections. A water jet punctured her eardrum while performing the film's underwater stunts. Lawrence has since made a full recovery.
Coriolanus Snow, her mentor in the games who falls in love with the tribute, finds her. It's their first reunion since he was excommunicated from the Capitol and managed to get stationed in District 12 as a Peacekeeper. After hearing her sing “The Hanging Tree,” he comes to associate it with her forever.
After Katniss blew up the Career tribute supplies, she's sent flying and there's a brief moment in the film where there's a slight ringing noise for our heroine, common enough in films and TV shows.
Despite the popularity of this theory, the Hunger Games franchise has never confirmed that Lucy Gray - winner of the 10th Hunger Games - and Katniss - winner of the 74th - are related.
In the book, it's not clear if Snow ever glimpses Lucy Gray again in the woods or if he's hallucinating. It's possible something really could've happened to her when she went searching for food. Perhaps she was taken.
Was The Hanging Tree written for The Hunger Games?
"The Hanging Tree" was written by Suzanne Collins and originally appeared in her novel Mockingjay (2010); Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz from American indie folk band the Lumineers composed the track while production was handled by James Newton Howard.
From the start of the Hunger Games story, it was clear that Gale had feelings for his best friend, Katniss. However, Katniss was never able to explore the romantic side of her life as she was too busy providing for her family and then winning the 74th Hunger Games with Peeta.
Origin. "The Hanging Tree" has a brief backstory in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It was one of many songs composed by Lucy Gray Baird, and it was written about the execution of Arlo Chance at the real hanging tree. The song was banned by Commander Hoff, who considered it rebellious.
The fact that he escapes death, even just momentarily, gives him a brief sense of getting away with some of what he's done, while his enemy Coin — who he himself has helped turn Katniss against — takes the heavily symbolic arrow. Snow laughs after Katniss killed Coin because he enjoys the irony of the situation.
In the book, readers find out that Lucy Gray (Rachel Zegler) was the original writer of 'The Hanging Tree', penning the song after witnessing the murder of a man named Arlo Chance, who is hanged at the tree where the executions take place. She's later asked not to perform it.
After winning The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen had an ongoing rivalry with the cruel leader of the dystopian nation Panem. President Coriolanus Snow viewed Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) as a threat for defying the rules of the games, and she proved him right by becoming the face of the Rebellion against the Capitol.
Among the names that were considered for Peeta included Hunter Parrish, Lucas Till, and Evan Peters. Coincidentally enough, Till and Peters became co-stars of Jennifer Lawrence while working on the X-Men franchise but they missed the chance at a gig in the Hunger Games series.
How old was Jennifer Lawrence during The Hunger Games?
When Jennifer Lawrence was cast as Katniss Everdeen, the actress was 20 years old. This was older than the teenage character that she portrayed, but there was a sense of maturity needed for the role. However, this also means working on the age of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games movies can be tricky.
Other than Hemsworth, Lionsgate was looking at a slew of up-and-coming young actors to fill out their leading trio. The other names that auditioned for Gale included David Henrie, Robbie Amell, and Drew Roy. Those who got through the initial stages were then sent to screen test with the female lead.
On a recent appearance on Hot Ones, for the promotion of her latest film No Hard Feelings, the 32-year-old talent revealed the full extent of the damage to her teeth that was caused by the lollipop mishap. Lawrence claimed that it was not just a singular tooth that was missing, it was a whole section that was gone.
A natural blonde, Lawrence went dark brunette for her roles in The Hunger Games franchise and Silver Linings Playbook, the latter of which would earn her a Best Actress Oscar. And if a shot at the gold statue wasn't enough, the other big draw of her deep espresso-brown color is how well it makes her blue eyes pop.
I wanted to forge my own path. I found what I wanted to do and I didn't want anything getting in the way of it. Even friends, for many years, were not as important to me as my career from the age of 14."
