Josh Hutcherson is opening up about the difficulties of Hollywood after starring in one of the biggest film franchises, The Hunger Games.
In a new interview, the I Love L.A. star discussed his rise to stardom and the harsh realities of the industry.
“I didn’t learn rejection ever. I knew only success, from the age 9 to, like, 24, then kind of post Hunger Games world. Because Hunger Games set things up,” he said on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s On Me podcast. “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.’”
Hutcherson felt that the world had opened up for him after starring in the film franchise but felt that “as quickly as they’re excited to get you into the spotlight, they want to not give you anything else in a way,” adding, “It’s very complicated. So I tasted my first feeling of disappointment, failure, rejection, probably when I was 24 or so, 25.”
The actor recalled that he was “not getting any offers” and going on auditions, “but not getting cast.”
“It’s this whole thing of, ‘Oh wow, I have my career that I’ve had since I was 9 years old. It’s always worked. I always got cast.’ Of course, there are things that you don’t get cast in, but I had only known that the chances are, if I was auditioning, [I] was going to book it. That is just not the reality at all,” he added.
Hutcherson was 18 when he landed the role of Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games in 2012. After reprising his role in the three sequels, ending with 2015’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1, Hutcherson went on to act in films like 2017’s The Disaster Artist, 2023’s Five Nights at Freddy’s, and 2024’s The Beekeeper.
In 2025, Hutcherson reprised his Five Nights at Freddy’s role for its sequel and began starring in HBO Max’s I Love LA as Dylan.
