Josh Hutcherson says he only experienced 'disappointment, failure, rejection' after “The Hunger Games ”films
- - Josh Hutcherson says he only experienced 'disappointment, failure, rejection' after “The Hunger Games ”films
Ryan ColemanDecember 9, 2025 at 11:21 PM
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Murray Close/Lionsgate
Josh Hutcherson in 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1'Key Points -
Josh Hutcherson is opening up about a difficult period following the release of the final film in The Hunger Games franchise.
"I didn't learn rejection ever. I knew only success, from the age 9 to, like, 24," he revealed on Tuesday's new episode of the Dinner's On Me podcast.
Once he was released from his obligations as the brave and compassionate Peeta Mellark, however, Hutcherson "tasted my first feeling of disappointment, failure, rejection" when trying to land other roles.
Josh Hutcherson thought Hollywood would be his oyster after The Hunger Games. He didn't expect it to usher in the most challenging chapter in his career.
The I Love L.A. star spoke about the shock of coming off The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 into an endless loop of unsuccessful auditions during Tuesday's new episode of the Dinner's On Me podcast hosted by Modern Family's Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
"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 explained. "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 reflected that he had been made to feel that "the kingdom is yours," when in fact, "it's not at all."
Murray Close/Lionsgate
Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence in 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'
"As quickly as they're excited to get you into that spotlight, they want to not give you anything else in a way," Hutcherson explained. "It's very complicated. So I tasted my first feeling of disappointment, failure, rejection, probably when I was 24 or so, 25."
Ferguson, who has been candid about his own struggles in Hollywood before and after booking his signature role of Mitchell Pritchett on the ABC sitcom Modern Family, pressed Hutcherson to describe what specifically caused that disappointed, rejected feeling.
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"It was just like a string of no one calling, not getting any offers, auditioning, 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."
Hutcherson was cast in the first Hunger Games movie in 2011, when he was only 18. By that time, however, he had already appeared in a dozen and a half films, like The Kids Are Alright, Bridge to Terebithia, and the family comedy RV, which costarred Robin Williams as his character's father.
The 33-year-old Kentucky native did work steadily after The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 concluded the franchise in 2015, but where he made five films in 2012 alone, he made five in total between 2018 and 2023.
The actor has recently staged a major comeback, however, appearing in the hit HBO comedy I Love L.A., and starring in this past weekend's box office topper Five Nights at Freddy's 2.
You can listen to Hutcherson's full appearance on the Dinner's On Me podcast above.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
