Updated

Updated · Variety · Jun 11

Josh Hutcherson Reflects on Hunger Games Fame at 19 as Elizabeth Banks Teases New Projects

Updated

Updated · Variety · Jun 11

Josh Hutcherson Reflects on Hunger Games Fame at 19 as Elizabeth Banks Teases New Projects

Q: After directing a $287M hit, why did Elizabeth Banks choose a role that made her feel so 'small' and isolated?

Elizabeth Banks took the role in *The Miniature Wife* because it offered exactly the kind of high-concept, emotionally pointed material she wanted after her directing successes: a comedy with a sharp metaphor about power, marriage and what it means to be diminished. She said the premise of a woman literally shrunk by her husband appealed to her as both entertaining and thematically rich, allowing her to explore how people are made to feel “small.” That choice was not a step back from directing but part of the same creative instinct. Banks has said she wants to make work that reflects the moment while still entertaining audiences, and *The Miniature Wife* gave her a way to do that through a surreal relationship story. The role also resonated personally. She has spoken about being made to feel small in Hollywood, including skepticism she faced as a female director, so the metaphor had real weight for her. The isolation came from how the series was made. Playing a six-inch-tall woman meant filming alone on green screens and in dollhouse-style sets, often without co-star Matthew Macfadyen present. Banks said that process was more vulnerable, physically taxing and mentally demanding than she expected because she had to perform the comedy and emotion without a scene partner to share the risk. So after directing major hits, she chose the part not despite its difficulty but because its challenge, metaphor and vulnerability made it artistically compelling.

Q: How will Peeta and Katniss return in the new 'Hunger Games' prequel, which is set decades before their birth?

Peeta and Katniss are expected to return only indirectly, most likely through a voiceover or framing device rather than appearing in the prequel’s main timeline. That is because *The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping* is set 24 years before the original story and centers on young Haymitch Abernathy during the 50th Hunger Games, long before Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are born. The main cast reflects that approach, with younger actors playing earlier versions of familiar figures, including Joseph Zada as Haymitch and Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket. The additional reporting says Josh Hutcherson is confirmed to return as Peeta, and Jennifer Lawrence is expected to reprise Katniss. But given the chronology, they are not expected to physically appear as those characters within the central plot. Instead, their involvement is widely understood to be similar to how legacy actors have been used in earlier franchise prequels, helping connect the new film to the original series. In practical terms, that means audiences should expect Peeta and Katniss to be present as part of the film’s storytelling frame or narration, not as active participants in Haymitch’s story. That would allow the prequel to preserve continuity with the original films while keeping its focus on Haymitch’s past and the political world that shaped the later rebellion.

3 articles · Updated · Variety · Jun 11

Josh Hutcherson said “The Hunger Games” thrust him into fame at 19, leaving him resentful for years before he later came to appreciate the franchise’s impact.
Elizabeth Banks, 37 when the series began, said she watched Hutcherson, Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth become stars, while Hutcherson called the films his version of college.
On current work, Hutcherson discussed playing the grounded boyfriend in “I Love L.A.” and said Season 2 shoots this summer, though he has not seen the scripts.
Banks said “The Miniature Wife” used her character’s 6-inch size as a metaphor for being diminished, adding the green-screen shoot was unusually isolating.
Both actors also reflected on career longevity: Hutcherson said he still feels job uncertainty after 24 years acting, while Banks said motherhood and franchise stability helped her move into directing.