“There is still much to discover in this world”: Josh Hutcherson on the Hunger Games prequel and work with Jennifer Lawrence

- Let's talk about the series (“Man of the Future.” - RT ). I read about this project, and it seemed interesting to me ...

- This is such a crazy series! This is the first time I try myself in a television series and for the first time in a comedy genre. Yes, it sounds like something terrible was about to come out. But in fact, everything turned out just fine.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg produced the project - they worked on it from the very beginning. This is such a crazy time-travel action comedy that reflects the broken style of Rogen. It was fun to be involved in something so strange, unusual.

The series has three seasons. The latter has just come out. We were pleased to complete the work. In general, this series is very funny. I recommend it to people who want to see something completely absurd, almost meaningless and just laugh ...

- Both in comedy and in good drama there is a kind of middle ground. If you come close to it, the necessary tension arises, what is happening seems alive, real ... But if you go a little overboard and everything instantly deflates. The scene seems artificial, strange, strained. You are lucky that the site was Rogen.

- Yes, it's cool. For the first time I got into the world of comedy and the world of television. I trusted Seth, whose work I always loved, and together we managed to reach just the same middle. Yes, sometimes there were excesses, but then we just did a new double. And it seems to me that we cleverly balanced on the verge between what works and what does not work.

- You say that you didn’t do comedy before, but I saw in your resume participation in the program “Saturday Night Live”. You were the host. I also worked in this show for six years. How did everything go?

“Words cannot describe how nervous I was then.” After all, I never played in the theater, I did not perform live. So filming in this program was my first experience of this kind. It was a complete madness. I was delighted with the opportunity to see the whole process, the mechanism from the inside. There are so many talented people who swing like horses every day from morning to night to make the show what it is.

It was just wonderful to see how everything was arranged there. Participation in this program pushed me to become more involved in comedy. This format allows the performer to develop those creative muscles that cannot be strained in any other way.

You have to be constantly on the alert, all the time to poke, to be in the moment. You take the baton and at the same time do not lose concentration - and pass it on. It is really difficult, but I really liked it. As I said, I haven’t been so nervous in my life, but the experience was amazing.

• Josh Hutcherson on the red carpet of the Rome Film Festival in 2014
• Reuters
• © Alessandro Bianchi

- It's like when Tom Sizemore in the movie "Contraction" says De Niro: "Work is high." There is no more buzz than participating in the program “Saturday Night Live”, when everything goes right for you. I remember the young Hanks was broadcasting for the first time (he wasn’t so famous then), then we were in a cafe and he said that he had never experienced such a buzz. When you light on stage, of course ... yes.

- Exactly. This is a very special feeling. As an actor, I used to get ready, memorize my text. And when you play on the air of this show, you, of course, also get ready, but you don’t memorize anything, because before the broadcast you will still be in correspondence. So you have to use the tips. It was new to me. These were special emotions that I had never experienced before. Just an incredible experience.

- And how was the meeting before the broadcast? How was the dress rehearsal and the meeting after it?

 - Generally wonderful. But until the last moment, uncertainty remained over which sketches would be marked off and which ones left. In general, everything was very positive. At the rehearsal, we got a very good option.

An excellent team worked with me. These guys took upon themselves 99% of the work, all that was left for me, so to speak, was to hold the ball over the line. It was very cool. I often reflect on my experience and can say that this work is one of the most memorable and courageous in my career. She had a special meaning for me ...

“Robin Williams was a great friend to me, and I love him very much.” I saw in your filmography the picture "Madhouse on Wheels", where you starred together, and I cannot but ask - how old were you then?

- I was 12. Robin was a completely unique and special person. Such people are extremely rare. He was very caring and kind, and at the same time incredibly gifted and smart.

The train of his thoughts was simply amazing. The fact that I happened to work with him, I always remember as some incredible gift of fate. Robin Williams is a true legend, and he completely and completely justified this status.

- Yes. And what is most beautiful, two people got along in it. It was both the most fashionable guy in the area and a 12-year-old child. Even if you were 12 years old then ... But I want to ask you this: how difficult was it to get into the Hunger Games?

- Pretty hard. When I went through the first round of selection, I was 18. We did a lot of testing in front of the camera, and before the last listening I signed a contract for four films. In many ways, this is a real conveyor. But for me it was important that this is a beautiful and very interesting story that says something about our society, and people believed in it so much that they invested a lot of money in production.

Being a part of this in our industry is a pleasure. After all, there are many paintings with a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars, in which by and large there is almost no promise. And I have nothing against it - it's entertainment. But I was lucky to be part of something significant, and it is very dear to me.

• © Shot from the movie “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” (2013)

- Let's talk about Jennifer Lawrence ... Tell me, do you keep in touch with her? How do you feel about her, are you friends?

