Friday, November 14
Berlin’s Tempelhofer Feld has once again been taken over by a major Hollywood production. Acclaimed actress Glenn Close revealed on Instagram that she is currently filming scenes for the upcoming Hunger Games prequel Sunrise of the Reaping at the former airport.
The capital has long been a favourite location for the franchise, with parts of all previous films shot in the city. Set designers have repeatedly leaned on Berlin’s stark architecture, from Tempelhof Airport to the Olympic Stadium and GDR-era complexes, to evoke the authoritarian world of Panem.
Close, 78, described shooting a complex sequence involving two helicopters, a drone and three massive wind machines, showing the location’s beautiful sunset to her followers in a post. Filming has also been spotted at the International Congress Centre (ICC), which previously appeared in Mockingjay.
She joins a star-studded cast that includes Billy Porter, Ralph Fiennes, Maya Hawke and Kelvin Harrison Jr. The film is directed by longtime franchise helmer Francis Lawrence.
The new installment, based on Suzanne Collins’ novel Sunrise on the Reaping, follows a young Haymitch Abernathy as one of 48 tributes forced into the arena for the 50th Hunger Games. Set 24 years before the original storyline, it explores the particularly brutal Second Quarter Quell – and Haymitch’s bloody path to victory.
