Austin Butler could have played Josh Hutcherson's part of Peeta in the Hunger Games series.
Doing a 30-question interview with Buzzfeed with The Bikeriders co-star Jamie Comer, Butler revealed he auditioned for The Hunger Games to play Peeta.
“I auditioned for The Hunger Games, and I didn't get it at all. I don't even think I got a call back,” Butler revealed. “What's the character? Peeta? Josh Hutcherson got that. He's great.”
Ultimately, the role went to Hutcherson who played the part in all four Hunger Games movies. Jennifer Lawrence and the late Donald Sutherland also starred in the movies.
The Hunger Games franchise
The first adaptation of Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games books came in 2012. Gary Ross directed the movie and co-wrote the script with Collins and Billy Ray. Lawrence, Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, and Sutherland starred in the movie.
It was a huge hit. The movie grossed nearly $700 million at the box office on a $78 million budget. Sequel Catching Fire remains the highest-grossing entry in the entire series after making over $865 million. Its budget went up to $130 million, but it still out-grossed the other movies.
The two-part Catching Fire adaptation was also successful. Part 1 made $755 million, and Part 2 made $653 million. The two movies had a combined budget of $285 million. In total, the first four entries made nearly $3 billion at the box office.
A fifth movie, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was released in 2023. Based on Collins' 2020 novel of the same name, it was a disappointment at the box office. It grossed just $337 million worldwide (just $166 million domestically), the lowest haul by any of the movies by a longshot.
Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes assembled a star-studded cast. Tom Blyth took over the role of Coriolanus Snow in his younger years. Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andrés Rivera, and Viola Davis were also in the movie.
Francis Lawrence, who directed every Hunger Games movie since Catching Fire, returned for Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It ultimately was not enough to make the movie a hit in the franchise's return to the big screen.
Who is Austin Butler?
Despite not being in The Hunger Games, Austin Butler is an Oscar-nominated actor for his performance in Elvis. He first gained notoriety for appearing in sitcoms such as Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Drake and Josh, Hannah Montana, and Zoey 101. He has also appeared in episodes of Jonas, CSI: Miami, Life Unexpected, Arrow, and The Shannara Chronicles.
More recently, Butler made his return to the small screen. Butler starred in Apple TV+'s Masters of the Air alongside Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, and Barry Keoghan. The series is based on the 2007 novel of the same name.
On the big screen, Butler had a small role in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He followed that up with Elvis as the King of Rock ‘n' Roll. Butler has since starred in The Bikeriders and Dune: Part Two. Soon, he will star in Ari Aster's Eddington with Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, and Emma Stone.
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