Mckenna Grace has been on screen since she was a little girl, and at 20 she is about to step into the arena as Maysilee Donner in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, one of the most anticipated movies of the year. She is also one of three cover stars of Cosmopolitan’s winter issue, alongside Whitney Peak and Maya Hawke, and in that interview she laid out, plainly and without any hedging, the kind of roles she simply will not take.
As Variety reported from the Cosmopolitan conversation, which came during the Sunrise on the Reaping press tour, Grace put it this way:
“At this point, I definitely don’t do nudity or very hypersexual things. I respect anybody who can, but it’s terrifying to me. I don’t know if that’ll ever change. It’s not like I only do wholesome things — my character literally gets gutted by Ghostface in Scream — but my dream is to try and be a Disney princess someday.”
That last part is not a new whim. Grace grew up on Disney XD, where she played Jasmine Bernstein on Crash & Bernstein as a child, and she was already talking about wanting to be a Disney princess back in her Troop Zero days. It is less a career calculation than a dream she has carried since she was the age of the fans who watch her now.
As her quote makes clear, the line she draws is not about playing it safe. This is an actress whose credits run from Gifted and I, Tonya to Ghostbusters and a run-in with Ghostface, and she is quick to say she respects actors who make different choices. She just knows where her own line is, and she is in no hurry to cross it.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping opens in theaters November 20. Trevor Decker News has followed the film from its first full trailer to the companion album, where Grace sings “Half Alive.” For an actress with a Ghostface scene and a Hunger Games arena already on her résumé, holding out for a princess crown feels entirely on brand.