The Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson comments on Peeta’s infamous camouflage scene. Based on the novels by author Suzanne Collins, the first movie in the Hunger Games franchise was released in 2012, bringing the epic story of Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss to life. While the first movie earned positive reviews for its intense action sequences and compelling characters, the scene in which Hutcherson’s Peeta paints his face to look like a rock still stands out as one of the franchise’s more far-fetched moments.
During a recent interview with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Hutcherson reacts to the host showing him memes poking fun at Peeta’s Hunger Games camouflage.
The actor explains how the scene was filmed and reveals that he recalls thinking at the time that the camouflage was a little too far outside the realm of believability, even for a cake-decorating baker like Peeta. Check out Hutcherson’s full comment below:
“This is a whole thing, man. The dude’s a baker. How did he have the time? The tools? I remember we were shooting this in North Carolina… and there was this like a crevice, with what seemed like an infinite black hole that leads back into what I’m sure was just full of millions of snakes. And they had snake ranglers on set and they’re like, ‘Yeah, we think it’s good.’
“So I just laid there. And for 45 minutes they did all this makeup thing around me. I had no idea what I looked like. After I saw it I was like, ‘I’m not sure that’s what people had in mind when they read the book.’ But we did it.”
How Does The Hunger Games Hold Up 12 Years Later?
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes‘ box office success last fall suggests that audience interest in the franchise is still high after the epic conclusion of Katniss’ story in 2015. While Lawrence’s final movie as the heroine remains the franchise’s biggest in terms of its scale and scope, her first outing still holds up as an efficient and effective science-fiction adventure.
While 2012’s The Hunger Games isn’t the best-reviewed entry in the franchise (that honor goes to its direct sequel), it pulls off the challenging task of introducing audiences to the world and lore Collins’ book. The film, which is directed by Gary Ross, has a lot of heavy lifting to do, setting up the history between the Capitol and the districts, and the titular games. It also sets the stage for the character arcs and storylines to come, most crucially the romance between Katniss and Peeta.
The actual Hunger Games competition featured in the debut film isn’t as spectacle-driven as what would come next, but it remains jarringly violent. The initial scenes of bloodshed at the very start establish the stakes in a big way, and the competition itself features a number of surprising narrative twists and turns, not to mention quiet moments of emotion and reflection. Although The Hunger Games remains an impressive achievement 12 years later, there’s no question that Peeta’s camouflage scene does stand out as particularly ridiculous.
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games is the first of four in the action-drama movie series based on the novels by Suzanne Collins. Set in a dystopian world where people are separated into twelve districts to maintain order, this first film in the franchise focuses on Katniss Everdeen as she is forced to participate in The Hunger Games: a draconian gladiatorial survival event where there can be only one winner.
- Release Date
- November 20, 2015
- Director
- Francis Lawrence
- Cast
- Liam Hemsworth , Jeffrey Wright , Natalie Dormer , Josh Hutcherson , Julianne Moore , Elizabeth Banks , Robert Knepper , Donald Sutherland , Woody Harrelson , Jennifer Lawrence , Jena Malone , Philip Seymour Hoffman
- Rating
- PG-13
- Runtime
- 142 minutes
- Main Genre
- Adventure
- Genres
- Thriller , Action , Adventure , Sci-Fi
- Writers
- Danny Strong , Peter Craig
- Budget
- $78 million
- Studio(s)
- Lionsgate , Color Force
- Distributor(s)
- Lionsgate
- Sequel(s)
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire , The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 , The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
- prequel(s)
- The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
- Franchise(s)
- The Hunger Games
