Like "Oh my God!", Josh Hutcherson really wants to play Peeta in The Hunger Games

Josh Hutcherson's career is on a serious upswing. After playing one of the "kids" in The Kids are All Right last year, he was at SXSW last night for the premier of Detention, the Scream-like horror flick about a group of high school seniors who start getting killed off one by one. A hodge podge of slasher tropes, John Hughes teen melodrama, and sci-fi(yes, sci-fi), Detention looks like a serious potential challenger to the teen horror crown. 

While Hutcherson's got a lot on his plate already, such as Neil Patrick Harris's directorial debut, Aaron & Sarah, there's one role he really wants.  While talking to Entertainment Weekly, Hutcherson expressed not only his love for The Hunger Games, but his desire to take over the male lead in Gary Ross's adaptation.  

Hutcherson: "I love Peeta.  The character is so much who I am--self-deprecating, a people person. And he'd be such a great character to play! Like in the third book? Oh my God!"

I have no idea what happens to Peeta in the third book but it must be "Oh my God" worthy. The starring roles in The Hunger Games are the most sought after in the biz right now(outside of Superman and Batman movies, of course), with the casting search for Katniss Everdeen having encompassed literally dozens of actresses. Jennifer Lawrence(Winter's Bone) appears to have the role locked down, which means all eyes are on Peeta. Hutcherson notes that he's read an old version of the script and has met with Ross about it. That puts him in roughly the same camp as Alex Pettyfer, who has also had discussions. 

Having not ever read The Hunger Games, I don't feel qualified remarking on whether he's good for the role or not. However, if Alex Pettyfer is his only competition then I'd take Hutcherson in a heartbeat no matter what.