Like so many of us, Evan Ross is in awe of Jennifer Lawrence.
"Jennifer Lawrence is one of the coolest people I've ever met," Ross, who plays Messalla in the Hunger Games: Mockingjay movies, told me while promoting The Wilderness of James at SXSW. "Like, who are you? She's incredible. And she's the funniest person I've ever met. Like, she's just cool."
We'll second that.
By far, Mockingjay is Ross' most high-profile project to date. "It's incredible," said Ross, 25, whose mom is legendary singer Diana Ross. "I've never been on a production like this in my life…And more than how big it is, it's the people that are working on this work so hard to make it the best it could be."
The first of the two Mockingjay movies (both are being directed by Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence) will be released on Nov. 21, 2014, with the final hitting theaters on Nov. 20, 2015.
"I think it started with the leading actress and director to make such a film that just feels good," Ross said. "Like, every day we get there and we're just happy to be there."
Ross told me in November that he had to up his workouts for the action work. "I'm obviously not as trained as Liam Hemsworth and all of them," he said at the Catching Fire premiere in L.A. "They're a lot bigger and stronger than me, but at the same time, I've been trying to keep fit."
An alum of 90210, Ross played music producer Dallas Austin in last year's Crazy Sexy Cool: The TLC Story, a television movie about the pop hip-hop trio.
He is engaged to Ashlee Simpson.