Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence are friends?
Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson portrayed Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games. The two characters fought for their lives as citizens of District 12 forced to participate in the grueling Hunger Games. Their relationship was at the heart of the films, but are the two movie stars really close or just really good actors?
Lawrence and Hutcherson's connection predates the successful franchise, and even predates the star's American Hustle acting career. Lawrence had closely followed the career of his future co-star from an early age. As reported by Yahoo! Entertainment In 2020, Lawrence approached Hutcherson at the 2011 SAG Awards - where she was nominated for her performance in The Bone of Winter - and told Hutcherson that when she was around 10 in Kentucky, she had saw a newspaper article about his success as a child actor from his home state. “And she showed that to her parents and said,‘ Look, I want to do that too. This kid [is] doing it, ”Hutcherson said at the point of sale.
Shortly after that meeting at the SAG Awards, the two were thrown in front of each other in the first The Hunger Games where they locked lips to the screen. Talking to CNN in 2013, Hutcherson and Lawrence remembered their kiss. “You're my first real big kiss in a movie,” Hutcherson added jokingly, “It was a bit abrasive, if I'm being honest. A little shocking. "
Read on to see how the two got along when they started working together.
Jennifer Lawrence once knocked out Josh Hutcherson
Liam Hemsworth's Gale Hawthorne was another pivotal figure in Jennifer Lawrence's relationship with Josh Hutcherson's characters in the Hunger Games films. On the heels of releasing The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, the three actors spoke AP News about their friendship. Lawrence revealed that she and Hutcherson became friends over the phone even before being on set together. Hutcherson said E! in 2015 that all three "just hooked up" once they met in person. They admitted to Associate Press that forming true friendships during filming was rare. “You don't go into anything hoping to meet your two best friends,” Lawrence said.
After finishing filming Mockingjay - Part 2, Said Lawrence E! that she wouldn't miss Hutcherson's boring habits like making "cricket sounds" and his rough Justin Bieber impression. "I'm not going to miss Jen for making us late." I love her but she is a Dior lady, ”Hutcherson replied. Another attribute of Lawrence that he wouldn't miss was his martial arts routine. "[She was] throwing those aerial kicks… and then cracking up!" She cut me off in the temple, "he told Yahoo! Entertainment in 2020. “I don't really remember, because I was knocked out. "
The two actors bonded so closely during their on-screen romance that many fans wondered if they had never explored a romantic relationship.
What the two actors did together during quarantine
In 2019, while appearing on Dax Shepard’s Chair Expert podcast (via TooFab), Josh Hutcherson was asked if he and Jennifer Lawrence had ever dated. The Red Dawn actor argued that the two kept things platonic. “Really, for me, it was so much better than having something romantic,” Hutcherson added, “because now she's a friend of mine and there is nothing that has marred that friendship. "
They managed to maintain this friendship even after they finished making movies together. Speaking to Entertainment tonight in September 2020, Hutcherson said he had dinner with Lawrence earlier this summer. “I saw Jen in my 40s… We had a nice socially distant dinner together,” he said. The actor also mentioned that whenever he sees one of his The Hunger Games co-stars, they quickly reconnect. “No matter how much time passes, once we meet again, we instantly come back to where it was,” he said. Entertainment tonight.
Even after Lawrence won an Oscar for her work on The Silver Linings Playbook, nothing changed between her and Hutcherson. “You were like 'Congratulations, this is awesome',” she told CNN in 2013. “Then we started talking about farts. "
