Josh Hutcherson admits he was ‘resentful’ over Hunger Games fame

By Pierra Willix, Press Association Senior Entertainment Reporter

Josh Hutcherson has revealed he felt “resentful” when skyrocketing to fame in the Hunger Games franchise.

The American actor, 33, starred alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth in the science fiction dystopian film, which was released in 2012.

Reflecting on coming under the intense spotlight, he’s now said: “For a long time, I was resentful toward it, because I didn’t want that kind of attention.”

Speaking to his former co-star Elizabeth Banks for Variety’s Actors on Actors, he added: “So I was chip-on-my-shoulder angry about it. With years of perspective, I have grown to appreciate it so much.”

When asked if he was excited for the upcoming sixth movie in the franchise – which will star Joseph Zada and Mckenna Grace – he said the book it is based on was “amazing”.

“It’s cool to see it continue with a different generation and different stories. Unfortunately, it’s still a very timely issue with authoritarian governments, so young people need to be educated.”

Hutcherson was 18-years-old when he was cast as Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games.

He then went on to also star in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in 2013, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 in 2014, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, in 2015.

It was later followed by The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, which was released in 2023 and starred Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler.

The next film in the series – The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping – is due to be released in November this year.

After starring in the first three movies Hutcherson’s career largely stalled.

During an interview on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s On Me podcast last year, he said: “I didn’t learn rejection ever. I knew only success, from the age of nine to, like, 24, then kind of post Hunger Games world. Because Hunger Games set things up.

“The industry is so goddamn tricky, because they set you up in this way where they’re like, ‘You’ve arrived. You now are working with Jennifer Lawrence and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and you’re in this movie that makes billions of dollars, you’re the second lead of the film’.

“But as quickly as they’re excited to get you into the spotlight, they want to not give you anything else… so I tasted my first feeling of disappointment, failure, rejection, probably when I was 24 or so, 25. (Suddenly I was) not getting any offers (and) not getting cast.”

In recent years he’s returned to screens in The Beekeeper, I Love LA and Five Nights at Freddy’s.