How Megan Hayes BECAME The Hunger Games Female Morphling in Catching Fire

Megan Hayes (00:00)

I get a phone call and it's her, so I run out to the Court Street corner so I can talk to her. She's like, "Hey, is this Megan?" and I'm like, "Yes, it is." And she's like, "I'm sorry, I was calling to speak to the female Morphling." And I started, like, bawling and screaming! And then I couldn't tell anybody for like...

Jason Montoya (00:14)

Let's go!

Megan Hayes (00:20)

A solid six weeks. The director’s going to call you—by this time I'd read the books, and they're always talking about the Morphling being skeletal and drug-addict skinny. And so then Francis Lawrence called me and he's like, "Hey, are you cool with losing a little bit of weight for this?" I was like, "Yeah, no problem." I said, "But I don't want to, like, Christian Bale this. I want to lose weight in a healthy way, right? I'm not going to be eating boiled eggs and drinking bourbon or whatever he did for The Machinist."

Jason Montoya (00:39)

Heh heh. Ha ha ha ha!

Megan Hayes (00:46)

I started telling everybody I'm prepping for a film, and when they would ask me, I'd say it's just a really low-budget indie film. And then no one asks you any more questions after that, right? When it finally got announced that I was in The Hunger Games, even one of my friends posted on my wall, "Some low-budget indie!"

Jason Montoya (01:04)

On this episode of the Share Life podcast, I'm speaking with a powerhouse of the Atlanta acting scene whose career has transitioned from local stages to some of the most iconic sets in the world. Megan Hayes, so glad to have you here. Megan has a few critters that may be chiming in. Tell us about these critters.

Megan Hayes (01:15)

Hi there! So I have three dogs. I collect strays, so I have a problem. I have three dogs and then I have been fostering four kittens. They were found on the wedding property that I've been working at as a side hustle, and I am not even a cat person, but I love them. They're great. And if anybody wants a cat, please! They’re great and I'm not—you know everybody says that about their animal—but they're really good cats. They're awesome. And I'm not even a cat person, so...

Jason Montoya (01:28)

Yeah. Most of you that are watching know Megan as the District 6 Morphling in the blockbuster, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, a performance that remains a fan favorite for its incredible heart and vulnerability. And I've been lurking in some of the message boards to see what people have talked about regarding your performance. So, it's pretty interesting to see that you have like this whole lore around it.

Megan Hayes (02:12)

That's amazing!

Jason Montoya (02:13)

Anyways, Megan's credits are vast and include projects like Apple TV's Manhunt, the recent indie film Slanted, and the TV series Halt and Catch Fire, among many, many others. But Megan doesn't just inhabit stories; she also is a creator, having expanded her craft into writing and directing, covering the full gamut of creative storytelling. She's got a lot of projects that she's done and a lot of them that are on her horizon. Her momentum is only accelerating.

I recently caught her in two of the biggest projects on screen: the holiday action-adventure Red One with The Rock, and the final chapter of the cultural phenomenon Stranger Things, where she joins the Hawkins family as Mrs. Miller—which is actually her second time on the show. But long before the arenas of Panem or the mysteries of the Upside Down, Megan and I were collaborators right here in Atlanta. Shortly after I moved to the city, we worked together on a Super Bowl commercial contest for Heinz Ketchup, where she actually fell in love with and got engaged to a ketchup bottle. We're going to talk more about that and what happened in that relationship.

But she also starred in an unfinished short film I wrote and directed called Escape. So it's been a privilege and just a fun experience to watch you from a distance as you've gone through your indie days to the big screen where I go to the movie theater and I say, "Hey, there's Megan!" So welcome, thank you.

Megan Hayes (03:14)

Thanks, Jason. That makes me so happy. Like I said, I had completely forgotten about that Heinz commercial. Truly a career high light! That was so fun.

Jason Montoya (03:49)

I’ll play a clip of it for everyone and then we'll talk about it. Yeah, so I think the best place to start is to talk about Stranger Things, because that just happened. Here I am watching the final season of Stranger Things and up on my TV is Megan again, stalking me from afar. So I want to pull up this picture because you've actually been preparing for this role since the fourth grade.

Megan Hayes (03:53)

Yes! We love it. That's right, it's true.

Jason Montoya (04:15)

I think everyone needs to see just how striking your new role as Mrs. Miller is. So, tell us about this.

Megan Hayes (04:26)

Okay, so that was my fourth-grade school picture. 100% my mom dressed me. I did have purple corduroy pants to match that dark purple plaid in my shirt. But yeah, you know, I grew up in the eighties, obviously, clearly. But yeah, when they put that outfit on me, it was like...

