In new interviews published via the official Hunger Games website, Mockingjay director Francis Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobsen update fans on filming.

Shooting on the two-part finale has been happening in Europe over the past several weeks as the first film approaches its November release date.

Lawrence, who also directed Catching Fire, says that the balancing act between the two movies has been a large task. “Because the breadth of the work is so large in scope, we’re prepping while we’re shooting while we’re cutting,” he said.

“Oh and we’re scouting, too – so all of this is happening at once and in three different countries. There’s a little back and forth, but mostly we weighted the front end of the schedule with Mockingjay 1, and about three weeks ago, we tipped over into Mockingjay 2.”

By shooting them back to back, Jacobsen explains, there’s a higher level of cohesiveness. “The advantage is that it is still one book, and by making all of it at once, we’re able to know where the characters are relative to where they need to be. Especially since there are major transformations in this story for Katniss, for Peeta, and for Gale.”

Jacobsen also touched on where Katniss is when we first see her at the start of Mockingjay. “The opening of Catching Fire is the first time you really start to get a sense of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Katniss’ life. When you get into Mockingjay, that’s just ratcheted up. She’s panicked, and she can’t sleep. She’s barely able to hold it together. That’s compounded by the fact that she is now really distrustful of everybody around her. She feels betrayed by Haymitch and by Plutarch. She also feels lost without Peeta. So she’s very, very fragile and very, very angry.”

Our first look at the film was unveiled earlier this month. Hit the link for several stills.

Thanks to Mockingjay and TheHungerGamesExclusive.com for the quotes!