Viola Davis tells THR at 'The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes' premiere her favorite part about playing a villain and making co-star Tom Blyth squirm! Plus, she dishes on transforming into her character.
00:00You play a very villainous character in this movie.
00:03What's the best part about playing a villain?
00:05It's playing the villain.
00:07Just seeing how many times you can just make someone squirm like Tom Blythe.
00:13Oh man, it was a joy.
00:15Because he just was very receptive to it.
00:17So I was just so happy about poking him.
00:21Even in the scene where I had to inject him and, you know, give him stitches, I think.
00:27Loved it.
00:28Absolutely loved it.
00:30I've seen the movie and I loved it.
00:31And I feel like I was really impressed with Tom's performance.
00:34And you had a lot of scenes with him.
00:35What did you think about him as a young actor?
00:37I think he's amazing.
00:39We came from the same school.
00:41Definitely different time.
00:42I mean, he's grouped like 52.
00:44I was grouped 22.
00:45I was like, oh my God.
00:47But he's an actor.
00:50He is a deep thinker.
00:52He is someone who has a craft and believes in the craft.
00:56He's not someone who's just in it for the fame and the fortune.
01:00It was a joy.
01:01It was a joy to play with him.
01:02What made you want to take on this role and step into the Hunger Games franchise?
01:06Because it's Hunger Games and it's a villain.
01:09That's why.
01:10And Francis Lawrence was directing it.
01:12And after I read the book, I said, I want to be in this world.
01:16I want to see if I can be in this world.
01:18See, that's the thing with actors.
01:20When you feel like, can you do it?
01:23Can you actually do it?
01:24That's the thing that excites you because it scares you.
01:27You go through a physical transformation to become this character.
01:30How did that help you get into the character and help you feel like you could do it?
01:34That's a part of the work.
01:36You know, when you step out of the trailer and you have the makeup and the hair and then the beautiful costumes, you feel like you're that person that you've already transformed.
01:47It's 50% of the work.
01:50What's your take on her transformation in this movie?
01:52What did you think about it?
01:53Nothing surprises me about Viola's craft and her artistry.
01:57She's an artist who's always going to go for the best of what a character could be and try to discover all the parts of that character to make it come alive.
02:08So it's always beautiful to see Viola's work because it's so vast and so awesome.
02:13I love that.
02:14That's the kind of support we need.
02:16Yeah, I've been married to him for 20 years.
02:18That's why.
02:19To keep him.
02:20I love that.
02:21And for you, now that the strike is over, what's your schedule look like coming up?
02:25Is there any update on the Waller TV series?
02:28I don't have any updates.
02:30And even if I did, I couldn't tell you.
02:32You almost tricked me.
02:33But we do have a film that we're going to finish.
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