Jason Montoya (04:29)

Haha! Yeah.

Megan Hayes (04:53)

It didn't even occur to me until—because you know, I snapped that selfie—I can't really show that selfie until everything's dropped. And then it occurred to me, like, oh my God, I look just like my fourth-grade photo!

Jason Montoya (04:57)

Yeah. So tell us, what was it like? Now this is your second time on Stranger Things. What were these two experiences like? What's it like being on set of something like that?

Megan Hayes (05:13)

I mean, it's great. Everybody's so nice. Everybody's just so pumped to be there. I had a great time. Both scenes I had were with—I only met Finn and Caleb just like in passing this last time—but before, it was the scenes with Dustin and Steve, Caleb and Gaten. And they were all—everyone's so nice. They're like happy to be there. I even remember Gaten telling me he thought that the Morphlings—my part—should have been bigger in The Hunger Games. I'm like, "Why are you telling me? Me? Yes, lovely me!"

But yeah, I didn't meet a Duffer brother. They were on set. Shawn Levy directed the first episode from Season 3. And then we had a second-unit director working with us on Episode 4. They were shooting everything all at once except for Episode 8. And I even asked the costume designer, Amy Parris—amazing, she did the wardrobe for me for Season 3 as well—at that point, no one had seen Episode 8. They were not showing it to anybody. No one was looking at it. So I thought that was kind of interesting. Everybody had seen the episodes up until eight, but the last one was just really on lockdown, which is smart.

Jason Montoya (06:34)

Yeah, so fun. I've been really—knock on wood—I've really lucked out. I've had mostly wonderful experiences when I'm on set.

Jason Montoya (06:42)

Do you know some actors that have had the opposite of that? Is that what you're saying?

Megan Hayes (06:46)

I did a commercial once and I did not have a good time, but that was years ago. But like, no, I mean, it's a gamble anywhere you're working. Are the people going to be nice? Is anybody going to be a diva? Are you going to be a diva? Any of that. But I've been very fortunate; in almost every set I've worked on, everybody's been a total pro and been really nice.

Jason Montoya (07:06)

Yeah, that's awesome. So let's go back to that fourth-grade version of you. Were you an aspiring actress at that moment?

Megan Hayes (07:14)

No, I was super shy, very introverted. I think at that point—didn't everybody at some point in their life want to be a veterinarian? That might've been the thing I wanted.

Jason Montoya (07:17)

Wow. I mean, I wanted to be like a mailman, but hey, that's close.

Megan Hayes (07:32)

Yeah. I think I was maybe taking a dance class then, but the bug hadn't hit me at all. And I was so shy—this is Gigi everyone—and I was so shy that it wasn't even in my orbit. Like I do know that at that age, I was obsessed with Greek mythology. So I did love good stories, but other than that...

Jason Montoya (07:44)

Hello, Gigi. Was there a favorite that you had in terms of the mythology? Did you like one character or story more than another?

Megan Hayes (08:03)

I loved Aphrodite. I loved the mystery all around the Sphinx and all of that. And I love Athena. She's badass.

Jason Montoya (08:11)

So, how does that evolve as you get older?

Megan Hayes (08:16)

You mean into me knowing I wanted to be a performer? It hit me—I know the exact day. It was like October 17th, 1987.

Jason Montoya (08:19)

Wow. So I was three at the time. What happened? Did you slip on the ice and hit your head?

Megan Hayes (08:27)

What? I was only six! No, I wish. I saw my first Broadway show. I saw—this is so cliché, Jason—I saw the original Broadway cast of Les Mis. I know everyone's like, there's such a generation of Les Mis being their acting launching point, but it was for me. And I remember, again, I couldn't stop sobbing. And the reason I know that is because I kept the ticket stub forever. So I know that it was the day. I walked out of the theater, walked over to my mom, and I was like, "I want to be an actor. I want to do that when I grow up."

By then I had wanted to do a bunch of different things. I think the most recent one before that was that I wanted to be a journalist for Rolling Stone Magazine. I thought that would be a cool job. So I was always switching what I wanted to be; I was always changing my mind, but this one stuck. And finally my mom acquiesced and said, "Well, if you want to take an acting class, you can take an acting class."

Jason Montoya (09:36)

Okay, so how does that play out throughout middle and high school?

Megan Hayes (09:39)

I started doing the shows, but I went to a really small private school in Atlanta and their attitude was very hippie. If you auditioned, you got a part. If you signed up for the sport, you played. Had I been in any kind of environment that had any kind of rejection around it, I probably would not have tried out. But since it was "everybody gets a part," I tried out for the school musical in 10th grade and was devastated that I wasn't like the sexy lead—which, I was like 15 years old, like crazy, you know?

