Josh Hutcherson auditioned for the leading role in The Amazing Spider-Man fifteen years ago. He got pretty far along, even filming an action-packed screen test, but at the end of the day, Andrew Garfield was cast. Hutcherson reflected on the experience while chatting on the Dinner’s On Me podcast, admitting that it was “heartbreaking” when he was told he wouldn’t get the role.
Hutcherson Didn’t Get Spider-Man, But Hunger Games Came Soon After
“A few months before I got cast in Hunger Games, I was in the running to be Spider-Man,” Hutcherson explained. “I got told ‘no,’ which, as a teenager, was heartbreaking because I obviously wanted to be Spider-Man. But then, I was cast in the Hunger Games. That was the craziest turn of events. Hunger Games came out of nowhere. It just changed everything.“
However, despite achieving major success starring alongside Jennifer Lawrence in the Hunger Games franchise, offers for other gigs didn’t exactly come flooding in. “I didn’t learn rejection ever,” Hutcherson said. “I knew only success from the age 9 to, like, 24, then kind of post ‘Hunger Games’ world. Because ‘Hunger Games’ set things up. 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.’“
He continued, “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, was going to book it. That is just not the reality at all.“
It’s interesting to think of a world in which Hutcherson, and not Garfield, would have returned as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home alongside Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland.
Hutcherson Stars in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
Hutcherson now has another franchise under his belt with Five Nights at Freddy’s. The sequel was released last week and has already grossed $114 million worldwide; however, reviews haven’t been particularly kind. Our own Michael Conway said, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 isn’t as terrible as the beating it’s going to receive from other critics. It’s simply a messy film that loves its mythos but struggles to shape it into something compelling. It needs sharper writing, stronger pacing, and characters with emotional weight. Video games thrive on mystery and interactivity even when plot is thin. Movies don’t have that luxury. They need clarity.” You can check out the rest of his review right here.
