Austin Butler Reveals Which ‘Hunger Games’ Role He Auditioned for

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Austin Butler may be an award-winning actor, but even he can’t get every highly coveted role. During a recent interview with Buzzfeed Celeb, the 32-year-old Elvis star revealed that he auditioned for The Hunger Games and was rejected after the first round for a main role.

“I don’t even think I got a callback for the character Peeta,” Austin said in the video that was shared by the outlet on Wednesday, June 26. The role eventually went to actor Josh Hutcherson, whom Austin said is “great.”

The Hunger Games became one of the most popular young adult movie franchises, based on the books by author Suzanne Collins. Last year, the prequel film, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, brought in a new cast to tell the backstory of the series’ villain, President Coriolanus Snow. The original role was played by the late Donald Sutherland, who died last week, and the younger version of the character was played by Tom Blyth.

Even though he didn’t book the franchise film alongside its other stars Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth, Austin went on to appear in a slew of films and TV productions. At the beginning of his acting career, Austin had cameos in Disney and Nickelodeon shows, including Hannah Montana and iCarly. Later, he appeared in the movie Aliens in the Attic and landed a main role in the series The Carrie Diaries.

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Eventually, Austin was cast in Quentin Tarantino‘s star-studded movie, Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, followed by his Golden Globe Award and BAFTA-winning performance in Elvis. Most recently, the Anaheim, California, native starred in Dune: Part Two and The Bikeriders.

During a February 2023 interview with Variety, Austin acknowledged how difficult it can be to book roles as an up-and-coming actor.

“You get told ‘no’ so many times,” he explained to the outlet. “And early on, someone told me something that really helped. They said, ‘It’s a numbers game. Prepare to go to 100 auditions before you book one.’”

He also recalled his Elvis audition with director Baz Luhrmann being a “workshop” rather than a general audition. “So, I knew it would be a process,” Austin added. “I was able to keep my head down and concentrate on the work and try not to get too invested in thinking of it as my part.”