For over 100 days now, tons of actors have been out of work and on the picket line during SAG-AFTRA’s actors strike as the organization goes back and forth with Hollywood studios on updated negotiations for actors in the age of streaming and AI. Part of the strike has meant actors are not promoting their upcoming movies and TV shows. However, this November’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes just became among few 2023 new movie releases to give its actors a free pass to talk about their movie. The prequel’s star, Rachel Zegler, wasted no time going off to the races.
On Monday, it was revealed that the latest Hunger Games movie had earned an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA since the studio behind the release, Lionsgate, is not part of AMPTP, which is the body of producers with which SAG-AFTRA is currently at odds. Following the big announcement, Zegler took to social media to thank Lionsgate and SAG-AFTRA for coming to an agreement and has been having a blast getting word out there about the release.
For example, Zegler posted the above Instagram post with the caption “oh we are so back” while sharing a round of photos of herself and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes castmates Tom Blyth and Josh Andrés Rivera in New York City promoting the upcoming movie. The trio traveled to Times Square on Wednesday to meet fans, and they appeared on Good Morning America to talk about it as well.
The actress, who famously starred in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, along with being part of this year’s Shazam! sequel and the live-action Snow White movie on the way, also took to her Instagram to repost the following TikTok from Lionsgate that shows her having a blast on set between the brutal scenes of her character’s time in the Hunger Games. Check it:
@lionsgate
♬ THE HUNGER GAMES In Theaters Nov 17 – Lionsgate
While the SAG-AFTRA actors strike continues to place Hollywood at a standstill, now over 100 films have earned interim agreements for operating outside the AMPTP. Other movies that have been on press tours amidst the strike are the Sofia Coppola-directed Priscilla from A24 and Jessica Chastain’s Memory. While among the first of actors to promote a film during the strike at the Venice Film Festival in September, Chastain shared feeling “incredibly nervous” about speaking about her film given the circumstances.
Rachel Zegler and the cast having the chance to promote The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which reportedly cost the studio $100 million to produce, certainly gives the movie more exposure and gives the actor a platform to speak about roles they spent a good chunk of their time putting their blood, sweat and tears into. Zegler was given permission after all, so why not flaunt her latest flick, which is hitting theaters on November 17!