An Orange teenager is set to hit the silver screen as part of one of the highest grossing movie franchises of all time.
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Knox Gibson is no stranger to a film set, having recently starred in a Netflix short called Forgive Us Our Trespasses. But now the 15-year-old will be taking it up a notch as part of the upcoming Hunger Games movie, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
"Through the Netflix short film that I did, I got a manager overseas," he said.
"Every now and then we get sent through auditions and it was really just another one of those auditions. You have a go at everything.
"I sent in my tape and waited about a week and got told that we got a call-back with Francis Lawrence (director) and the Debra Zane who is also a casting director."
Two weeks later and he had secured the role of Bobbin, a District 8 tribute.
"I can't say I wasn't excited," he said.
"I remember we got told and it was crazy, we couldn't believe it."
With the Gibson family having "always" been big Hunger Games fans, it was no surprise that Knox's siblings were the first to find out the good news.
"Straight away I sent messages to my brother and sister, but they weren't allowed to tell anyone yet. It had to be kept a secret until the role was announced," he said.
"I can't say I completely trusted them. The brother in particular likes to talk a little bit, but it didn't come out. Thankfully we were able to tell people about three weeks later."
It was just after they were finally allowed to share the good news with friends, that Knox and his mum Kate Gibson found themselves jetting off to Europe to start filming.
That was in June of 2022, and for the next 4.5 months, the pair would reside in Germany and Poland where the movie was being filmed.
"It's definitely a big step. You're leaving home for such a big amount of time, so you need to make sure you've got everything packed and even the fact that you're leaving your family for so long," Knox said.
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With the upcoming movie featuring big name actors such as Peter Dinklage and Rachel Zegler, Knox was keen to take in as much knowledge as he could.
"Some of the sets and amount of people involved behind the scenes was crazy. It was such a good experience to be able to work on something so big," he said.
"There were so many experienced actors on set and there's always time to learn when you're in an environment like that."
While the teenager can't reveal too much about his role in the film, he was quietly confident with how he performed.
"I felt like I did well, but it's hard to say and I don't want to be one of those people who thinks they've done really well and I'm crap when the final cut comes out," he said.
"I was pretty happy with how I did. I'm just hoping I'm alright when it comes out."
The movie is set to hit Australian cinemas on November 16, 2023.
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