Josh Hutcherson on 'The Hunger Games' and Philip Seymour Hoffman

Josh Hutcherson has been doing some press promoting his upcoming Escobar: Paradise Lost (opens on Friday) and he was asked about The Hunger Games, of course. He spoke with NOW Toronto recently, and had a bit to say about how all-consuming the promotion can be and how the cast coped with the loss of Philip Seymour Hoffman. And there's a funny anecdote about selling spray tans. Listen to the audio below:

From NOW Toronto:

Josh Hutcherson will give you tips on kissing, but he'll probably be grinding his teeth throughout the lesson. The 22-year-old Hunger Games star, who you may only know as Peeta, is already a veteran at soldiering through inquisitions about kissing, sexting and everything else that would accompany his photo in Seventeen and its ilk.

"Honestly, all those magazines where they ask you who is your celebrity crush, or what's the best way to kiss someone - I'm just like, 'It's not my field of expertise,'" Hutcherson says, laughing off the silly headline-making answers he can't avoid giving.

"The hardest thing about those interviews is they talk about things I just don't care about. You feel like you have to fake an interest, and then all of a sudden you're not being yourself. But if I were being myself, I would be like, 'I don't want to answer that.' And then I'd be like an asshole. So it's awkward."

I refrain from questions about kissing J-Law while Hutcherson leans forward with concentration and regularly smiles, which is nice since his resting face looks like a sulk. We're in a hotel room overlooking the downtown skyline during the Toronto Film Festival, discussing Hutcherson's latest effort outside the long Hunger Games shadow.

In the crime thriller Escobar: Paradise Lost, Hutcherson plays Nick, a fictional Canadian surfer taken under the wing of the titular real-world drug lord. Nick was originally written to be Irish, but the actor wasn't up for tackling such a challenging accent, so he made the decision to be a Canuck.

"We wanted him to be very genuine and not American," Hutcherson recalls. "Americans come with the baggage of overconfidence - not that Canadians aren't confident."

Following its premiere, the cast had to defend the film against accusations that it romanticizes Escobar, who's played charismatically by Benicio Del Toro before the facade is peeled away to reveal the kingpin's monstrous nature.

"The thing that was scary about Escobar was that he wasn't obviously menacing," Hutcherson says. "He seemed like a family guy and did many good things for the poor community. Honestly, up until this movie, I didn't know all the horrendous things he did. I had this idea of him as a Robin Hood. As I did more research, I saw all the horrific things."

Sam Clalfin on 'Mockingjay Part 2,' Freedom of Speech and 'Me Before You'

Sam Claflin spoke with Red Carpet News TV at the Bafta Award nominations and had a bit to say about The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 around the 2:30 mark.

It was kind of disheartening to hear him talk about "distancing himself" from The Hunger Games at first, but he brought it back around by the end of the segment. 

Pre-Order 'Tim Palen: Photographs From The Hunger Games'

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Tributes! You can now PRE-ORDER the deluxe volume of The Hunger Games photos by Tim Palen that celebrates the entire film franchise - including a peek at Mockingjay Part 2! Tim Palen: Photographs From The Hunger Games comes out June 16th, but the pre-orders are now open at Assouline and Amazon . Save your pennies though, it's $75.00 at Assouline, $55.96 at Amazon. But this gorgeous hardcover book is defintiely going to be a must-have for any Hunger Games super fan. We are SO excited about this! 

To refresh your memory, here's a bit about it:

In exclusive collaboration with Lionsgate, Assouline presents Tim Palen: Photographs from The Hunger Games. Compiled in one deluxe volume, Palen’s portraits capture each character with striking intimacy and transform the high-octane adventure of the films into exquisite visual art. Through Palen’s unique lens, characters become icons, immortalized as the beloved characters the world has embraced.

Pre-order at Assouline.com or pre-order TIM PALEN: Photographs from The Hunger Games at Amazon

Jennifer Lawrence Interviews Eddie Redmayne

Jennifer Lawrence clearly needs her own chat show and she proves it in the new issue of Interview magazine. Jennifer calls up Eddie Redmayne for an interview and, lucky for us, she basically interviews herself. The whole thing is a must-read, but here are our favorite bits:

On Jennifer and Eddie's mutual love of reality tv:

LAWRENCE: You watch Real Housewives, Eddie? 

REDMAYNE: I've been a closet lover of faux-reality TV sinceThe Hills. It's bad. 

