Josh Hutcherson has opened up about a near miss that could have sent his career on a very different path.
During a recent appearance at Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s The Dinner’s on Me podcastthe actor revealed that he was once “in the running” to star Spider Manbefore eventually taking on the career-defining role of Peeta Mellark The Hunger Games movie franchise.
The coveted superhero role ultimately went to Andrew Garfield, who starred in The Awesome Spider-Man. The film was released less than four months later The Hunger Games to be seen in cinemas in 2012.
Looking back, Hutcherson described the whirlwind timing that reshaped his life.
“It was wild. It was crazy,” he said.
“Just like a few months before I was cast in Hunger Games, I was in the running to be Spider-Man.”
Hutcherson admitted that he was rejected for the Miracle role was difficult to process at the time.
“And so I was told ‘no’ to Spider-Man, which felt heartbreaking as a teenager because I very clearly wanted to be Spider-Man,” he said.
However, the disappointment was quickly overshadowed by unexpected good news.
“Then, like a few months later, I got cast in Hunger Games, which is the craziest thing,” he said.
Reflecting on the trajectory of his career, Hutcherson added: “Just crazy how it works.”
“Hunger Games just came out of nowhere and changed everything,” he concluded.
