“Hunger Games” director Francis Lawrence admitted that he has some regrets about dividing “Mockingjay” into two parts.
In fact, Lawrence admitted that if he had to redo the project he wouldn’t do it the same way, according to an interview with People. The famous director acknowledged that he understood why some fans were upset about his decision.
“In an episode of television, if you have a cliffhanger, you have to wait a week or you could just binge it and then you can see the next episode,” Lawrence told People. “But making people wait a year, I think, came across as disingenuous, even though it wasn’t.”
Director Francis Lawrence says he regrets splitting ‘MOCKINGJAY’ into two films.
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Lawrence reiterated his thought process when making the films, and expressed that he thought he’d be creating dramatic effect.
He noted that his team agreed the “two halves of Mockingjay had their own separate dramatic questions,” and ultimately decided to draw on the experience through two separate films. Looking back, he firmly believes this was a mistake.
“Our intentions were not to be disingenuous,” he said, understanding the frustration of his fans.
He went on to state how deeply he wished he had done things differently.
“I totally regret it. I totally do. I’m not sure everybody does, but I definitely do.”
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
dir. Francis Lawrence pic.twitter.com/GJXZ0WOkXB— kaiou (@spaceroide) October 5, 2023
“What I realized in retrospect — and after hearing all the reactions and feeling the kind of wrath of fans, critics and people at the split — is that I realized it was frustrating,” Lawrence said, according to People.
“And I can understand it,” he said. (RELATED: Kevin Greutert Reveals The ‘Key’ To ‘Saw’ Success And The ‘Hardest Part’ Of Developing The Franchise)
“Mockingjay – Part 1” was released in November 2014, and part 2 of the film came out precisely a year later in November 2015.