A couple of weeks ago, we had the honor to be included in the opportunity to interview Josh Hutcherson, along with our friends from other Hunger Games fansites. Before I post the interview, I just wanted to say a few things I discovered about Josh.
First, Josh is a really nice guy. He has such an openness about him that you are immediately put at ease and instantly feel as if you are talking to a friend and not a guy about to be in one of the biggest movies of the year. Second, Josh is funny, he made us laugh at several moments during the interview, he was witty, honest , and you couldn’t help but be charmed by him . It was at this moment, that it truly hit me, and I finally got it …. Josh is PEETA!!!
Gabby from The Hob : What scene did you find the most challenging in the Hunger Games, and did it lead to any changes while filming it.
Josh : Lets see, it was hard because some scenes were more physically challenging and some more emotionally challenging. The cave scene was tough, number 1 we had to shoot all the stuff in the cave in 1 day, so we didn’t have a lot of time to really get it. At the same time, In that scene Peeta can have a tendency to kinda go little more on the softer edge, and I thought that btwn myself, Gary and Suzanne, cinematically we decided it made more sense for Peeta to have a little more backbone, so in that scene we did a little more adjusting with dialogue and kinda performance to get to that point. So in a sense of emotionally that was probably one of the more challenging. And it did slightly change a little bit from the book but in no way that most people would have noticed it.
Kimmy from Mockingjay.net : What was the craziest stunt you had to do and what was the preparation like preparing for that stunt.
Josh : The craziest stunt was probably the end fight with Cato and Katniss on top of the Cornucopia. And for me the training was the choreography. I mean memorizing that was extremely challenging, and it was pretty elaborate, a lot of movement, a lot of weapons involved and things like that. So it was pretty intense . We shot it over the course of 3 nights. And it was challenging. We were very hot and it was humid outside. And we were sweating up a storm. So it was very very challenging. It was such a cool scene to shoot. I loved it.
Kate from Hunger Games Trilogy.Net : We wanted to know if you were a Capitol person, what crazy fashion trend would you start?
Josh : Crazy fashion trend would I start. Umm Let’s see. I would say some crazy hair thing. I’m thinking like maybe Mohawks. Those are pretty rock n roll kind of awesome. And I’m personally a fan of tank tops, I think they’re perfect and extremely comfortable , and I think that it wouldn’t’ be crazy, but it would be a fashion trend I would try and hook them on.
Shylah from DWTC : We know that Katniss brings the mockingjay pin into the arena, what would Peeta’s token be and what would yours be if you had to go in.
Josh : It’s hard to say. You know Peeta, most people would probably bring something from their family. But Peeta’s kind of had a tried relationship with his family. Umm I’d like to think it was something from a grandparent of his, something maybe we don’t talk about in the books, umm like maybe some sort of pendant or something like that., that he could keep in his pocket as a good luck charm. And for me, I think that, it’s kinda weird but my grandma makes the best fried chicken in the world, so maybe like a bone from one of the pieces of her fried chicken as a good luck kinda thing.
Summer from My HungerGames.com : My question is, your face has been on everything lately from action figures to pillow cases, to cardboard cutouts, to t-shirts. how does that make you feel?
Josh : It’s crazy. It’s such a crazy feeling. I mean its something I never really expected to happen to me in my lifetime. Um and I keep on getting pictures from my friends sent to me of them holding up a magazine with my face on it. And it’s mildly embarrassing , and slightly traumatizing. But at the same time it’s cool , I mean you know to be a part of such an amazing movie , and an amazing story, and to see so many fans out there, and to see their support, it’s very reassuring. It’s very nice.
Will from HungerGamesMovie.org : I was gonna ask what was the most difficult part to film, or just the most difficult part in making the movie. The physical aspects of it.
Josh : Yeah I’ll go to the physical thing. For me, one of the more challenging things was dealing with the heat while shooting . It was a 100 degrees in a lot of scenes, especially in the reaping we had like 400 extras there, and they were all you know young kids, and it was a 100 degrees outside and we shot that scene for 5 days, it was extremlely hot and humid, and kind of dealing with that was just adding on. But it added a sort of real element to it, because it was frustrating, hot and hard to handle and it gave us a bit of an edge I feel like.
Sheila from HG Girl on Fire : You’ve said that you are very similar to Peeta and just had to have the part, what was most important for you in bringing this character to life.
Josh : Oh so much. I mean I can relate to Peeta on so many levels. When I went to the audition, Suzanne Collins was in the room. And I uh said to Suzanne and Gary Ross our director, I said you know Ive never said this before in an audition, I feel like I’m so much Peeta that it blows my mind a bit, and I don’t really know how you Suzanne were able to write a book based on me as a person. It sounds so horrible as an actor, to go into the room and say “hey I’m so much like the book” but I felt like I just had to say it. You know for me, I think that Peeta has the strong belief you can’t become a piece in someone’s game , you gotta be your own creator of your own life and I belive that whole heartedly. And I think that Peeta because of that I think that I’ve gone through a lot as a actor, and not change who I am, and I think that the biggest similarity I have to Peeta , and on top of that he’s always good with talking with people he knows how to turn it on when he needs to , and that’s kinda something I’ve been doing my whole life so I definitely identify with that.
Elena from HungerGamesMovies.net : You took a very long hiatus from twitter and I was wondering what prompted you to come back and what was the fan feedback with your return.
Josh : the fan feedback’s been amazing. I tweet something and I get like 900 responses right away so it’s pretty cool. For me I was in London and Paris and I was doing some pretty cool stuff, and doing some amazing things, and I kinda wanted to share it with somebody. I was like who should I share it with , oh I have a lot of followers on twitter so let me try that. I’ve been trying to keep up with it , you know it’s a different world for me , it’s something that Im definitely new to, and I think that it can be abused sometimes and people can kinda go overboard with twitter so for me I’m gonna tweet when exciting things are happening , when I’m doing things that I think people will find interesting.
Tiffany from Victors Village and WtoD12 : If President Snow forced you into a present day reality show, and you could pick which one, which show would you choose and why.
Josh : Oh man, um… you know I don’t watch reality tv all that much , umm I watch Man vs Wild so I guess that’s technically a reality show , I would probably choose that one , just because he’s epic and amazing and to learn the survival skills would be pretty awesome. Or I would choose Jersey Shore just to try and knock some sense into these people.
Savannah from Fireside Chat : As you know we run Hunger Games fansites so we are obviously very passionate about the series, some might even say obsessed. If you weren’t a famous actor about to be in the biggest movie of the year what fansite would you start? What are you passions or obsessions that you love so much
Josh : I see I see oh boy , I would probably start a UK fansite University of Kentucky basketball cause Im a die hard wild cats fan . I have been my whole life , and Im obsessed with the team and I know a bunch of the stats, players and all that. So that would probably be the route that I go down.
Deepika from Sparks will Fly : So obviously since you’re running and in the games you got some sort of injury or whatever, which scene for you resulted in the most injuries or bruises.
Josh : Well surprisingly it was actually a scene that wasn’t suppose to have any kind of action in it. It was just me and Jennifer running through the woods. And we’re kind of messing around , like having fun , not filming and Jennifer said she could kick over my head. I was like there’s no way. And so she tried to show me and she kicked me in the side of the head and gave me a mild concussion. So that was the most injury sustained. But she felt so bad. At first we were laughing about it cause I didn’t want her to feel bad and then afterwards I talked to somebody that I think I might have a mild concussion , and they did the eye ball check and everything and I did. She felt horrible , cried “Im so sorry you can kick me in the head “ and I was like I’m not going to kick you in the head. It was pretty funny and she felt pretty awful about it.
