Ashley Liao played Coriolanus Snow’s friend and classmate Clemensia Dovecote as part of the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes cast. With no word yet if this prequel will have a follow-up movie, the 22-year-old actress had thoughts on what other roles she’d like to play outside of the world of Panem. In fact, Liao would like to follow in the footsteps of The Hunger Games’ Jennifer Lawrence and take on X-Men’s Mystique, making me want to get Kevin Feige on the phone.
Before Jennifer Lawrence filmed her film breakthrough at Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games franchise, she was working on X-Men: First Class as a young Mystique. Ashley Liao is another Hunger Games actress who'd love to take on the role of the X-Men mutant as well, telling ComicBook:
Oh my gosh. I mean, I feel like if I could go back in time, I would've loved to have been Mystique. Something about the way that Jennifer Lawrence did that, though, I don't know that I could have filled those shoes, but I love her character. I love that blue. It's mesmerizing. But I really feel for how much she probably had to sit in hair and makeup for all of that. I know that the prosthetics and all of that, it just takes a long time.
If you really want to know how long, Jennifer Lawrence can tell you. In First Class, the No Hard Feelings actress was lucky to spend only 10% of the prequel in blue makeup. Mystique was first introduced as the human-looking shape-shifting Raven who felt pressured to hide her blue-skinned identity, but after being persuaded by Magneto to show her true self, the blue skin and yellow eyes didn’t hide. According to The Daily Telegraph, the seven-hour make-up process wasn’t easy. Lawrence’s whole body had to be shaved, rubbed with alcohol and coated with five layers of blue paint and silicone scales. She sadly endured blisters on the first day.
When Jennifer Lawrence returned for X-Men: Days of Future Past, the X-Men producers made the makeup process slightly easier. With three hours of prep compared to eight, a body suit was used more often than the makeup considering the negative effects the blue goop had on her the first time around. One part that didn’t seem fun about the full-body makeup procedure was having to sit on a bicycle seat. I can't imagine that being any more comfortable than patiently waiting hours for your whole body to be blue.
Despite the torturous makeup process that Ashley Liao would have to go through for the part, the young actress said she’d still be psyched to be the next Mystique:
If you know Marvel, give them a call.
Kevin Feige, I hope you heard that. Since Walt Disney purchased 20th Century Fox, that means X-Men characters can move over to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the MCU President said a live-action X-Men movie could happen “soon” for Marvel, that realistically may not be as fast as Feige said. Phases 5 and 6 are already planned out, which means a standalone movie starring the mutant heroes would have a chance of being released more in 2026 or 2027. Still, maybe the infamous characters could make their way in between two scheduled Avengers movies or cameo in the upcoming Marvel movie Deadpool 3.
If Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes star Ashley Liao is still up for playing Mystique, hopefully Kevin Feige is reading this so he can make it happen. For now, you can watch Jennifer Lawrence’s start as Mystique in X-Men: First Class with your Hulu subscription and Days of Future Past on your Max subscription.
