Nina Jacobson "couldn't bear the thought" of someone else bringing 'The Hunger Games' to the big screen.

The 58-year-old film executive returns as a producer on the prequel movie 'The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes' and spoke of her desperation to bring Suzanne Collins' novels to life when she first discovered the material.

Speaking to HeyUGuys.com, Nina said: "When I first read the original book, a young colleague of mine gave it to me, I fell headlong into it.

"I couldn't bear the thought of somebody else making it into a movie.

"I felt that she had pulled off this high-wire act as an author and that it would really require a lot of care and discipline to make sure that the movie lived up to the book.

"It felt risky, and because it felt risky, it felt exciting. We've tried to keep taking those risks as we've made subsequent movies in the franchise."

The new flick blends younger stars such as Rachel Zegler with seasoned actors including Peter Dinklage and Viola Davis - with Jacobson experiencing the joy of working with performers on both ends of the scale.

She recalled: "We started with the youngsters for the arena shoots in Poland because we had certain dates that we could have that location.

"They got on great and we were having a tonne of fun and then I think everyone was a little intimidated when the grownups were gonna show up.

"When the grownups arrived, they were so into it. They were primed, they were present. We would all watch them in admiration."