But I got the comedic lead and I again was devastated because I wanted to be a very serious actress. But then the night of the show, when I heard someone laugh at something I said, it was like a drug. I was like, "No, wait, this! This!" My high school wasn't like a performing arts school or anything like that. I think it's probably better for me that way because even still, I don't do competition really well. That cutthroat attitude—I've never had any interest in doing that.

After high school, I went to a liberal arts college for a year. That was in '91, '92. Watching the season finale of Stranger Things, I'm like, we would have gone to high school together! So I went to a college in Ohio—a great school—but it was a liberal arts school and I knew then that I wanted to just be doing acting. I had to take a couple of years off to save up money, but then I auditioned and got into NYU and in '94, I headed to school and studied acting there.

Jason Montoya (11:36)

What happens between '95 and 2005?

Megan Hayes (11:38)

Well, I stayed in New York until 2002. I was actually in New York during September 11th, and the fabric of the city kind of changed for obvious reasons.

Jason Montoya (11:41)

Wow. Were you in the city when it happened? What was that day like for you?

Megan Hayes (12:06)

It was devastating and quiet. It was really weirdly quiet in the city because no cars were driving, no taxis were going, and all transportation was shut down. It was very eerie and scary. But then you saw the best of New Yorkers. I couldn't see anything from where I was, but I could smell the burning—it was horrible. My friend who lived in Brooklyn had to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge that day because everything was shut down. New York changed; for me, New York became a sad place for several years. It's long recovered and bounced back, but it was a very hard time to be there and to be an artist because everything was closing. No one was coming to visit. So I decided I either needed to move to another city or change professions. I wasn't ready to do that yet. I was thinking about Chicago, but 2002's winter was one of the coldest winters in history. I was like, "Nope, not going to do that again." So then I came back to Atlanta and started doing theater.

Jason Montoya (13:26)

What part of Atlanta were you doing theater in?

Megan Hayes (13:30)

My first show was in the fall of '02 at Theater in the Square. Then I worked all over. I worked at the Alliance eventually. My favorite theater to work at is the Horizon Theater in Little Five Points; I love them.

Jason Montoya (14:18)

So you were doing theater work. Had you done anything on screen at that point, or was it all stage related?

Megan Hayes (14:18)

Stage. I didn't start doing any kind of on-camera stuff until I was in my 30s. I was a late bloomer to that.

Jason Montoya (14:35)

Was there a reason you decided to make the pivot versus just staying on the stage side?

Megan Hayes (14:43)

I was in a play called Be Aggressive and it's totally an old-school story. These agents came to see it because one of their clients was in the show with me, and the agents stayed after to say, "Hey, we think you're really talented. Do you want to come in and do some on-camera stuff?" And they signed me. Even then, I didn't really start booking things right away; it took a while. Then the writer's strike happened in '08, '09. I pivoted again and became a middle-school drama teacher for a calendar year. Then around '11, '12 is when I started really booking things on camera.

Jason Montoya (15:31)

Was that something where your agent was being aggressive, or did you do stuff to make that happen?

Megan Hayes (15:46)

My agent, Chase Parris—who is a casting director now—he's single-handedly the reason I have a career. He submitted me for Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns even though I had no credits. I booked that. Then he got me my Hunger Games audition. He casts Stranger Things. He really got me all my good first stuff. It really helps to have somebody in your corner who's capable of pushing for you.

Jason Montoya (16:58)

We met a few years before that. Do you remember what year that was?

Megan Hayes (17:03)

Yes, we were doing Ferg TV. We met in '07.

Jason Montoya (17:08)

I needed an actor for a Super Bowl commercial contest for Heinz Ketchup. I'm going to go ahead and play this commercial for everyone. We're going to watch it and see your awesome performance. [Video Plays]

Megan Hayes (18:17)

Oh my God! I think we were at my Cross Creek home when the proposal happened. That proposal was great!

Jason Montoya (18:30)

Tell us what happened in this relationship. I mean, did you guys...?

Megan Hayes (18:35)

I mean, you know, it was so fun at first, but then... everybody loves him. I just couldn't keep him.

Jason Montoya (18:43)

Everyone wanted a little ketchup?

Megan Hayes (18:45)

And that packet! What am I supposed to do? I can't compete with that. It was very romantic and full of flavor.

Jason Montoya (18:46)

What did you do with the ring? Did you sell it? It was probably a prop ring, or maybe we asked someone at the next table, "Hey, can we borrow your ring for this shot?"

