Summary

• Austin Butler auditioned for Peeta in The Hunger Games but didn't get the role.
• Butler's career took off later with roles in Elvis, Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood, and Dune: Part Two.
• Butler's non-Hunger Games role helped avoid typecasting and offered a diverse career.

Austin Butler reveals what role in The Bikeriders reviews have been mostly positive so far, including praise for Butler's leading performance.

Speaking on BuzzFeed Celeb, Butler reveals what Hunger Games character he auditioned for.

According to the actor, he auditioned for the role of Peeta in The Hunger Games. While he did not get into specifics about the audition process, Butler said that he "didn't get it at all" noting that he does not believe that he even "got a callback." Despite his failure to claim the role, Butler does not hold any grudges over eventual star Josh Hutcherson, who delivered a performance that Butler described as "great." Check out the quote from Butler below:

I auditioned for The Hunger Games, and I didn't get it at all. I don't even think I got a callback. What's the character, Peeta?

Austin Butler’s Career Breakout Came Years Later

Butler Is One Of The Quickest Rising Stars In Hollywood

At the time of these auditions, Hutcherson was far and away the bigger name between him and Butler. Huctherson had been a child actor prior to appearing in The Hunger Games, beginning his career in 2002 when he was only 10 years old. In his youth, Hutcherson had iconic roles including playing Gabe in the preteen romance Little Manhattan and Jess Aarons in Bridge to Terebithia. By contrast, Butler's fame was mostly relegated to Disney and Nickelodeon TV circles back then, having been in episodes of iCarly, Hannah Montana, and Zoey 101.

While The Hunger Games cemented Hutcherson as a bonafide blockbuster star in 2012, Butler's big break would not come for another decade. Said breakout role was playing the titular music icon in Baz Luhrmann's 2022 biopic Elvis. Becoming notorious for his accurate (but omnipresent) Elvis voice, Butler received copious praise for his role, earning an Oscar nomination. A couple of years before that, the actor also made somewhat of a career advancement when he played a ing role in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood.

Elvis completely transformed Butler's career, catapulting him into the roles that he has now. In some ways, it was probably good for Butler that he did not get his start in The Hunger Games. With Elvis being his claim to fame, Butler's initial impression in the industry was to show himself as a serious actor, which would result in being given more serious roles. If he had instead played Peeta, he could have been pigeonholed into more roles in YA-focused films, which could have diluted the vibrant career that he has now developed.

Source: BuzzFeed Celeb