The actress is part of a large ensemble cast of ‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping,’ which hits theaters on Nov. 20
Credit: Lionsgate(2)
NEED TO KNOW
- Maya Hawke was inspired to become an actress thanks to the first Hunger Games film, she tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview
- Hawke is part of a large ensemble cast starring in a Hunger Games prequel, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which hits theaters on Nov. 20
- Hawke portrays a younger version of Wiress, played by Amanda Plummer in Catching Fire, in the forthcoming movie
One of Maya Hawke’s latest roles is full circle.
The actress, 28, stars in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping — the sixth installment in The Hunger Games film franchise— and she tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that the original movie played a large role in helping her figure out her career path.
“I credit the original Hunger Games movie a lot with inspiring me to want to be an actor, honestly,” Hawke, who lends her voice to the recently released Audible Original The Summer Oath, says.
Explaining that “it’s so hard to give a good performance in a big action movie,” because “so many pieces in the machine are usually working against the capacity to give a good performance,” Hawke praises Jennifer Lawrence, who starred as Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist of the original trilogy, as being a part of that inspiration.
“In those movies, she gave a performance so singularly excellent and weird, and she painted a true individual that was not at all neutralized by the genre,” Hawke says of Lawrence, 35.
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Credit: Lionsgate
The Hunger Games is a three-part book series — The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay — that was adapted into four films. (Mockingjay was split into two parts, released one year apart).
The franchise centers around a dystopian nation called Panem, where rich and authoritarian leaders force twelve lower-class districts to submit two children to fight in a deadly, and televised, battle every year.
Alongside Lawrence, other big names who starred throughout the Hunger Games film series, based on the books written by Suzanne Collins, included Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Stanley Tucci, Sam Claflin, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright and Lenny Kravitz, among many others.
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Following the success of the books and movies, Collins, 63, wrote a prequel novel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which was later turned into a film with Rachel Zegler in the lead role. It also features others such as Tom Blyth and Hunter Schafer portraying younger versions of characters featured in the franchise.
Collins subsequently penned Sunrise on the Reaping, which still serves as a prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy, but takes place after Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The film adaptation is being released later this year.
Alongside Hawke — who stars as a younger version of Wiress, played by Amanda Plummer in Catching Fire — the film also features Joseph Zada, Ralph Fiennes, Elle Fanning, Jesse Plemons, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Kieran Culkin and Lili Taylor all playing younger versions of fan-favorite franchise characters.
Credit: Lionsgate
“My part is very small, but I’m excited. I love my character,” Hawke tells PEOPLE of portraying Wiress in Sunrise on the Reaping. “I am so excited to get to see the movie and to be a fan.”
“I was also just so honored to work with Francis and to participate in any way in anti-fascist populist art,” she continues, nodding to director Francis Lawrence.
But, with such a big and extremely star-studded ensemble cast, Hawke — the daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke — says such can create a lot of worry.
“There are so many incredible actors in it, and, in a totally egoless way, I hope I didn’t ruin it,” she says with a laugh. “You know when you watch a movie, and there’s a ton of people in it, and sometimes someone comes in, and you’re like, ‘Nope, they didn’t understand the tone.’ I hope I’m not the outcast who didn’t get it.”
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping hits theaters on Nov. 20.
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