Josh Hutcherson and Jena Malone had a mini Hunger Games reunion when they got together this week to shoot the upcoming short film The Rusted for Canon's Project Imagination.
The intense 3 day shoot just wrapped and Josh spoke with MTV News about the project:
The Rusted sees Hutcherson and his Hunger Games co-star Jena Malone playing siblings who renovate their childhood home into a recording studio… but sure enough, dark secrets soon come to the surface, and Hutcherson’s character begins to unravel.
“The unclearness of reality and what’s in your mind is fascinating,” Hutcherson revealed. “In this short we get to explore that, and push the bounds of what’s real and what’s not real and what’s really going on, versus what’s just in the character’s mind. The psychological element was something I always really wanted to get involved with, and this one allowed me to do that.
“These characters have their own past traumas that are haunting them still,” he continued. “The idea that something that happens in your life that is traumatic can stay with you your whole life to the point where you hallucinate things that aren’t really there — that’s kind of scary, and I hope that doesn’t happen to me.”
In addition to the intensity of doing such a quick shoot and selecting the project with Howard, Hutcherson said he was excited by the opportunity to have Hunger Games fans see a completely different side of him… a Dark Josh Hutcherson, if you will.
“I think it’s cool because Jena and I are in it together… taking The Hunger Games and applying it to a very different world,” he said. “Kat Candler’s style, our director, is very real — it’s very grounded, [whereas] Hunger Games is a very big, futuristic hypothetical situation. So for me, it’s something that’s much more grounded and real, and it’s a character I’ve never gotten to play before. My character is this rock, metal-head kind of kid, and for me, it’s something that’s different. I hope people enjoy it, cause it’s me taking on something very different. Very dark.”
We can't wait to see Dark Josh and his sister Jena when The Rusted is released. Stay tuned!