Jennifer Lawrence was terrified to sing on the set of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.”
During an interview with The Radio Times (via Vanity Fair), director Francis Lawrence dished details about the upcoming “Mockingjay” scene.
Jennifer had to sing “The Hanging Tree,” a song Suzanne Collins wrote in the novel. Francis pushed the actress to sing the song because it was a pivotal moment in the series.
“She was horrified to sing,” Francis told the magazine. “She cried a little bit in the morning before [the scene]. . . She’d probably tell you it was her least favorite day [on set].”
The Oscar-winning actress was so wrecked with nerves before the singing scene she reportedly cried before filming. According to Francis, Jennifer worked with a vocal coach to prepare for the scene.
“We had a vocal coach, who sort of shifted the key for Jen’s voice. Then she started working with Jen once or twice . . . Jen didn’t really want to do too much of the training,” he laughed. “I was worried, I really thought we were going to have to do a bunch of pitch shifting, but she sounded great. What you hear in the movie is what she did on the day in the quarry.”
Francis praised Jennifer for pulling off the scene and he was okay with the actress hating him for making her go through with it.
“She’ll probably never really understand it because she’s so sensitive about the singing,” he said, “but she did it and she did it all day . . . and she hated me for making her do it all day . . . but she did and it’s great.”
It wasn’t the first time Jennifer had to sing for the “Hunger Games” films. She previously sang the “Deep in the Meadow” lullaby in the first installment in the series during a scene where Katniss was holding Rue as she was dying in her arms.
Fans can watch Jennifer sing in the upcoming “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1,” which will be released to theaters on Nov. 21.
