Why Lucretius 'Lucky' Flickerman In The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes Looks So Familiar
"The Hunger Games" franchise is a beloved book-to-movie adaptation and was instrumental in launching the career of Jennifer Lawrence ("Red Sparrow," "Silver Linings Playbook"). While Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) was the series' center point, a prequel gives us a look into the beginning of the fascinating world of the games. One of the characters set to make an appearance is Lucretius 'Lucky' Flickerman, the host of the games and predecessor to the loveable Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci). If you think you recognize the actor taking the stage in "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes," it is because it is none other than Jason Schwartzman.
He is most well known for his frequent collaborations with the legendary Wes Anderson, and his ability to bring quirky worlds to life continued in this role. In an interview with Total Film (via /Film), he shared he learned magic for the part.
"I remember sitting there when we were first hanging out thinking, 'I think this person's gonna be in my life for a long time,'" Schwartzman said about the magician. "I remember thinking it's changing the way I think about the world. Just seeing what he was doing, what was possible, and how he thought about magic and how magicians think about things." If you still can't place where you have seen Schwartzman before, here are a few of his most famous roles.
Wes Anderson jumpstarted his career
The friendship between Wes Anderson and Jason Schwartzman began with the latter's first film when he landed the role of Max Fischer in "Rushmore." The movie follows an eccentric student at a wealthy private school. While on scholarship, his middle-class background contrasts with the other students there. He participates in several extracurricular activities but struggles academically, causing him to be placed on "sudden death" academic probation.
The part is perfect for the naturally awkward Schwartzman, who holds his own alongside many other big-name actors Anderson in the mix, including Bill Murray ("Ghostbusters," "Lost in Translation"), Olivia Williams ("The Sixth Sense," "The Crown"), and Brian Cox ("Succession," "X2: X-Men United").
Schwartzman told Larry King he initially thought it was a waste of the casting director's time. "I said, 'You're wasting your time; I am not an actor.' She said, 'You should come to an audition; it would be really fun,'" the actor stated. "So, I did audition. In fact, it was the first script I had ever read in my life. I had never been to an audition. I made an outfit that looked like the main character's outfit in the movie." He went on to explain that he was told to wear what made him feel comfortable, but since he didn't think he would get the part and would never feel comfortable, he had fun with it. The idea paid off, and he landed the lead role in his first film.
Rushmore led him to another director's quirky comedy
If you haven't figured it out by now, there is a reason that Wes Anderson is a fan of casting Jason Schwartzman in his films. He is exceedingly talented at bringing quirky characters to life in movies that seem a little off-beat. He did the same for another director in David O. Russell's black comedy, "I Heart Huckabees." The story follows Albert (Schwartzman) as he hires two existential detectives (played by Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) after he sees the same stranger three times and starts having an existential crisis.
Jude Law ("Sherlock Holmes," "Captain Marvel"), Mark Wahlberg ("Boogie Nights," "Ted"), Naomi Watts ("The Ring," "Mulholland Drive"), and Jonah Hill ("Wolf of Wall Street," "Superbad") join Schwartzman in the artistic search for the meaning of life. Russell sat down with SPLICEDwire and discussed the process that brought the film to life, confessing he wanted Schwartzman for the role after watching "Rushmore" and made it his lifelong goal to befriend the actor.
"I wrote another movie for him first," Russell says, "for him and Mark and Lily and some others, centered around a Zen center I went to for four years in Manhattan, which I thought was a wonderful hub for a comedy because you have everyone from journalists to janitors going there." The director said he found the story that became "I Heart Huckabees" when he had a dream. "I wrote it, and I decided that I didn't have the story. There was no drive to it. After I put it in a drawer, I had a dream of being followed by a detective, but not for criminal reasons. I said, 'That's the story.'"
He was awkward royalty
Jason Schwartzman is a part of cinema's royal family, the Coppolas. He is the nephew of legendary director Francis Ford Coppola ("The Godfather" trilogy, "Apocalypse Now") and cousin to fellow cinematic legends director Sofia Coppola ("The Virgin Suicides," "Lost in Translation"), and the one and only Nicolas Cage ("Leaving Las Vegas," "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent"). Because royalty runs in his blood, it would make sense that he would land a role as Louis XVI of France in Sofia's historical biopic, "Marie Antoinette."