- Jennifer is amazing. In addition, we are both from Kentucky ... When I first met her, I realized that this was a unique person. One who has something to share with the world. She had some kind of depth and sensitivity. I don’t know where it came from and why, but she was like that from the very beginning.

Working with Jennifer is a pleasure. She always had a good mood, she always got along with the film crew, was part of the team and never lifted her nose. She is beautiful - both as a person and as an actress. She always finds a way to evoke the most genuine emotions.

Nowadays there are a lot of films and actors who have come off the assembly line ... And Jennifer against this background has become a kind of outlet. She was real, and her game seemed very natural and natural. She literally radiates all this when you work with her and even when you are just on the same set with her.

“She seems to me the quintessence of something truly American.” I think Kentucky also played a role here. I grew up not so far from this state - up the Ohio River, in Pittsburgh. And I remember that there a person was not given too much to remind about himself ...

- Yes, I agree. When you came out of places where to become an actor and live such a life seems unrealistic, then even if your dream comes true and becomes a reality, such a worldview still remains a part of you. Always something in you will be rooted in your native places, your life there, to your family and friends from that part of the country ...

In general, I am very proud that I am from Kentucky, and in many ways I am who I am, precisely because of this. Kentucky residents have a very powerful inner core, and this has always impressed me. I think Jennifer also has it.

- Well, I didn’t watch The Hunger Games, but now, since we are friends, I will definitely watch the next part. I heard somewhere that perhaps a prequel is planned. What do you say about this? After all, this is very interesting to the public.

- It seems so. I recently gave an interview and I was also asked about the prequel. Then I had no idea what I was talking about - which should tell you eloquently how much I generally know about it. Susan Collins wrote an incredible series of books, and in this world there is still a lot of unknown. I am happy to read these works, but no one has contacted me about this. If they called me, I would surely agree. Let's see what happens. But the prospect of a new film makes me very happy.

“Let's move on to the question of how it feels to be involved in something as grand as the Hunger Games.” A young actor always wants to be in a big project - and now he finally succeeds. But at the same time, the film becomes so popular ... I mean, this is probably a bit overwhelming. I do not propose to run away from fame, this is part of the work, but nevertheless, how are such changes felt - they are probably a little scary and exhausting?

- That's right. I started playing at nine. And I'm from Kentucky ... I didn’t have such a thing in my head as glory, and (understanding. - RT ) what it entails. When I found out that cinema is a job, that you can be an actor, director or someone else, I realized that I want to do just that. But my family had no idea how to do this. So at nine, I found an agency from Cincinnati in Ohio in the phone book and called them. And so it all began.

• © Shot from the film “The Bridge to Terabithia” (2006)

And suddenly you find yourself in such a high-profile project as The Hunger Games, which attracts so much attention. I could not have imagined such a thing. From this the head goes round. I did not expect this.

I just wanted to become an actor and act in films - and did not even think about this component of the cinema. In general, until you yourself lose anonymity, privacy, it is very difficult to imagine what it feels like to lose. This is taken for granted. You can’t even explain it ...

Imagine: you are a very young guy, you are about 19-20 years old, you go to a restaurant, and people there look at you and find out, and at the same time you have no way to fence yourself off from all this. Very strange feeling.

And then it was really difficult for me. I didn’t want anything like this, so I hid from it and led a secluded lifestyle. But over the years, I have learned to appreciate it a lot more.

I realized what luck I had - to participate in such a project. Even despite some individual disadvantages that everything has, to be part of such a project and be able to move on is, of course, a gift of fate. I was very lucky. But it was not without difficult moments.

- At first, getting used to it is really not easy ... This, of course, is such a strange transition: then no one knows you, or else - wow! And you really feel that you are in full view.

- Yes exactly. Although, of course, the last thing someone wants to hear is the complaints of a famous person about how difficult it is to be famous ... But the reality is that such work and fame have incredible advantages that you can only dream of, and cons that you don’t even dream about. These things turn out to be a complete surprise for you. You didn’t expect this at all. But the only thing that can be done here is to accept both of these sides and try not to lose oneself in either of them. This is an understanding that I have come to in the last few years.

“Look how old and wise he is.” I know that you received education at home - your mother taught you. She is probably a wonderful person? Is it from her that you have such wisdom and modesty?

- Apparently, yes. Here, of course, there is nothing to say - I have amazing parents. And they always taught me not to skid. They are very sincere people, and their main rule in life was: "Treat others the way you want to be treated." And I always tried to live in accordance with this principle ....

I was lucky to work with great people - from Robin Williams to Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks. Their example showed me that one should be polite, grateful, respect others and always learn new things. And these are the principles that I try to adhere to as much as possible in my life.

See the full version of the interview on the RTD website.