Production for "The Hunger Games" and its sequels was a huge affair, with a casting process alone that went on for months. And honestly, the movies would have looked totally different if these actors had been cast.
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00:00Production for The Hunger Games and its sequels was a huge affair, with a casting process
00:04alone that went on for months. And honestly, the movies would have looked totally different
00:09if these actors had been cast.
00:11Austin Butler shot onto the radars of movie fans everywhere with back-to-back roles in
00:16Elvis and Dune Part II.
00:17It was the greatest carnival attraction I'd ever seen."
00:22Of course, he'd been acting for years before those films, and back in the early 2010s,
00:26Butler tried his hand at playing PETA in The Hunger Games. While answering questions for
00:30BuzzFeed Celeb alongside his The Bike Riders co-star Jodi Comer, Butler said,
00:35"'I auditioned for The Hunger Games, and I didn't get it at all. I don't even think I
00:38got a callback. Yeah, it was for the part of PETA.'"
00:41Butler added that he thought Josh Hutcherson was great in the role, and ultimately, missing
00:46out on PETA didn't slow Butler's career down at all.
00:50Hailee Steinfeld's breakout role arrived at the age of 14 in 2010's True Grit, and her
00:55career skyrocketed from there. She continued turning heads with performances in the Pitch
00:59Perfect franchise as well as 2018's Bumblebee.
01:02Steinfeld also racked up several comic book roles, voicing Gwen Stacy in Sony's Spider-Verse
01:07films and playing expert archer Kate Bishop in Hawkeye. With that last one, it's easy
01:11to see how she could have been the perfect fit for one particular Hunger Games character.
01:16"'Hey, bros!'
01:18Steinfeld was up for Katniss Everdeen and got pretty far in the audition and casting
01:23She ultimately lost the part to Jennifer Lawrence, but didn't seem to have too many regrets when
01:26she spoke about it during an interview with The Independent in 2019. She said,
01:30"'There are so many parts that I wanted or didn't get. But I think, weirdly, it's the
01:34same feeling of having missed every high school dance and prom, and yet I somehow found my
01:38way to the Met Gala. I feel like I've made up for it.'"
01:42Shailene Woodley kicked off her own dystopian YA action franchise with 2014's Divergent,
01:47but her big action break came this close to happening a few years earlier in The Hunger
01:52Games. Unfortunately, according to the actor, the audition didn't go her way.
01:56Woodley sat down for an interview with The Daily Beast in 2014 to discuss her work in
02:00Divergent, and the topic of Katniss came up. The interviewer asked her if she auditioned
02:05for Katniss, which she confirmed. She explained,
02:07"'We had to do two scenes that weren't even in the movie, I believe. One of the scenes
02:11was when she first gets called to go into the Hunger Games and has to say goodbye to
02:15her mother and Gail."
02:16In a separate interview with MTV, Woodley admitted,
02:19"'It wasn't, like, a great audition, but I think that Jennifer Lawrence is perfect for
02:23the role.'"
02:25Speaking of X-Men, Evan Peters also made a run for Hunger Games fame, joining the long
02:29list of actors who auditioned for PETA. Unfortunately, he didn't get the part, but he did get a good
02:34way through the process. After auditioning at least once, he got a callback to run through
02:38a scene with Jennifer Lawrence shortly after she was cast.
02:41Peters spoke about this process during a 2011 interview with Vulture, saying,
02:45"'That was really cool. I got to do a scene with Jennifer Lawrence. I was nervous as hell
02:48because she's such a fantastic actress. And the movie is such a great story. I love all
02:52those books. I can't wait to see the movie. I'm so psyched.'"
02:56Considering he just starred in the first season of what would lead to a decade of work with
03:00American Horror Story, not to mention the countless film roles to come, it's safe to
03:04say that losing the role in The Hunger Games wasn't a real-life horror story for Peters.
03:10But another PETA contender was then-relatively unknown Lucas Till, who'd gotten some attention
03:14for his role in the Hannah Montana movie and was poised for stardom after playing Havok
03:19in X-Men First Class. The Hunger Games would have certainly helped his career, though as
03:23we know now, he didn't get the part.
03:25Still, Till got further than most, and after his initial audition, he got a callback to
03:30do a screen test. This came about a week after Jennifer Lawrence won the part of Katniss,
03:34so they did a chemistry read together. The screen test must not have gone well, seeing
03:38as the actor didn't win the role. While that franchise didn't work out for him, Till reprised
03:43his role of Havok in two subsequent X-Men films and seemed to get along just fine with
03:47Lawrence in those.
03:48Well, you know what they say about guys with big feet? And, uh, yours are kind of small."
03:54Kristen Chenoweth is an incredibly talented actor who's dominated television, the theater,
03:58and films. She's also a writer and singer, with numerous albums and hit singles to her
04:03name.
04:04After she read The Hunger Games, Chenoweth tweeted she was obsessed with the YA novel.
04:09More than that, she was obsessed with playing Effie Trinket. During an appearance on The
04:11Shining Bright but doing the work with Jenny McCarthy podcast, Chenoweth said that the
04:16casting just didn't work out, saying,
04:18"...I had a great meeting and I had a great time reading the material. I was a fan of
04:21the books. When I found out it wasn't going my way, I was like, who is it?"
04:25Despite sounding a little disappointed, Chenoweth praised Elizabeth Banks' performance in the
04:29role.
04:30"...Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor."
04:38John C. Reilly has been killing it in Hollywood for decades.
04:41"...Let's see what we got in here. Bringo!"