Much like the rest of his roles, Schwartzman's portrayal of the young and future king was shy, awkward, and sometimes unbelievably offbeat. As the new husband of Marie (Kirsten Dunst), he is expected to sire an heir but doesn't consummate the marriage, leading many to blame Marie. She goes on to be a historically terrible queen by blowing her money and ignoring her people until she utters her legendary line, "Let them eat cake."
Schwartzman sat down with Dunst for Moviefone to talk about what it was like to shoot in Versailles. "I remember that between shots, I would go and look out a window, and you would think, 'Maybe they looked out here.' You know what I mean? Or you would touch a curtain and think, 'Maybe they touched that.' We needed that place. You breathe differently, and your voice sounds different there."
He was a stellar boss battle
Films based on graphic novels seem to be a dime a dozen nowadays. Every major studio grasps whatever successful title they can find in hopes of tapping into an exploding genre. One of the most beloved is "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World." The film sees the titular slacker musician (Michael Cera) on a quest to defeat the seven exes of his new girlfriend, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). While the cast is positively stacked with Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Anna Kendrick, and Brie Larson, Schwartzman gets the honor of playing the seventh and final ex, Gideon Graves.
Schwartzman was part of an on-set interview with Collider where he discussed his character, which was still developing as the movie was shooting. "Basically, first, I had this great script that Edgar and Michael had written, which has so much Gideon in it, and just based on some of the things he was saying, it immediately eliminated a lot of possibilities of who this guy was. Like if he's capable of saying and doing certain things, you have a pretty good understanding of this type of person. And then, like you say, his malevolence — I'm not going to be able to say that anymore. I tried twice more — that presence is cast over the books, and you can feel him."
He explained author Bryan Lee O'Malley told him that he hoped he could learn a little about the character from him, which is a huge compliment and maybe some big pressure. In any case, Schwartzman rose to the occasion, giving us possibly the best boss fight in the film.
He returns to Wes Anderson
Schwartzman's fifth outing in a Wes Anderson film boasts one of the most stacked casts he had to date. When "The Grand Budapest Hotel" hit the screens, viewers were delighted with the talents of Ralph Fiennes ("Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One," "No Time to Die"), Adrian Brody ("The Pianist," "Predators"), Willem Dafoe ("Spider-Man," "John Wick"), and Edward Norton ("Fight Club," "American History X"), to name a few. The film centers around hotel concierge M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) and lobby boy Zero (Tony Revolori) uncovering the mystery surrounding the death of Gustave's elderly lover.
Schwartzman appears as the concierge of 1968, M. Jean. He is known for his bright-colored suits and hair that sports a unique style of whispy strands off to the side.
Schwartzman sat down with uInterview and discussed what it is like working with Anderson and why he and all of his fans continue to love his films. "Wes' movies — they're epic in many ways, but they're focused on very small worlds and relatively easy things to miss, and they're invented in these worlds many times," he says about the director. "And I do feel like Wes hears things and sees things in our lives, in the real world, that people do kind of miss, and he finds them funny. Like, especially when people say things maybe incorrectly or words come out oddly. You just kind of keep going, but I think Wes is tuned to that kind of stuff and makes movies that approach the world from that angle maybe, or slightly slanted."
He was trapped in a city after an alien sighting
Jason Schwartzman is nothing if not loyal to his friend and frequent collaborator, as his eighth run with Wes Anderson saw him team up with maybe the most weighted cast of all. "Asteroid City" sees him lead a cast that includes Scarlett Johansson ("The Avengers," "Black Widow"), Tom Hanks ("Forest Gump," "Toy Story"), Jeffrey Wright ("The Batman," "Casino Royal"), Tilda Swinton ("Doctor Strange," "Snowpiercer"), and Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad," "Malcolm in the Middle"). The film explores the post-war American obsession with aliens as a group of civilians are quarantined in a Southwest town after an alleged encounter with an extraterrestrial.
Schwartzman plays Augie Steenbeck, a war photojournalist trapped in Asteroid City with his children when his car breaks down. He struggles with telling his children that their mother died (something he had been keeping secret from them), all while falling for a declining actor also caught up in the alien encounter.
Schwartzman spoke with Discussing Film about what he hopes fans take away from "Asteroid City." "I love the surrender to this world and its rules and trying to understand this new landscape," he said alongside Johansson. "Once you just go with that, it's my favorite thing in the world to meet all these characters because there's so much care that goes into them, and it's really a wonderful story about a group of people kind of jammed together who wouldn't normally be jammed together. They are learning about themselves and each other, and then also infinity."