Megan Hayes (18:59)

I don't even know where we got that ring, Jason! Can we borrow your ring? Yes. And I love that everything goes to color at the end.

Jason Montoya (19:27)

Yeah, where did we get that wedding dress?

Megan Hayes (19:32)

And look at the flowers on that! It's so good.

Jason Montoya (19:37)

All right, so we ended up doing another project. I'm going to pull this up here. It was a little short film called Escape. I wasn't able to finish it because I didn't get all the footage I needed, but this is the trailer. [Video Plays] Do you remember those weekends we filmed that?

Megan Hayes (21:41)

Running like crazy! Oh my God, that is so good!

Jason Montoya (21:34)

Then we did one other thing, which was a Land of Oz pitch video. It was all filmed at our little homeowners association property. You went through different characters—a Waffle House waitress, an Amish woman in witness protection, the "Daddy" character.

Megan Hayes (22:56)

I had completely forgotten about the Land of Oz video! That is hilarious.

Jason Montoya (23:06)

We did a couple of projects and then we didn't really see each other until today, other than through Facebook. So now you get these roles—talk to us about The Hunger Games. What was that like?

Megan Hayes (23:37)

That was wonderful. I auditioned for it when self-taping was sort of becoming the thing to do. In the audition, I had to see the monkey, get attacked by the monkey, and die. But nothing is there, right? You just collapse onto a chair. I didn't know anything about The Hunger Games when I first auditioned. When I got the call back, I had enough time to panic and to read everything. I read the first two books in like three days and thought, "My God, this is really good."

The callback was in a warehouse in Atlanta. I was the first person in the room. My acting coach broke it down for me: "These are your beats. You see the monkey, you protect Peeta, you die." There was no chair in the room, so I had to ask for one. Francis Lawrence was in the room—such a gem of a human. I probably "died" four or five times for him. He would give me these redirects like, "Can you see the fear in your eyes, then realize you're dying, but then you're peaceful, and you're also seeing the sunset?" I’m thinking, "I don't know how I'm going to do this," but you just say, "No problem!"

Later, my agent called me and said I needed to come in and sign a non-disclosure agreement. She said, "Now, this could mean something, but it could mean nothing." That didn't help me at all! I had horrible cell phone reception in my house, so when she called again, I ran out to the street corner. She’s like, "Is this Megan? I’m sorry, I was calling to speak to the female Morphling." I started bawling and screaming!

Then I couldn't tell anybody for about six weeks. I had to lose 12 pounds in a month to look "skeletal." I told people I was prepping for a low-budget indie film so they wouldn't ask questions.

Jason Montoya (30:15)

How long did the shooting last?

Megan Hayes (30:20)

I was booked for 52 days, but I only shot about half of those. I had to be available, though. There were days they would do my makeup completely and then I wouldn't shoot. They were always so apologetic, and I’m like, "You're paying me to have a snack and sleep in a bed? I'd be home doing this anyway!" But maintaining the weight loss was fatiguing. We were in Hawaii from Thanksgiving until right before Christmas. It was amazing.

Jason Montoya (31:18)

Any highlights or stories worth noting?

Megan Hayes (31:23)

One funny story: I'm playing this drug addict, and the makeup artists had painted these nasty track marks on my arms. It took two hours. Since we were shooting the same thing for a few days, they asked if I’d just leave the makeup on overnight because it was waterproof. I said sure. Then I was at Publix shopping in short sleeves and completely forgot about the marks. I reached for some grapes and noticed a dad clearly covering his kid's eyes! What do you do? If I try to explain, I look even more like a drug addict. So I just ran away.

In Hawaii, it was like summer camp. Sam Claflin and Josh Hutcherson were so sweet and included me in everything. I’ve worked with Josh twice now; we did Future Man on Hulu together. I actually got that gig because I was nannying for the showrunner and brought the kids to set one day. Josh completely remembered me and gave me a huge hug. Seth Rogen liked my voice-over reading so much that they just hired me for the part.

Jason Montoya (35:29)

Tell us about your death scene in The Hunger Games.

Megan Hayes (35:39)

It took me a month to "die" because we shot in different areas, but the close-up was my first day in Hawaii. The set was literally feet away from a public beach where people were having cocktails. The sun was going down and there was so much pressure. The water was so cold. I did it in under three takes. Nina Jacobson said I was making her tear up. I think I was just so scared to mess up that I channeled that into the performance. That gorgeous shot where we are in silhouette in the sunset? That’s not CGI. That was the real sunset that day.

