Mckenna Grace has teased Joseph Zada’s performance in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will leave audiences “sobbing”.
The 20-year-old actor is set to portray Haymitch Abernathy – the character previously played by Woody Harrelson in the original tetralogy – in the upcoming prequel movie, and Grace, 19, has now promised Zada’s performance in Sunrise on the Reaping will blow fans away.
Speaking with Collider, Grace – who will portray District 12 tribute Maysilee Donner in the film – said of Zada: “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 girl in town, but I’m watching him do his thing and, like, oof, it’s very gut-punchy.”
The Ghostbusters: Afterlife star added Glenn Close and Grace Ackary – who portray Drusilla Sickle and Katniss Everdeen’s mother Asterid March, respectively – have also delivered a “really fantastic performance” in Sunrise on the Reaping.
She continued: “And Glenn Close as Drusilla, all of us have been losing our minds. It’s been crazy. And also, Grace, who’s playing the younger version of Asterid, Katniss’ mom, is really fantastic.
“But to me, it’s just crazy 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.”
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is based on author Suzanne Collins’ 2025 novel of the same name, and serves as the second instalment in her Hunger Games prequel trilogy.
Taking place 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, the story follows 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy (Zada) as he is forced to compete in the ruthless 50th Hunger Games, where the number of tributes – and the bloodshed – is doubled.
As Haymitch struggles to stay alive, he begins to uncover the Capitol’s darkest secrets and learns the devastating cost of rebellion.
Grace revealed the cast had just filmed the Reaping scene – in which the Capitol selects one boy and one girl from each of the 12 districts to become tributes for The Hunger Games – and described it as “the craziest, most surreal experience of [her] life”.
She said: “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.”
Grace admitted she was feeling the pressure of taking on such a pivotal role in Maysilee.
She explained: “I will say that I don’t always have that kind of confidence about myself, where I’m like, ‘Oh, this is me. I am this role. I did it. I killed that.’
“I feel like 90 per cent of artists always want to look at what they’re doing and be like, ‘I could do better. I could do better,’ but not kill yourself over it, of course. But I don’t know.
“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?’”
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will also star Whitney Peak as Haymitch Abernathy’s girlfriend Lenore Dove Baird, Maya Hawke as former Hunger Games victor Wiress, Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman, Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket and Ralph Fiennes as President Coriolanus Snow.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source uk.movies.yahoo.com ’
