Mckenna Grace Turns Down Nude Roles, Citing Disney Princess Ambitions

Mckenna Grace says she refuses roles requiring nudity because she wants to play a Disney princess on screen someday. The actor made the statement to Cosmopolitan magazine during her press tour for "The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping," which reaches theaters on Nov. 20.

"At this point, I definitely don't do nudity or very hypersexual things," Grace told the publication when asked if there are roles she would decline. "I respect anybody who can, but it's terrifying to me. I don't know if that'll ever change."

Grace drew a distinction between wholesome material and screen violence. "It's not like I only do wholesome things — my character literally gets gutted by Ghostface in 'Scream' — but my dream is to try and be a Disney princess someday," she said.

Who set this precedent in Hollywood?

Grace's stance echoes a path taken by Amy Adams. Adams became a Disney princess in 2007 as Giselle in "Enchanted" and then declined raunchier projects to protect that image for younger fans. She returned as Giselle in the 2022 sequel, "Disenchanted."

Adams once turned down an NSFW "Saturday Night Live" sketch. Andy Samberg described the rejected bit on "The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers" podcast.

"I'm not gonna go into great detail about it, but it was a song that would have been a duet with me and Amy Adams, and it was very dirty," Samberg said. "It was basically like we were both really old and we were having a picnic, old people couple, and one of us gets stung by a scorpion. And then I'm dying or something and the one lament on my deathbed is that we didn't explore things more sexually in our life, and it's this huge up anthem about that."

Adams's reasoning, as Samberg recalled, was firm. "She was like, 'That's really funny. I can't do that,'" he said. "'Little girls are so obsessed with 'Enchanted' right now. They will find this, and it will be scarring for them. I just can't mix that right now.'"

What does this change for Grace's career?

For Grace, the boundary appears to close one lane and open another. She last appeared on the big screen in "Scream 7" and now plays Maysilee Donner in "The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping," due in theaters Nov. 20. She also stars as Daphne in Netflix's live-action "Scooby-Doo" reboot series.

Her position sits within a wider shift among established actors. Amanda Seyfried said at the Hamptons International Film Festival in September that she no longer wants to perform sex scenes.

"I passed on a show where I would have to have sex all the time because of the sex," Seyfried revealed. "Doesn't matter [who it's with] … I don't wanna do it. I'm uncomfortable with it. I'm not into it right now."

Seyfried left the door slightly ajar. "Maybe if [the project] came along again [at a later point], maybe I'd be in a different space," she said. "But I don't wanna deal with being naked with a stranger."

Whether a studio ultimately casts Grace as a Disney princess remains to be seen, but her public positioning makes the ambition part of her professional record.