The Hunger Games Was So Much More Than a Job to Donald Sutherland (2024)

With the recent passing of Donald Sutherland, many are reminiscing on his varied and impressive career. From horror to romance to drama, Sutherland proved his immeasurable talent in just about every genre. Along with other veteran actors, Sutherland received a surge of popularity later in his career, particularly amongst younger viewers. We've seen this before with Maggie Smith when she played the stern but caring Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter franchise, as well as Jessica Lange during her deliciously wicked time on American Horror Story. For Sutherland, it was his casting in The Hunger Games series of movies that made him a household name to a generation of moviegoers who may not have been familiar with his earlier work.

His role as President Snow, a monstrous tyrant who can terrorize you without forgetting his cordial manners, deserves to be put alongside the best villains in 21st-century cinema. Beyond stealing every scene he’s in, Sutherland wanted to be a part of the series for its message about standing up against corrupt power. This went back to his personal beliefs and his involvement in anti-war activism, and that’s why Sutherland never let the character turn into a hollow villainous caricature.

The Hunger Games

Adventure

Sci-Fi

Action

Katniss Everdeen voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games: a televised competition in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to fight to the death.

Director

Gary Ross

Cast

Stanley Tucci , Wes Bentley , Jennifer Lawrence , Willow Shields , Liam Hemsworth , Elizabeth Banks

Writers

Gary Ross , Suzanne Collins , Billy Ray

See Also

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes ending explainedGameplay Design - The Hunger MechanicHamartia - Chapter 8 - Deerlie_03 - Hunger Games Series

Donald Sutherland Looked Beyond 'The Hunger Games' Script

Book readers who first encountered Katniss on the page may have noticed that The Hunger Games (2012) wasn’t exactly a faithful adaptation. The novel by Suzanne Collins is restricted to the perspective of Katniss, immersing readers in her struggles living in a dystopian society. One of the biggest changes in the film is the few times it goes to the Capitol mansion, home of President Coriolanus Snow. These scenes open up the world of Panem, an excellent storytelling decision that offers an insight into the mind of Snow, and viewers have Donald Sutherland to thank for it. He had a hand in getting these extra scenes put in when he emailed a three-page letter to director Gary Ross to show his enthusiasm for the role, a letter that Sutherland did a voiceover of in a featurette for the DVD.

He shared his thoughts on Snow with cheeky verve, typing, “Power corrupts, and, in many cases, absolute power makes you really horny. Clinton, Chirac, Mao, Mitterrand. Not so, I think, with Coriolanus Snow.” Sutherland highlighted three integral aspects: the roses, his eyes, and his smile. In the same paragraph, he described what the key relationship with Katniss means to the character and how it factors into Snow's longevity as a dictator, “What delight she gives him. He knows her so perfectly. Nothing, absolutely nothing, surprises him. He sees and understands everything. He was, quite probably, a brilliant man who's succumbed to the siren song of power." The email led to Ross writing scenes that weren’t in the book involving Snow’s prized rose garden and his discussions with Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley) where the line between pleasantries and manipulation blurs.

Crane is inexperienced about the politics behind the Games, as opposed to the grim wisdom of Snow, who wants any surplus of hope given to the districts by Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) squashed. The fluffy white hair that engulfs Snow’s head like a lion’s mane symbolizes his predatorial deadliness. He may not be agile like a lion, but they share the observant stalking of their prey to understand their weakness. “I like you,” Snow quietly tells Crane, “Be careful.” The eventual survival of Katniss and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) in the arena is a failure on Crane’s part, and it marks him for death on the orders of Snow. The following Hunger Games movies further expand on Snow’s role, letting Sutherland craft a charismatic yet bone-chilling performance. In the letter he penned to Ross, Sutherland pinpointed the three aspects he felt were integral to Snow: the roses, his eyes, and his smile. All three are front and center in the opening scene of 2013's Catching Fire when President Snow invades Katniss’ life in District 12.

Donald Sutherland Made President Snow a Realistic Villain

The President glares at Katniss with hawk-like eyes and stretches a Cheshire cat grin across his face. Along with the white rose he pulls out for a gift, it all reeks of intimidation, played to subtle perfection by Sutherland. The dialogue puts him in control of the tense interaction, starting with the line, "If we agree not to lie to each other,” to one of his last, “Convince me.” The chilly, wintry environment is as if his name alone has summoned the snow falling outside. His control over Katniss is absolute.

