“Hunger Games” star Mckenna Grace rejected the link between her refusal to do nude scenes and her dream of becoming a Disney princess. The 20-year-old actress explained that the quotes are unrelated.
“The two quotes being used right now in these titles are unrelated,” Grace wrote in an Instagram story featuring a screenshot of Variety’s article about her interview in Cosmopolitan. “I said at this point in my career I think I’m uncomfortable doing something, but I respect everyone who does, and I also have a dream job!”
She added that her boundary is about personal comfort rather than career plans.
“I’m not uncomfortable doing nude scenes/hyper sexual roles simply because ‘I want to be a Disney princess’; it’s just because of my own personal boundaries and the level of comfortability I have with that sort of thing right now at this point in my life!” she wrote.
Moreover, she wondered why this issue attracted so much attention. “Silly that it’s become such a source of conversation! So many more important things to talk about,” she added.
Grace gave the initial quotes in an interview to Cosmopolitan, during the promotion of “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.” When asked about what roles she might reject, she replied, “At this point, I definitely don’t do nudity or very hypersexual things.”
She noted that she respects performers who take this kind of work but finds it scary, and she isn’t sure it will ever change. Moreover, she pointed out that she doesn’t only take wholesome roles, noting that her character dies at the hands of Ghostface in “Scream,” and that her dream is “to try and be a Disney princess someday.”
Variety’s story, shared on X on Monday, had a headline according to which Grace rejects nude and hypersexual roles due to her Disney princess dream. Deadline and People wrote similar stories. Variety also compared Grace to Amy Adams, who played Giselle in Disney’s 2007 film “Enchanted” and then refused edgier projects to preserve her image for young fans.
Disney princess goal is not new for Grace. While promoting the film “Troop Zero,” she told Screen Rant that becoming a Disney princess was her dream, mentioning remakes of animated classics made by the studio.
Grace, born in Grapevine, Texas, began her professional acting career at the age of 5 and debuted on screen in the Disney XD series “Crash & Bernstein.” Other films featuring Grace include “Gifted,” “I, Tonya,” “The Haunting of Hill House,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” and “Scream 7.”
In “Sunrise on the Reaping,” Grace plays Maysilee Donner, a District 12 tribute who partners with young Haymitch Abernathy (Joseph Zada) in the 50th Hunger Games. The cast also includes Whitney Peak, Jesse Plemons, Elle Fanning, and Ralph Fiennes.
Lionsgate’s film based on Suzanne Collins’ book comes to North American theaters on November 20th.
