New Delhi, Oct. 29 -- Sunrise on the Reaping with roles already shaped by other actors and an audience ready to compare them. On October 28, both described the pressure of giving familiar characters a different life without simply repeating what fans already loved.

The cast gathered at a Westfield shopping centre transformed for the U.K. launch, with a purple carpet, a towering cornucopia and banners presenting Ralph Fiennes' President Snow as "Panem's No. 1 Peacekeeper." Joseph Zada, Mckenna Grace, Jesse Plemons and Whitney Peak were among the actors meeting fans and speaking to the press.

The event was a premiere, not the start of the film's general theatrical release. Lionsgate's film is scheduled to open November 20. Its new cast mu...