Later, he's shown having a meal with his granddaughter who has styled her hair after Katniss, and his silent glare at learning Katniss’s rising popularity among his granddaughter and others in the Capitol is enough for viewers to anticipate Snow's next move. A scene with Plutarch (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the new Head Gamemaker, finds Snow delighted upon hearing the ruthless propaganda idea to blend media coverage of Katniss with the torture inflicted on rebelling citizens in the districts. Why should the President get his hands dirty, if the districts can turn on her themselves? One of Snow's quips has gone viral on TikTok when he looks in disgust at the ensemble of victors and bitterly remarks, “Look at this, they’re holding hands — I want them dead.” Sutherland's deadpan delivery is hilarious without diminishing how sinister the response is. Snow can eliminate whomever he pleases.

Viewers should get upset watching the political oppression escalate in Panem — that’s precisely the reaction Sutherland wanted. In an interview with The Guardian, he mentioned how watching Stanley Kubrick’s anti-war film Paths of Glory (1957) when he was 19 enraged him. The film opened his eyes to the massive loss of life from war, under the orders of authority figures far away from the carnage. For Catching Fire, he wanted audiences to have their Paths of Glory moment, saying, “--if you take from it what I hope you will take from it, it will make you think a little more pungently about the political environment you live in and not be complacent.” Sutherland had no way to foresee how the later films in the series would indeed open people’s eyes off-screen.

'Mockingjay' Inspired Real-Life Acts of Defiance

In Mockingjay Part 1 (2014) and Part 2 (2015), Snow's iron-fist rule of Panem starts to loosen, but his commanding presence never falters as he deploys the Capitol's arsenal for several deadly assaults. Then a scene comes that finds Snow in a vulnerable state. His staff jolts him awake at his desk, and his reaction makes him appear frail and confused. Scenes like this, along with those glimpses of him with his granddaughter, humanize the character for a grounded portrayal of a dictator who feels like a real-life figure. Away from the screens that project his face throughout Panem, he’s become an old man who has lived to see himself lose power. Snow is a gracious loser though, and in his final moments, he even gets to enjoy being the reason Katniss assassinates President Coin (Julianne Moore). As the Capitol fell in the movies, the reality of oppression soon leaped off the screen.

Mockingjay Part 1 faced political controversy in June 2014 when protesters in Thailand used the film’s three-finger salute to oppose the coup by the country’s military. In turn, the military banned the symbol from The Hunger Games, vowing to arrest large gatherings of protesters who raised their hands to display it. By November of that year, Thai student protesters were detained when a group of them continued to use the symbol. In a 2015 interview with Metro.co.uk for Part 2, Sutherland saw the current event as proof of the vital messages in the films, “That was the intention of making it. That was behind [Collins] writing those books – will engender political activity in young people around the world. What we saw in Thailand you will see everywhere, and that they will recognize that change has to happen.” Besides analyzing Snow's power-hungry nature and the hope to see young audiences reject injustice, another reason Sutherland wanted to join The Hunger Games came from personal experience. In the 1970s, Sutherland’s relationship with Jane Fonda saw him advance his anti-war politics.

Donald Sutherland’s Activism Connects to ‘The Hunger Games’

The legendary actors made the documentary, F.T.A. (1972), following a tour of their comedy road show near American military bases that criticized the Vietnam War, including a substantial focus on interviews with GIs who experienced racism, sexism, and classism. It had a theatrical release that didn't last a week, with claims from the director that the U.S. government censored the documentary. Sutherland brought these anti-war beliefs into his portrayal of President Snow, never seeing the story as merely a fictional dystopian geared for the YA audience, but as something deeper and perhaps revolutionary. He wanted younger audiences to understand corrupt power should never be allowed to take over, in Panem or real life. "I hope the Hunger Games films spark a revolution." he told Metro.

Sutherland reiterated why he sought to join The Hunger Games during a 2014 ABC interview, doing so by looking into the camera with his piercing stare, “Young people have to get out, you have to get out and change things.” The actor's presence looms large even while a younger version of Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) is taking over in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023) and the upcoming Sunrise on the Reaping (2026). It was a fantastic way to have Sutherland return in a small capacity by hearing his booming voice at the end of Ballad, declaring the unnerving statement, “It’s the things we love most that destroy us.” Donald Sutherland's death marks the loss of a celebrity who used his platform to motivate and inspire younger generations. The Hunger Games remains a powerful YA series that never talked down to its viewers, and it benefited greatly from Sutherland's devoted performance.

The Hunger Games is streaming on AMC+.

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