![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/hollywoodlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/nick-benson-hunger-games-ftr.jpg?quality=100&w=384&h=216&crop=1\")
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Jessup never got a fair chance, that\u2019s for sure. Lucy Gray Baird\u2019s fellow tribute from District 12 was doomed from the moment he was forced to go to Panem and compete in the 10th annual Hunger Games in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes<\/em>. With his strength and towering presence, Jessup\u2019s mentality from the get-go was to keep Lucy Gray safe. He never acted like a potential victor, just a protector.<\/p>\n Hollywood Life<\/strong> spoke exclusively with Nick Benson<\/strong> about his role as Jessup. In the film, Jessup develops rabies after being bitten by a bat on the train to Panem. He goes after Lucy Gray in the arena and falls to his death. Nick revealed how he feels Jessup would have approached the Games had he been healthy. Would he have sacrificed himself for Lucy in the end?<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s such a good question. In the book, they showcase his strength. He\u2019s supposed to be a big, strong guy. He lifts his mentor up in the chair, so I think that would have been my strength if need be. But I don\u2019t know\u2026 at least from what I read in the book, he didn\u2019t seem like too much of an aggressive guy,\u201d Nick said. \u201cI think maybe the priority would have been sticking with Lucy and making sure she\u2019s good and okay. Not even just from the tributes, but also with Snow, who I don\u2019t really trust because he\u2019s this Capitol scum. I think definitely the priority would have been sticking with Lucy, making sure she\u2019s okay because she is this beautiful, young woman performer. As a bigger dude, I\u2019m sure I\u2019d feel the responsibility of making sure she\u2019s okay since we have that allyship.\u201d<\/p>\n Nick addressed whether or not Jessup would have been capable of killing Lucy during the Games if it had come down to the two of them. \u201cI don\u2019t know if he could. Genuinely. I don\u2019t think he could go through with that,\u201d the actor admitted.<\/p>\n The Big Shot<\/em> alum revealed that he auditioned for Jessup and Reaper from District 11. From the jump, Nick noted that resonated more with the District 12 tribute because he is \u201cdescribed as a gentle giant type. I\u2019m a big guy, but I\u2019m genuinely nice and non-confrontational. So just at least from that alone, I was like, okay, this seems like a character that I can really get into access pretty easily.\u201d<\/p>\n Most of Nick\u2019s scenes are alongside Rachel Zegler<\/strong>, who plays Lucy Gray Baird. \u201cWe quite literally got tossed into the Games because she came straight from London. I was coming back from COVID,\u201d Nick said about their first interaction. \u201cOn the first day of filming, I tested negative after a week of having COVID. After that, we both got dropped into the arena together. We got along pretty instantly. She\u2019s so sweet and fun. I feel like it wasn\u2019t too hard to build that relationship with her. We were just laughing and having a good time. I think that set a good foundation for the rest of the shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n The 10th Hunger Games was unlike any other. Mentors were introduced for the tributes, and that\u2019s how young Coriolanus Snow crossed paths with Lucy Gray. An explosion in the arena prior to the Games changed the stakes, giving tributes like Lucy more places to hide. The arena went from a glistening and clean stadium of death to an amphitheater of debris and chaos.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was little to no green screen,\u201d Nick told Hollywood Life<\/strong> about the arena. \u201cAt least while I was there, we did not use a green screen to my knowledge. Everything was on location. I think maybe for reshoots they might have done green screen stuff. But other than that, it was all on location. I think the specific architecture they were looking for was pretty readily available in Germany and Berlin. The arena we used in Poland was like a multipurpose kind of space that they dressed up.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued, \u201cAcross the board, the set designers did such an incredible job, but especially with the arena because it felt very real. I actually know there are a couple of moments where it wasn\u2019t very difficult to feel like you were in the Hunger Games. I had to check where the exits were to make sure I could get out.\u201d<\/p>\n Fans of the movie, Suzanne Collins\u2019<\/strong> bestselling prequel, have debated for years whether or not Coriolanus ever truly loved Lucy Gray Baird. Nick gave his two cents on the \u201ccontentious\u201d romance.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he had never met a girl like her before in his life, so there was definitely an infatuation for sure,\u201d Nick said. \u201cI think within that there could have been the sort of love that he felt or something that he thinks is love, but especially the part where they talk about trust, Lucy\u2019s like, \u2018Trust is everything to me. If there\u2019s no trust, it\u2019s dead.\u2019 That\u2019s such a good scene, and I feel like that\u2019s what you see him falter a little bit. He\u2019s in a little too deep. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s more love. I think he may get caught up because her character is very enticing. I think he was definitely infatuated with her, but in the sense of true love, I don\u2019t think that was ever there.\u201d The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes<\/em> is in theaters now.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/hollywoodlife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/nick-benson-hunger-games-embed-1.jpg?quality=100\")
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