In a recent interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Rachel Zegler explained how she first turned down a role in an upcoming prequel for The Hunger Games film series. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Is an adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s spin-off and prequel of The Hunger Games trilogy. The book was released in May 2020 by Scholastic, and the film adaptation of the same name is to be released in November 2023.
Even though Zegler initially turned down the role, she did get it back in the end. In the same interview, Zegler talked about how embarrassing it was for her to decline a part in the prequel of a major franchise.
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Naturally, the actress changed her mind and regretted her choice, but the odds were on her side, and she ended up landing the role of Lucy Gray Baird. She added:
“Let me tell you because is such an embarrassing story for me. I was offered it in January of last year after wanting it so badly. I didn’t audition, it was just, I got a call from my agent that was like ‘Francis Lawrence [The Hunger Games film series director] wants you to do this.’ And I met with him for like three hours at the Soho Hotel in London. And then he told me that they were filming in Germany and in Poland and I had just gotten to London and I wanted to disappear because I was so far away from home for the first time ever. And I was away from everybody that I knew and loved, and I said ’no.’”
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follows the events of 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow mentoring Lucy Gray Baird, the female tribute from District 12. Before he eventually becomes the oppressive president of Panem. The cast of the upcoming prequel features Tom Blyth as young Coriolanus Snow, Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow, and other stars, including Jason Schwartzman, Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis, Burn Gorman, and Fionnula Flanagan.
“And I regretted it the second I said it. I had another project lined up that fell through that got pushed into 2023 and I just kind of put my name back into the mix and got it, and I feel really bad for any of the girls… because I put my name back in and they were just like ‘yup, OK, cool, we’ll do it.’”
More on the Record-Breaking Film Series
Based on the trilogy of novels of the same name written by American writer Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games film series is a collection of science fiction, dystopian adventure movies. The movies were produced by Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik and are distributed by Lionsgate. In the film series, Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen, along with Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne, and others.
The first three movies broke numerous box office benchmarks. With nearly US$2.97 billion in global box office receipts, The Hunger Games is the 21st-highest-grossing movie franchise. The Hunger Games (2012) broke records for an original IP’s biggest opening weekend and opening day. The record for the largest November opening weekend was achieved by the 2013 film Catching Fire. The opening day and weekend of Mockingjay: Part 1 (2014) were the biggest of 2014. The films’ themes and Lawrence’s performance, which appeared in Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015), received high acclaim.
Theaters will witness The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds on November 17, 2023. Rachel Zegler’s interview can be found below.
