Director Francis Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson tell PEOPLE that Close’s team called them while they were casting for the film
Credit: Lionsgate Movies; Emma McIntyre/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Glenn Close’s team approached producers for Sunrise on the Reaping to express her interest in joining the Hunger Games prequel film
- Close collaborated closely with director Francis Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson to develop her character, including voice recordings and costume experiments
- Lawrence reveals that she also chose to sleep in her trailer on set
Glenn Close wanted to be a part of Sunrise on the Reaping before producers even asked her to audition.
During a filmmaker presentation and conversation for the upcoming Hunger Games movie, director Francis Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson revealed that they were able to cast their first choices for all of the characters — but it was actually Close’s team who reached out to them asking if she could be involved.
“She and her camp kind of came to us,” Lawrence tells PEOPLE. “Obviously we love her work and have loved her work for so long, from way back to World According to Garp, Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, all these things. So to be able to work with her was amazing, but to get that kind of incoming call of, ‘Glenn would love to be a part of this’… Yes, please!”
Close, 79, portrays Drusilla Sickle, the predecessor to the well-loved Effie Trinket, who also will appear in Sunrise on the Reaping, played by Elle Fanning. Drusilla is responsible for traveling to District 12 to select the year’s Hunger Games tributes and then ushering them back to the Capitol. She has a similarly eccentric style to Effie’s character, unveiled during clips of Sunrise on the Reaping shown during the conversation, and Lawrence says that Close “really loves the process of building the character.”
Credit: Lionsgate Movies
“She and I started by having Zooms and chats, and then we had a text exchange over time where I would send her references,” Lawrence details. “She would send me references from magazines or articles. Sometimes she would do drawings. And so we just kind of built the character together and she was working on the sound of her voice and sending recordings and all that kind of stuff. So it was a really fun collaboration.”
“And the joy that she brought to it was also incredible,” Jacobson adds. “She would send pictures while she was experimenting with hair and makeup on the tape that pulled her face back … and she’d be like, ‘Look at this.’ ”
The scenes set in District 12 were all shot in Duisburg, Germany, just north of Düsseldorf, where the cast and crew were staying. Lawrence says during their first meeting at that hotel in Düsseldorf, Close actually asked if she could sleep in her trailer on set instead of at the hotel.
“And she did,” Lawrence said. “So instead of just being somebody that wants this fancy hotel room or whatever, she’s like, ‘My trailer’s great. I’ll just go sleep there and then not have to travel.’ ”
Credit: Lionsgate Movies
Jacobson adds that she was excited about being able to be on set “so much earlier” by sleeping in the trailer.
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“[She’s] such an inspiration, I think, also for the younger actors,” Jacobson says. “She’s a very generous actor. She mentors people. She takes such an interest in the younger actors, and she just brings so much joy and passion to it as though she’s brand new to it when she’s Glenn Close.”
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