Hunter SchaferandRachel Zeglerknow how to let off steam during an intense movie shoot.

“Berlin is a capital of techno, and so we had some really good resources as far as getting to dance,” says Schafer, 24, with a smile. “To decompress after an intense day of filming, something with a high BPM—‘boom, boom, boom’—you can exorcize whatever you need to.”

Zegler, 22, says the film’s director Francis Lawrence made balancing work and time off a priority for cast and crew alike.

“Francis has such an intention of not letting work go too long so that everybody has the opportunity to kind of decompress,” she shares. “He really is a guy who likes to enjoy his meal at the end of the day and say goodnight. And so there was a lot of that, a lot of restaurants, a lot of nightlife on the weekends.”

Enjoying the sights and sounds of cities across Germany and Poland helped the cast bond, theWest Side Storystar adds. “I feel like we all really got to know each other super well because of that.”

Hunter Schafer and Rachel Zegler.Liam Woods

Rachel Zegler & Hunter Schafer

Liam Woods

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Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Murray Close

Having stepped into Hollywood’s spotlight as young adults, both actresses know the importance of balancing intense work schedules with self-care. Zegler, whose upcoming projects include leading 2024’s animatedSpellboundand 2025’sSnow Whitelive-action remake, says “the acknowledgement that things are different and that that’s not a bad thing” is what has grounded her.

Equally important: “Surrounding yourself with good people,” says Zegler. “Your friends, your family are the people that actually are going to bring you back down to earth when it feels impossible.”

Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird and Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

As for navigating the spotlight in general, Schafer calls it “a journey that I’m still working on. I’m definitely more sound within all of this than I was at the beginning. It threw me for a loop, the way this stuff changes your life.

“It just takes time to adjust. But now I’m like, This is what we do. This is my life. This is really cool.”

source: people.com