‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ Star Tom Blyth Unpacks His Gritty Take on Snow
variety.comKatcy Stephan Tom Blyth is tired, but he’s doing a good job of hiding it. When the star of “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” sits down with Variety via Zoom, SAG-AFTRA is still on strike, and it’s been six short days since the Lionsgate thriller received an in- terim agreement from the guild.
That means the press tour leading up to the long-anticipated release, typically spread across several months, has been condensed to just two weeks.
But Blyth is animated as he talks about landing the role of Coriolanus Snow in the prequel tale, which explores how a poor young man with a revolutionary spirit eventually becomes the vicious dictator of Panem. “When I got the call, I was ec- static for a moment,” recalls Blyth, 28, who is best known as the titular character in the MGM+ series “Billy the Kid.” “And then I was like, ‘Oh, shit, I actually have to do this.
I have to play this character, when there’s already such a big cinema folklore around him.” Donald Sutherland’s heartless President Snow in the original franchise is a far cry from Blyth’s obedient cadet, who is balancing his first love with crushing obligations to keep his family afloat. “I don’t think I anticipated how emotionally taxing the role was going to be,” admits Blyth, hours after the film’s Berlin premiere. “I was like, ‘I’m part of a big block- buster franchise.
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