Mckenna Grace is spilling (as much as she can!) on her upcoming movie The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping!
The 19-year-old actress has been cast as Maysilee Donner in the new prequel film, a role that is described as “highly sought” because it’s the “closest thing to the Katniss role that Jennifer Lawrence made famous in the four film adaptations.”
In new interviews, Mckenna opened up about learning she booked the part and how filming has been going.
Keep reading to find out more…
“It’s so funny I actually found out about this while I was on Regretting You, and we had a few people in the cast who were reading the book,” Mckenna told ScreenRant. “I had just gotten the call in my trailer that morning that I had booked the role. I had been crying all morning, because I was like, oh, I did not think I was going to get it, especially with the fan castings, ’cause every time I get fan-casted for a role, I want so bad, I start getting fan-casted, and then I don’t get it.”
“I was so nervous, and I could not believe I got it,” she added.
In a separate interview, Mckenna teased what it has been like filming – production kicked off in July.
“I’m still in the process of shooting, but I’ve never done something that’s so physically challenging. There’s a lot in that that’s been fun, but so terrifying,” she told Collider. “There’s definitely been some moments on set. I can’t even talk about them yet, but it’s just like I’m looking at what I’m wearing or I’m looking at myself in these outfits, and it’s just like, ‘How did I get here?’”
“I mean, it’s all leaked online; we just did the Reaping, and hearing my name get called and walking up there and everything, I don’t even know, it was the craziest, most surreal experience of my life. I feel like that just adds to getting your name called in the Hunger Games,” Mckenna teased.
She also gushed about her co-star Joseph Zada, who plays the young Haymitch Abernathy, the role originally brought to life by Woody Harrelson in the first movies, as well as Glenn Close and Grace Ackary.
“Just his performance, everybody’s going to be, like, freaking sobbing in the theaters. It’s rough. Because I’m supposed to be the mean, most stuck-up shorty in town, but I’m watching him do his thing and, like, oof, it’s very gut-punchy,” the Regretting You star said. “And Glenn Close as Drusilla, all of us have been losing our minds. It’s been lit. And also, Grace [Ackary], who’s playing the younger version of Asterid, Katniss’ mom, is really fantastic. But to me, it’s just lit watching her on screen because she looks so much like her, so it’s so trippy. God, our entire cast is so good. Everybody’s so good.”
If you missed it, find out who else has been cast in the upcoming Hunger Games prequel movie!
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