‘Did you know?’ Mckenna Grace reveals panicked call to Sunrise on the Reaping co-star Joseph Zada

Exclusive: Mckenna Grace barely knew her new Aussie co-star Joseph Zada when she video-called him in shock.

The duo had already landed the lead roles in one of the most anticipated movies of the year, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, but casting for the rest of the film was ongoing – and they only found out about their massive A-list co-stars from official announcements like the rest of us.

“There were so many rumours, and they all turned out to be true,” 21-year-old Sydney star Zada told nine.com.au.

Among those huge names were Glenn Close, Ralph Fiennes, Jesse Plemons, Elle Fanning and Kieran Culkin – and the pair learned it all via social media.

“It was crazy finding out from that burning book,” Zada said, referencing the film’s announcement videos.

“We’d have all the notifications on for The Hunger Games TikTok, because that was the only way I found out,” Grace agreed.

“I remember we barely kind of knew each other at that point, but we’d exchanged a few DMs or something, and I remember FaceTiming you over Instagram and being like, ‘Did you know about like Glenn?’ You’re like, ‘No, I didn’t know anything!’”

“And it was just nice to know that I wasn’t the only one in the dark.”

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The pair of course knew that stepping into one of the world’s most popular film franchises would be a huge, life-changing job, but that’s not to say it sank in right away.

That “whoa” moment finally came when they fully embodied their characters for the first time for a camera test.

“The costumes, putting those on for the first time,” Zada added. “That was crazy. That was really fun.”

Sunrise on the Reaping, based on author Suzanne Collins’ 2025 book of the same name, follows 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy and how he became the victor of the 50th Hunger Games.

It is set 24 years before the events of the first The Hunger Games film, in which Haymitch is famously played by Woody Harrelson.

Zada said taking on the role of a younger Haymitch was “really difficult and daunting”, as he tried to find a balance between ensuring his Haymitch was familiar enough to audiences while still very much his own.

“I think being able to dial it up and down was important to me, so being able to get a perfect impersonation, but then also be able to do the least amount possible while still capturing that energy and that life of Woody, and the cadence,” he explained.

“And the voice was really important for me, too, so working on that for a really long time and staying in it on set.”

Grace, who stars as fellow District 12 tribute Maysilee Donner, confirmed he absolutely nailed it.

“It totally just seeped into the way that you talked,” she told her co-star. “Everything that you said, yeah. You were always in the accent.”

Grace is a self-described Hunger Games superfan who even made fan edits dedicated to Josh Hutcherson’s Peeta as a child.

This made taking on Maysilee, who fans know has an important throughline to the original book trilogy characters, was extra special.

“When I was reading the book for the first time and you get to meet this girl who owns the Mockingjay pin – I thought that was so cool, it was so exciting,” she said.

“Then to see how she affects the story after the fact? … It was so cool not only as a fan, but also as an actor to get to play such an important part to this story.

“It was an honour.”

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