As ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ Countdown Heats Up, Josh Hutcherson Rues Taking Role

A note to devotees of The Hunger Games and those looking forward to the imminent sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: if you’re a fan of Peeta Mellark or Josh Hutcherson, the actor who portrays him, the feeling might not be mutual.

Yes, Josh Hutcherson, an actor being given an incredible opportunity by starring in Catching Fire and the third Hunger Games story, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, regrets taking the role.

“There’s definitely times when you have people outside your house waiting for you to leave and they follow you everywhere you go and then they follow you back to your house,” Hutcherson says via the New York Daily News. “I wouldn’t have signed up for all this if I knew I was going to get stripped of my liberties as an American.”

Boo hoo, Josh. Boo. Hoo.

Look, we know the paparazzi can be a pain, but as an aspiring actor born in the 1990s and growing up in the digital age, it’s fair to say you were given plenty of warning what major stars are put through in Hollywood. Just ask Kanye West. They do have computers in your home state of Kentucky, right? Or is it that you didn’t think The Hunger Games would be a success so much that you’d be doing press for Catching Fire and have the misfortune to run your mouth.

Here’s the deal, Josh: no one likes a reluctant rock star. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is your jumping off point. If you are naive enough to not know the deal, as an actor… Well, there are just no words for that.

And aren’t we being just a wee bit hyperbolic? “Stripped of [your] liberties as an American”? Sure, you’re an actor, but there’s really no need to be so dramatic. You’re in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, not Guantanamo Bay.

Hopefully Josh Hutcherson was just having a bad day and blew it a bit out of proportion. Everyone has bad days, but not all of us get paid to kiss Jennifer Lawrence on the set of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on our bad days.