The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Star Rachel Zegler Shares Fun Behind-the-Scenes Facts

By Jamie Jirak

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes wrapped production back in November, and The Hunger Games prequel is scheduled to hit theaters later this year. The movie is based on Suzanne Collins' novel of the same name, which chronicles 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) before he became the tyrannical president of Panem during the events of The Hunger Games. The first teaser trailer for the upcoming film is expected to drop soon, so Rachel Zegler, who plays Lucy Gray Baird, is sharing some fun behind-the-scenes facts about the movie.

"Fun fact: this silver bust of Heavensbee is actually modeled after our dear director Francis Lawrence," Zegler shared. She jokingly added, "I am a nepo baby because Francis is Father." Lawrence also helmed The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2. You can check out Zelger's post below:

"This snake was real. she was very very very sweet. I wonder whose hands those are.... 👀," Zegler captioned her next post. If you've read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, you know that Zegler's character is first introduced at the reaping, and she throws a snake on another girl after her name is called as the tribute for District 12. You can view the post below: 

Why Did Rachel Zelger Originally Turn Down The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes? 

Zegler recently admitted to the Happy Sad Confused podcast that she initially turned down the role. 

"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 franchise 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.'"

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She continued, "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.'"

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is scheduled to be released exclusively in theaters on November 17th.

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