04:46Reilly is often seen starring opposite Will Ferrell in comedies, but he's proven his acting
04:50chops in a variety of genres. So it's unsurprising to learn that the comedy legend was up for
04:55the role of Haymitch Abernathy in The Hunger Games.
04:58That part went to Woody Harrelson, who did an amazing job with it. Still, it's interesting
05:02to imagine how things would have played out had Reilly landed the role. According to Vulture,
05:07Reilly was going to receive an offer to play Haymitch, but that ultimately didn't pan out.
05:11There was plenty of confusion over casting as things were ramping up for The Hunger Games
05:15production. According to Today, the actors who were cast were put under a restrictive
05:19gag order, which explains why it looked as if Reilly was tapped to play Haymitch right
05:23up to the point it was confirmed he wasn't.
05:26Around the time casting kicked off for The Hunger Games' Catching Fire, Garrett Hedlund
05:30was a relative newcomer. He'd landed several high-profile roles, including playing Sam
05:34Flynn in Tron Legacy, and he's appeared in numerous films and TV series since. He was
05:39also one of the names being passed around to play Finnick O'Dare.
05:43Hedlund got far in the casting process, which he explained during a 2012 interview with
05:47MTV. Hedlund said he was approached about the part, but he was already working on a
05:51different project and couldn't find the time to sit down and read the books. From what
05:55he described, he might have been tapped for the role had his schedule opened up, but
05:58Hedlund wasn't too concerned about it. The actor told MTV,
06:02"...everybody around me is flipping out about the books, and I didn't really have the time
06:05to sit down lately and read any book, not just Hunger Games. But I've got a couple projects
06:10on my plate that I'm looking forward to reading now."
06:13Hedlund was up against several prominent actors, including another one who went on to become
06:17a big star.
06:19Taylor Kitsch is one of those actors who's appeared in a ton of popular movies but is
06:22somehow not as well-known as he should be. He played Gambit in X-Men Origins Wolverine,
06:27the lead in John Carter, and many more impressive roles. Kitsch has also worked extensively
06:32in television, where he's probably best known for playing Tim Riggins on Friday Night Lights.
06:37Like so many others, Kitsch eyed a part in the Hunger Games franchise, and his name was
06:41one that came up a lot in connection with Finnick O'Dare. Hollywood Life revealed in
06:452012 that he and Hedlund were the final two in the running to play Finnick. Neither actor
06:50ended up landing the part, which went to Sam Claflin.
06:52Have a good day.
06:56It's unclear how far Kitsch actually got in the process, but when the Los Angeles Times
07:00reached out to him for comment, he didn't mince words, saying that it was, quote,
07:04"...not going to happen."
07:06Tony Shalhoub's list of roles is long, but it doesn't include playing Beedie, first introduced
07:11in The Hunger Games' Catching Fire. That role eventually went to Jeffrey Wright, but Shalhoub
07:16was in the running before it went to him. In 2012, Variety reported early in the casting
07:20process that Shalhoub was the frontrunner for the role. Shalhoub's name came up around
07:24the same time Amanda Plummer landed the role of Wyris, the female tribute from District
07:293.
07:30It's unclear why Shalhoub didn't win the part, and Wright did, but what is clear is that
07:33Shalhoub didn't suffer much from losing the role. He went on to appear in dozens of films
07:38and television series.
07:40Mia Wasikowska played a few interesting roles early in her career, but her breakout character
07:46was, without a doubt, playing Alice in Alice in Wonderland. After that, she landed numerous
07:50parts that made her an in-demand actor. When The Hunger Games' Catching Fire production
07:54began looking for someone to play Joanna Mason, Wasikowska was one of the actors interested.
07:59In fact, multiple outlets reported that Wasikowska was likely to be selected to play Joanna,
08:04but the role eventually went to Jenna Malone.
08:06Oh, I'd love to put my axe in her face.
08:11As casting was ramping up during the lead-up to the production of The Hunger Games' Catching
08:14Fire, rumors abounded on the internet, and this appears to be one of them. Wasikowska
08:19hasn't confirmed that she was up for the role of Joanna since the film was released, but
08:23even if the rumors are true, this was all happening during an incredibly busy time in
08:27her filmography, so it probably didn't matter to her either way.
08:31Melissa Leo is probably best known for her numerous performances on television, although
08:35she also won an Oscar for her performance in 2010's The Fighter. Fans of The Hunger
08:40Games franchise will be interested to know that Leo was one of the actors considered
08:45for the role of Mags Flanagan, the mute female tribute from District 4. That role went to
08:49Lynn Cohen, and she did an excellent job conveying a wide range of emotions without speaking
08:54— a difficult task for any actor.
08:56While casting was still filled with online rumors and a lot of back-and-forth for a number
09:01of actors, Leo confirmed that there was interest in her taking the role. When asked about the
09:06casting, Leo said,
09:07"...I would have liked to have done it, but it doesn't look like it'll be mine."
09:10Leo expanded a little, offering up the reason she thought she might have been passed over,
09:14"...I'm not much of a reader, and that might very well be part of the reason that I did
09:18not get the role."
09:20One actor who's had an interesting career playing all kinds of characters is Kevin Durant.
09:25He's appeared in everything from X-Men Origins Wolverine to Kingdom of the Planet of the
09:29Apes. Durant's career has been diverse, to say the least, and it almost included the
09:33role of Brutus in The Hunger Games' Catching Fire.
09:36Ultimately, the part of District 2's male tribute went to Bruno Gunn, but Durant's name
09:41was reportedly passed around for a bit as casting was underway. Durant didn't land the
09:45part, and it's unclear how far he got in his audition.