Glenn Close and Billy Porter are the latest A-list stars to join the cast of Lionsgate’s “Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.”
Close will play Drusilla Sickle, a cruel-hearted escort for the tributes of District 12, while Porter will play her estranged husband, stylist Magno Stift, the official “Hunger Games” franchise accounts on Instagram and X announced June 16.
Close and Porter’s casting in the Francis Lawrence-directed prequel was officially announced during Lionsgate’s presentation at the CineEurope film expo, Deadline reported.
Producer Nina Jacobson said of eight-time Oscar nominee Close, “Glenn Close is a dream Drusilla. She brings so much of her intellect and imagination to each role, creating characters who are unforgettable and iconic. I think Glenn and Francis will have a ball bringing Drusilla from the page to the screen.”
She added of three-time Tony winner Porter, “Billy is one of those rare performers who can dazzle and devastate in equal measure on stage and screen. He made an indelible impression on me when we worked together on ‘Pose,’ both as an actor and a human being.”
Jacobson went on to say that casting the movie has felt like “winning the lottery” every time one of her “idols” agrees to accept a part. “To be able to announce Glenn Close and Billy Porter together is an embarrassment of riches that we can all celebrate,” she said.
Close and Porter join an all-star cast that includes Kieran Culkin, Ralph Fiennes, Elle Fanning, Lili Taylor, Maya Hawke, Jesse Plemons, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Joseph Zada, Ben Wang, Molly McCann, Whitney Peak and Mckenna Grace.
“Sunrise on the Reaping,” the latest novel by “Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins, was released March 18.
Like Collins’ 2020 novel, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” the book is a prequel to the original “Hunger Games” series, set 24 years before the action in the first novel in the franchise.
The plot of “Sunrise on the Reaping” follows 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy — played as an adult by Woody Harrelson in the original movie trilogy — as he navigates being chosen as a District 12 tribute to fight to the death in the 50th annual Hunger Games.
The novel illustrates how Haymitch wins the Hunger Games while also becoming a rebel against the political system that created them.
Shortly after “Sunrise on the Reaping” was announced in June 2024, Lionsgate confirmed that a film adaptation of the book would premiere in theaters in November 2026.
About The Author
