Josh Hutcherson Closing Moments in the Final Chapter of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2”
The final chapter of “The Hunger
Games: Mockingjay Part 2” brings the
film’s expansive cast together one last time, with a team headed by Jennifer
Lawrence and including Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson,
Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright,
Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Willow Shields, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone,
Mahershala Ali and Natalie Dormer. The lineup for Mockingjay – Part 2 also
includes Wes Chatham (Castor), Elden Henson (Pollux), Patina Miller (Commander
Baylor), Evan Ross (Messalla), , Gwendoline Christie (Commander Lyme), and Stef
Dawson (Annie Cresta).
In
“Mockingjay – Part 2,” Peeta Mellark – the former victor who was to marry
Katniss in a Capitol spectacle – is still in a haunting, dangerous fugue state
after being brainwashed by President Snow during his captivity. Though his body
has been freed, his mind struggles against nightmarish, instilled thoughts to
kill Katniss, the very same person he once most trusted in the world.
Hutcherson
sums up where the film finds Peeta: “Peeta’s going through a kind of
rehabilitation process, trying to get back to his old self. He’s being held in
District 13, but he’s still violently psychotic and his recovery is clearly
going to be a very long, hard road. He has moments of clarity but he kind of
goes in and out. With all these memories that were implanted in his mind by the
Capitol, he has to constantly try to decipher what is real and what has been
fed to him – and he has to rely on his peers to help him find that truth.”
For
Hutcherson, the film required a 180 from how he normally approaches the
character. “Peeta’s always been known as being the down-to-earth, grounded,
honest guy. But now he’s out of his mind, I had to turn that inside out,” he
says. “It shows a lot about the real feelings that Katniss has for Peeta that
she still fights for him and believes in him even in this state.”
When
Peeta is sent by President Coin to join Squad 451 – consisting of Katniss,
Gale, Finnick, Boggs, Cressida, Messalla, Castor and Pollux – it endangers
everyone, but helps Katniss break through to him. “Really, he should not be in
this environment,” Hutcherson admits. “It has tons of triggers that could cause
him to explode and, and lose control again, which actually happens multiple
times.”
Throughout,
Peeta’s true feelings for Katniss keep surfacing in ways that keep him bonded
to her at an unspoken level. For Hutcherson finding those breakthrough moments
with Jennifer Lawrence after the three previous films came organically.
“Jennifer has this quiet strength about her,” he says. “A lot of people might
have tried to play up the rebellious side of Katniss, but Jennifer saw from the
start that’s not who Katniss is. Jen has played Katniss’ reluctance and
groundedness so well, it always feels very real to me. It’s one of the reasons
why I think Peeta connects with her and why so many people have connected with
The Hunger Games.”
As
for how Peeta has evolved since he first left to represent District 12 in The
Hunger Games, Hutcherson concludes, “Peeta always had a very realistic view of
what was happening around him. He’s more haunted now from having experienced
The Hunger Games first-hand, and from witnessing the destruction that Snow’s
dictatorship can cause. But deep within, his mentality has always been you have
to not let yourself be a piece in the game; you have to try to be yourself even
as you fight to survive. That’s still what he would say to this day.”
Like
Jennifer Lawrence, Hutcherson says he will miss his character, but he will take
a lot from the long and rich experience of playing Peeta. “I definitely will
take away great friendships and memories from The Hunger Games,” he says. “I
also hope I take away some of Peeta’s values. When you do a project like this,
people can get certain ideas about who you should be – and Peeta is a reminder
that it’s best to kind of break those expectations and simply be true to
yourself.”
“The
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part -2” opens November 18 in cinemas from Pioneer
Films.
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