Throwback To When Jennifer Lawrence Hilariously Passed On The Torch To Rachel Zegler For Her Hunger Games Role (Photo Credit – Instagram)
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Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot’s live-action rendition of Snow White is just around the corner, hoping the many controversies do not render it a box-office disaster. Having already starred in another reimagining of a classic — West Side Story — Zegler’s career thus far hinges heavily on remakes and franchises.
These include the DCEU sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, a prequel that recruited Zegler as Lucy Gray. The latter role did not arrive without inciting comparisons with Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen, the original spearhead of The Hunger Games’ celestial $3 billion success.
While Lawrence didn’t cameo in the prequel, fate lured the two to cross paths at Paris Fashion Week 2023, a Dior show where Lawrence’s easygoing charm illuminated — to the point where she offered to “strangle” Zegler if it helped promote her former franchise.
Referring to the American Hustle actress as “unbelievably kind,” Zegler shared the anecdote about them being spotted hugging and laughing, and the reason behind the giggles was what Lawrence quipped in Zegler’s ear.
“She’s actually saying,” Rachel Zegler revealed on The Kelly Clarkson Show, “Let’s do another photo where I’m strangling you and saying ‘you’ll never take my part!’” Lawrence’s humorous remark confirmed the actress remains up-to-date with the gossip and rumors, including those painting her as upset over passing the torch to a younger generation.
That Paris juncture also spotlights Lawrence’s easygoing charm, a sumptuous contrast to Zegler’s vehement tangents — a trait that propelled Lawrence to mid-20s stardom. In fact, by 23, Zegler’s age now, Lawrence had already collected an Academy Award from three nods. He was simultaneously shepherding two titans: X-Men ($1.4 billion across her run) and Hunger Games.
The film adaptations of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games saga, starring Jennifer Lawrence, accrued colossal grosses. The inaugural installment made $694 million, while Catching Fire witnessed unprecedented growth at $865 million. The final two entries, Mockingjay—Part 1 and Part 2, accumulated $755 million and $653 million, respectively, totaling $2.96 billion worldwide.
Zegler’s spin-off, meanwhile, sits at $337 million, languishing far behind — a fairly conspicuous gap from Lawrence’s reign. The latter’s personal $50.5 million paychecks from The Hunger Games crowned her among the highest-paid actresses of all time — a resounding legacy built on wit and relentless draw, not just on superficially expressed rebellious ideologies.
In The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, alongside Tom Blyth’s young Coriolanus Snow, Zegler’s Lucy Gray enters District 12 tribute’s labyrinthine path — a shadow of Lawrence’s bow-wielding titan. Her outing as Lucy mirrored Katniss Everdeen’s rebellious streak, even enunciating the same luminous defiance by singing The Hanging Tree, a tune Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss made iconic in Mockingjay — Part 1.
