Hunter Parrish was a big fan favorite for the role of Peeta Mellark and he has spoken with MTV about missing out on that role, and his being in the pool for Finnick Odair for Catching Fire.

“This whole ‘Hunger Games’ thing, man … I’ve read all of the books, because I’ve been through this once before,” Parrish said. “It was very exciting for me [to be considered] for the first movie, to be a part of that, and I read all of the books at that time, and I loved the script and the director and Jennifer Lawrence who was cast at that point. I saw it as something very exciting, and I was very excited about it, but it wasn’t [meant to be]. Josh is also a friend of mine, and I haven’t seen the film yet, but people say amazing things about it, and he’s great, he’s perfect. We’ve worked together before, and he’s a great actor,” Parrish said sincerely.

While Parrish is grateful for the fan support behind the Finnick campaign, his experience from the first round of casting has him feeling more cautious about things this time around.

“I kind of dove in for that one, so for this one, I don’t know,” he said. “I think you just kind of step back, and if it happens, it happens. I’m not going to really spend too much time thinking about it, but I’d love to. I wouldn’t cast myself, but that’s not helping me getting cast for that movie,” he joked. “But I’m a fan of the books. I think there’s fantastic actors that would probably be better. So there’s that for getting me a job!”

Source: NLF