Jason Montoya (38:03)

Any other stories?

Megan Hayes (38:03)

I have an irrational fear of sharks. So I'm in the ocean, in Josh’s arms, and the "standby" is taking forever. His face is right next to mine and he starts singing the Jaws theme in my ear! Then they pushed me out to sea on a little floaty so I could lie still for the shot where they're talking about how they didn't even know my name. My ears were underwater so I couldn't hear anything but my own breathing. I didn't hear them call "cut." The cameraman grabbed my foot to let me know we were done, and I let out the loudest scream! I thought a shark got me. Everyone was like, "That's the take! She got eaten by a shark!"

Jason Montoya (40:10)

You've been in a lot of other things—Manhunt, Halt and Catch Fire, Slanted.

Megan Hayes (40:14)

Manhunt was so fun! That was my first time working with a female showrunner, Monica Beletsky. She worked on my favorite show, The Leftovers. I've only worked with three female DPs in my entire career. I think there should be more lady showrunners, absolutely.

Jason Montoya (41:34)

How do these roles come about? Is it mostly through your agent?

Megan Hayes (41:38)

Almost everything is through my agent. Eastbound & Down was another self-tape. They told me I had to be in Wilmington by 7:00 PM when it was 10:00 AM! You don't control anything as an actor.

Jason Montoya (44:05)

You moved to California for a while. Tell us about that.

Megan Hayes (44:05)

When The Hunger Games came out, I wanted to give LA a shot. I enjoyed my time there, but it's such a big market you don't get as many auditions. That's when I started redabbling in writing.

Jason Montoya (44:52)

What made you want to create and direct?

Megan Hayes (45:01)

It comes out of a need to keep some creativity going during the down times. I started writing at NYU. When I was in LA, I was told all the time that a woman over 35 was "too hard to sell." So I started a production company called Too Hard To Sell Productions. The roles for women over 40 really dwindle, and they usually only focus on being a wife or a mother. There is so much more to explore.

My first short was about two insomniacs. My friend wanted to act in it and suggested I direct it too. It felt like everything I had done was building up to that. My next short was shot during COVID in a friend's house about falling in love with an Amazon delivery guy. I hired an entirely female crew of students for my most recent short about Bigfoot. I want to give people opportunities to do things they’ve never done before.

Jason Montoya (51:48)

I love that. I've been thinking of my YouTube channel through the mindset of a showrunner. It's giving me ideas I didn't have before.

Megan Hayes (55:14)

When you look back at your journey from that fourth grader to who you are now, how have you changed?

Megan Hayes (55:32)

I feel like a lot of it is returning to that girl—the one who was introverted and loved to play. If I had told 14-year-old me that it’s a marathon, not a sprint, she would have been pissed! But I feel more comfortable in my own skin now. I'm trying to take the fearlessness I have in my acting work and apply it to my real life. In my work, I'm all out—I'm not scared of anything. But in life, I can be timid and not take up space.

My 2026 goal is to just go for it without fear. All anybody can do is say no. I love collaboration; it’s my favorite thing. I want to create more opportunities for myself and for people of a certain age. I think there's going to be another "indie wave" coming because people are getting tired of mainstream stuff.

Jason Montoya (1:00:42)

I agree. I think we're entering another artistic renaissance era. AI and new tools are putting video cameras and creative power in everyone’s pockets. It’s a transformational time.

Megan Hayes (1:02:49)

Exactly. Like the art that came out of the 60s during all that chaos.

Jason Montoya (1:03:02)

What's next for you?

Megan Hayes (1:03:07)

I just finished writing a short that is almost like a movie trailer for a longer project. My goal for the year is to generate more of my own stuff. If people want to connect with me, I'm @meganhayesactor on Instagram. I'm also on TikTok as @notacatpersonatall, where I share my foster cat journey. You can also find me at meganhayes.net.

Jason Montoya (1:04:53)

The important question is: if they do a spin-off about the female Morphling and cast a younger version of you, who do you cast?

Megan Hayes (1:04:59)

That's a good question! Maybe Amybeth McNulty—Vicki from Stranger Things. She was in Anne with an E and she's freaking great. I think she’d be a good young Morphling.

Jason Montoya (1:06:38)

Any final words of wisdom?

Megan Hayes (1:06:44)

Don't worry about it—just do it. Don't get caught up in fear of rejection or failure. Just go for it. Be kind and stay true to yourself, but just go for it.

Jason Montoya (1:07:54)

Liberating! This has been such a joy, Megan. I'm so glad we reconnected.

Megan Hayes (1:08:00)

Me too, Jason. Thanks for having me!