The Hunger Games Star Julianne Moore Reveals the Real Reason She’s in the Franchise

One of the more complex and compelling characters in The Hunger Games franchise is President Coin, who fans first met as the president of District 13 before becoming the president of Panem in the story’s conclusion. In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, Coin was played by Julianne Moore, with the actor recently sharing how the only reason she joined the franchise was because she ended up buying the books for her kids, only for herself to get invested once she actually started reading them. She also joked that it might be the only movies she’s made that her kids were interested in.

“I’m only in The Hunger Games because my daughter was reading [them.] I actually bought the books for my son, he’s older than my daughter, and she was reading them,” Moore shared with PEOPLE. “We were on vacation, I had nothing to read, and I picked the copy of this book, and I was like, ‘This is amazing. Oh, my God, I think there’s a part for me.’ And it might have been the only thing my kids ever cared about that I was in. It was fantastic for them.”

Moore wasn’t entirely absent from famous franchises, having starred in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Hannibal, though she was definitely more known for her independent work, such as Magnolia, The Big Lebowski, and Far From Heaven. Since her role in Mockingjay – Part 2, she has largely avoided returning to spectacle films in well-known series.

As compared to other figures in the Hunger Games franchise, Coin largely stayed out of the spotlight and avoided taking part in any of the more high-octane elements, especially compared to Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen. Coin united the rebels against Coriolanus Snow, the president of Panem, in District 13 and used Katniss’ fighting spirit as a symbol to overthrow Snow. When Snow was ultimately thwarted from power, Coin filled that void and proved that absolute power corrupts absolutely, aiming to restart the Hunger Games though with the children of the Capital. Knowing that this would merely start the cycle of death and violence over again, Katniss instead assassinated Coin in the culmination of the saga.

The cinematic franchise expanded earlier this year with The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, though there are currently no plans for more live-action entries into the series.

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