Peeta has gotten the short end of the stick both in the Hunger Games books and in real life. After the Catching Fire movie came out, Josh Hutcherson's character was mocked mercilessly for messing things up in the arena. Not only was the character getting flack, but Hutcherson himself was hated on. On Twitter, fans protested his casting and said he was the worst choice to play Peeta making comments like, "Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark will always remain on par with Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan as WORST CASTING DECISION EVER MADE." But those people are wrong, and the new Mockingjay - Part 1 teaser trailer shows just how perfect Josh Hutcherson is for the role.
Though it's just 72 seconds long, and Peeta only appears for about 30 of those seconds, through watching the trailer, it becomes apparent that he was an excellent choice for this role. Hutcherson says nothing, only turns his head and looks straight at the camera, but in that moment you can read all the desperation, anger, and emptiness in his eyes. This is a person who has been hijacked by the Capitol and forced to stand for what he tried so hard to fight against. You feel all that as his sinister glare reminds you that in this film he isn't the young boy madly in love with Katniss, but is instead the Capitol's weapon.
It's hard to act with just your eyes. As Michael Caine put it in his book Acting in Film, "You cannot lie to the camera. If an actor feels the emotion internally, it will show in the eyes. If not, your eyes will betray you."
Fortunately, Hutcherson's eyes are not betraying him but rather conveying all the depth of his character in one simple look.
While some outlets are complaining that we didn't see J. Law in the teaser trailer, I'll be over here being blown away by Hutcherson's performance and so excited for what's to come from him in the movie.
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