Julianne Moore says she found her way into The Hunger Games by reading the books her family already loved, and that is how she realized President Alma Coin was a role she could play. The actor said she later called her manager and told them she was going to be President Coin.
That story matters now because the sixth installment in the film franchise is heading to theaters Nov. 20, and Moore is reflecting on the path that first put her inside Panem. She said she bought her son Caleb Moore Freundlich, now 28, a copy of Mockingjay in 2010, and that he just loved the series.
Moore said the books entered the house through her younger sister, Liv, during a family vacation, when she had not brought anything to read and picked up Hunger Games while her children were swimming. “I hadn’t brought a book and she had the Hunger Games. I read it and I was like, this is great,” she said. By the time she reached Mockingjay, the connection was immediate: “Then I got to (Mockingjay), and I was like, ‘There’s a role for me.’ I called my manager and was like, ‘I’m going to play President Coin.’”
She also described Suzanne Collins as “such a wonderful writer,” and said she understood why the books resonated so strongly with younger readers. For Moore, the pull was personal as well as professional. “For me, it was fun to be in them because of my kids’ involvement in it, too,” she said.
Even with that history, Moore said she has not read the latest prequel yet, though she is eager to see so many actors she likes in the new film. Producer Nina Jacobson said in October that the project landed its dream cast, naming Ralph Fiennes as President Snow and Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman. The result is a franchise that keeps reaching back to the books while moving toward a new chapter, with audiences set to see where it goes next on Nov. 20.
