Rachel Zegler originally turned down the lead in 'The Hunger Games' prequel before her boyfriend was cast in the movie

• Rachel Zegler initially turned down a starring role in "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes."
• According to Lawrence, Zegler didn't like the idea of back-to-back filming schedules for "Snow White" and the "Hunger Games" prequel.
• Zegler called them back after her boyfriend, Josh Andrés Rivera, was cast in a leading role. 

Rachel Zegler may not have starred in "The Hunger Games" prequel if not for her boyfriend.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" director Francis Lawrence said Zegler initially turned down the role as Lucy Gray Baird after a four-hour conversation. She was seemingly concerned about going directly from filming Disney's live-action "Snow White" adaptation to another huge production.

"The idea of going from six months in London to go deeper into Europe — into Poland — for another six months of her life freaked her out," Lawrence said. "She went ghostly white."  

EW described Zegler's "Snow White" schedule, which shot from March to July 2022, as one of isolation due to COVID-19 protocols away from both family and friends.

Though Lawrence said he promised they wouldn't quarantine her and would bring her boyfriend and family to visit, she remained steadfast in her decision until it came time to cast two other main roles in the prequel film.

Taking place more than 60 years before the events of "The Hunger Games," "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" follows Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) before his tyrannical rule of Panem during the 10th Hunger Games, a vicious form of entertainment in which children fight in a battle to the death, in which Baird is one of 24 contestants. Snow serves as Baird's mentor in the games.

When "West Side Story" star Josh Andrés Rivera was cast as Snow's friend and another fellow mentor in the games, Lawrence learned Rivera also happened to be Zegler's boyfriend.

Lawrence told EW he wondered if they would get a call. They did the following day.

Zegler previously told the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast in June she turned down the role and immediately had second thoughts about her decision.

"I had just gotten to London and I wanted to disappear because I was so far away from home for the first time ever. And I was away from everybody that I knew and loved, and I said 'no,'" Zegler said at the time. "I regretted it the minute I said it."

Zegler never mentioned any role Rivera may have played in changing her mind, instead explaining, "I had another project lined up that fell through that got pushed into 2023 and I just kind of put my name back into the mix and I got it."

Also starring Viola Davis and Peter Dinklage, "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" is in theaters November 17.