 Jennifer Lawrence and Friends at PumpLAWRENCE: I feel like I'm going to cry. We're making a breakthrough. I went to Pump the other night to meet [restaurateur and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star] Lisa Vanderpump. I had her sign a bottle of vodka, and when she gave it to my friend who was with me at the Oscars, my friend said, "Jennifer, this is so much better than the Oscars!" [laughs] We took so many pictures with her. We were like, [referring to season four of the show] "Puerto Rico was a witch hunt. Brandi [Glanville] and Kyle [Richards] were so mean!" 

On the end of The Hunger Games and her relationship with Josh and Liam:

Liam, Jen and Josh at the London premiere of Catching FireREDMAYNE: Are you guys finished with Hunger Games now? 

LAWRENCE: I think we're done with the press tour. I've got, like, one more thing to shoot for Hunger Games. We just have one scene to do for the end. 

REDMAYNE: It's over? Wowzer. That's quite intense. That's, like, several years of your life. 

LAWRENCE: I know. I'm not happy about it at all. 

REDMAYNE: Wait, can't they write some more? 

LAWRENCE: I know, right? I would totally do it. And now Liam [Hemsworth]'s doing a movie in Australia for two months. It's the longest that the three of us have ever spent apart. 

REDMAYNE: Are you like siblings?

LAWRENCE: Yeah. We were just on the plane, and Josh [Hutcherson] was eating something that I don't like—salmon or something. I was eating my own snack and he kept eating my snack. I was going to share with him because I'm not an asshole, but then finally I was like, "I can't eat your snack. So it's not fair that you're eating my snack!" Our security guard just started laughing at us. And we were like, "It's been a lot of years!" [laughs]

On her start in the business:

REDMAYNE: So are you having Thanksgiving? 

LAWRENCE: I'm flying to Kentucky tomorrow. That's where everybody lives. That's where my nephews are, so I go back there. 

REDMAYNE: Are any of them actors? 

LAWRENCE: No. Do you have actors in your family? 

REDMAYNE: No, not at all. It's a positively weird gene. How did you get into this? 

LAWRENCE: When my parents were going to be working when I got off from school, they started me with theater. I didn't really like it, and I only did it for a few weeks. I was 14, and then somebody took my picture on a street in New York, and then I read a screenplay for a film called Gracie [2007]; it was about soccer. I had always sucked in school and hated sports, and then I read that and was like, "This I get! This I love!" I became so convinced that it was going to work out that I told my parents I was moving to New York. I look back and I'm like, "Oh my God. You were a fucking idiot! You could've died!" 

On getting out of her comfort zone:

LAWRENCE: You seem very driven by fear. 

REDMAYNE: Yeah. 

LAWRENCE: Does that go away for you, or is that your fuel? Like, I'll be afraid on the first day of work and then I feel it and then I'm driven by confidence. I don't know if that's tricking myself, because Silver Linings was the only time I felt scared the whole time. 

REDMAYNE: Why was that, do you think? 

LAWRENCE: Probably because I was out of my comfort zone. It was my first movie with David [O. Russell]. And he's always shouting at you. [laughs] You'll be doing a scene, and he'll be like, "Say this! Do it the exact opposite way!" Or "Do the whole scene in slow motion!" It's a way of pulling you away, which is why you'll watch it and you won't recognize yourself.

Read the entire article at InterviewMagazine.com 

Happy Birthday, Liam Hemsworth!

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Happy 25th birthday to our Gale Hawthorne, Liam Hemsworth! Liam was just spotted in Australia, so hopefully this means he'll have a birthday surrounded by family and close friends. 

Happy Birthday, Liam! 

The Rebel Remix of The Hanging Tree Released on iTunes

The somewhat, er, hotly debated Rebel Remix version of The Hanging Tree was released today on iTunes. The song off the Mockingjay Part 1 score by James Newton Howard featuring Jennifer Lawrence on vocals, has been remixed and made into sort of a dance track. At least there's a pretty new cover image to go along with it! 

You can get the track on iTunes here:

Round 1 of the MTV Movie Brawl - Mockingjay Part 2 vs. Terminator: Genisys

Round 1 of the MTV Movie Brawl is now open. It's Mockingjay Part 2 vs. Terminator: Genisys. Go to MTV and vote now! Voting for round 1 is open through January 15th.

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Julianne Moore Wins Best Actress at The Golden Globes

Julianne Moore won the Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama Golden Globe award last night for her performance in Still Alice! She looked gorgeous (obviously) in Mockingjay-esque Givenchy sequins and feathers. Check out some of the photos from last night and video of her touching acceptance speech and press room interview:

Lorde was also nominated for a Best Original Song award for "Yellow Flicker Beat" off the Mockingjay Part 1 Original Soundtrack. Lorde lost to Jon Legend's "Glory" from the Selma soundtrack. See pics of Lorde at the Golden Globes here.