Rachel Zegler remembers seeing ‘Hunger Games’ in theatres as a kid

Actress Rachel Zegler, who stars as District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird in the upcoming The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes film, has recalled her very first time venturing to the Capitol of Panem (the franchise’s metropolis) just over 10 years ago.

“I went with my sister and my mom to the theatre to see it,” Zegler said of her movie-going experience, report media sources. Although she was prepared, she couldn’t say the same for another audience member. “The woman next to my sister had never read the books or seen the film before, and when the mutts came out, she started screaming, ‘What’s gonna happen next?’” she shared.

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Most Hunger Games fans would know that mutts, also known as muttations, are ferocious creatures created by The Capitol to add a bit of excitement for those watching the tributes as they try to survive the games. “And it is ingrained in my memory forever,” Zegler said while adding a wish of her own. “I hope people in our theatres do it as well.”

As per the source, she recently attended the film’s Berlin premiere at Zoo Palast and was stunned while seemingly paying homage to Jennifer Lawrence’s character Katniss Everdeen. Reminiscent of Everdeen’s gown that bursts into flames in the books and films, giving her the nickname 'The Girl on Fire', Zegler walked the carpet in a strapless black Alexander McQueen floor-length dress with what appeared to be fiery red flames designed into the bottom.

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The upcoming film is a prequel to the 2012 blockbuster, and takes place 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem.