Actress Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) recently took fans on a set tour of the franchise’s prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
In the film, Zegler plays Lucy Gray Baird, a tribute from District 12. Songbirds and Snakes is adapted from the 2020 book by Suzanne Collins, the author of the original Hunger Games series.
Zegler began the behind-the-scenes tour by introducing herself and saying hello to everyone watching on TikTok. “I’m here to show you the set of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” Zegler said as the film’s crew worked behind her.
One of the first shots of Zegler’s co-stars includes her real-life boyfriend Josh Andrés Rivera, who played one of her love interests last year in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story.
In the same shot, viewers can see actor Peter Dinklage (Games of Thrones) sitting in front of the decked-out cast. Earlier this year, Dinklage, who has a form of dwarfism, criticized another of Zegler’s upcoming films, Snow White, for what he believed might include stereotypes about dwarfs.
Some of Zegler’s co-stars who got cameos in the video include Tom Blyth and Ashley Liao, who were caught dancing like no one was watching. Zegler attempts to formally introduce viewers to Blyth, but he pretends like he’s uninterested and throws his empty coffee cup at the camera before running away.
Then, Zelger takes viewers to “Video Village” where she explains is the area where the film’s director, producers, writers, and dialect coaches all watch the cast work.
She ends the tour with an introduction to Rivera, who she jokes is her “least favorite person on set,” which is probably why his segment seemed to end so abruptly. “That’s a wrap for [this] silly video for TikTok,” Rachel Zegler said.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is scheduled to hit theaters on November 17, 2023.