Josh Hutcherson reveals he lost out on Home Alone role: 'The first time that I tasted rejection'

Cue Kevin McCallister's trademark scream: Josh Hutcherson could have been a young star in one of the Home Alone movies.

"I was probably 11, I think, when I auditioned for it," the 31-year-old Five Nights at Freddy's actor recalled while playing with puppies in an interview at BuzzFeed HQ. "It got down to me and the other guy. That was the first time that I tasted rejection, so that was really hard.” 

Considering the timeline, the audition would have been for one of the newer additions to the franchise that came out in the early and late 2000s rather than the first two films headlined by Macaulay Culkin, released in 1990 and 1992, respectively. Alex D. Linz starred in 1997's Home Alone 3, which introduced precocious lead character Alex Pruitt. Three other movies followed with different casts: 2002's Home Alone 4, 2012's Home Alone: The Holiday Heist, and 2021's Home Sweet Home Alone.

Hutcherson began his career as a child actor with parts on ER and in the TV movie House Blend, but he landed his breakthrough role in the 2007 fantasy film Bridge to Terabithia. He went on to appear in Journey to the Center of the Earth and Zathura: A Space Adventure before he catapulted to superstardom when he played Peeta in The Hunger Games franchise, starring opposite Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth.

While cuddling with the pups, Hutcherson said he manages to keep in touch with Lawrence and Hemsworth despite their hectic work schedules. "They’re still near and dear to me," he said.

He currently stars in the action thriller The Beekeeper opposite Jason Statham after his turn in the horror movie Five Nights at Freddy's.

"I'm happy now to be in a position, with Freddy’s having come out, Beekeper about to come out, that I can find the next thing that I can sink my teeth into," Hutcherson recently told EW in a career retrospective. "I’m coming into the next era of my career, being in my early 30s."

He added, "I think that Freddy’s is a great stepping stone in that regard because [my character] Mike feels older… He feels like a young man. I’m really excited to see what that brings me in the future."

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