It’s common to see film directors not sticking around to direct all of the movies in the franchise they started out with. After all, director Catherine Hardwicke left Twilight behind after the first movie to film Red Riding Hood. Chris Columbus dropped out after the first two Harry Potter films as he found directing them “exhausting.” So, what’s The Hunger Games‘ Gary Ross’s reasoning? Known for turning black-and-white into color in his directorial debut Pleasantville and his Academy Award-nominated film Seabiscuit, Gary Ross explains why he did not continue directing more Hunger Games movies after the first one.
Gary Ross spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the challenges of filming The Hunger Games films. He explained that he was a writer and a director for the first film which was a lot to take on. Ross expressed no regrets about leaving the dystopian film franchise as he got to make the film Free State of Jones. While he admits that this film may not have been so popular with audiences, he still considers it his favorite project.