In his latest role on the big screen, Josh Hutcherson plays the bad boy, or should I say bad vampire, in the bloody tale, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant.
Josh’s character, Steve, is obsessed with vampires and wants to be one, but is unable to since he has bad blood. However, his best friend, Darren, becomes a vampire in order to save his life after a spider bites Steve.
From the beginning, Josh always knew he wanted to act. However, if he wasn’t an actor, Josh thinks he may have become a soccer player because he loves sports.
Perhaps we’ll see Josh playing an athlete in a future film? In the meantime, keep an eye out for Josh in the sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth coming out next year.
Here’s our bonus extended Q&A with Josh Hutcherson:
Faze: What’s new?
Josh: I just wrapped up a movie this past Friday here in LA. Now I’m just hanging out, waiting to move onto the next one.
Faze: Can you tell us a little bit about The Vampire’s Assistant and the role that you play in it?
Josh: For sure, Vampire’s Assistant is based on the book series. There are these two kids, they’re best friends in the movie. And one is a goody two-shoes and always does the right thing, and the other one, my character, is the bad guy. And basically they go to this freak show and there’s these crazy things: a wolf man, a bearded lady and one of the guys in the show is a vampire and my character is kind of obsessed with vampires. And I want to become one but I’m not allowed because I have bad blood, so then in a round-about way, my best friend Darren ends up becoming one in order to save my life because I get bitten by this crazy spider and it’s his fault. So we’re both vampires, but I’m an evil vampire which is called vampanee, and the story kind of evolves from that point as is, kind of starting out as good friends and then becoming enemies throughout the film.
Faze: Are you a big fan of the vampire shows and movies that have come out recently?
Josh: I haven’t seen too many. I’ve seen a couple episodes of True Blood which I think is really cool and, of course, Twilight…but I like the older vampires stuff, like The Lost Boys.
Faze: What inspired you to go into acting then?
Josh: Actually, it’s funny because I just always wanted to do it. Ever since I was a little little kid, I loved entertaining people and I knew I wanted to be in movies and with every single movie, I was like, “I can do that” and you know, I loved it. And finally after years and years of me annoying my parents to let me try it, I got an agency in Kentucky where I’m from, and then it just took off from there and we moved out here to LA. It was hard in the beginning because my parents didn’t want me to get into it because it was expensive and it took a lot of time and everything like that, but now they support it fully. It was a bumpy start but then it took off pretty quickly and it’s been going really well since then.
Faze: What was your first audition like, walking into that room?
Josh: It’s scary. You think, are they going to like me? Are they going to hire me? Am I going to get it? You have the possibility of being let down and being rejected. Honestly, for me, when I started doing it, I was only 9 years old, so I didn’t think on too grand of a level. I was just excited to go in and I knew if I didn’t get it, I would have another audition tomorrow, so I was always looking forward rather than looking back.
Faze: A good way to look at it. So you have worked on films quite steadily since you were young, so what kind of differences have you seen in your performance throughout the various projects?
Josh: Well, you know, I know when I started out, I was definitely doing different types of films, much more family-oriented films or younger audiences and now I am getting into more mature roles and people that have more … to them and that has more to do with the character so that’s a lot of fun. But as far as characters go, I just think my characters are just maturing, as am I and just sort of changing and doing different things. It’s exciting!
Faze: Do you have a process that you go through in order to do any research or background information for the characters?
Josh: I just look over the script a lot; get to know the character. That way, I can figure things out inside and out. I mean, occasionally if you see something and you want to learn more, you can. There was a movie I was talking about doing for a little while that I had autism in the movie, and I ended up not doing it, but I did some research on that just to find out what traits are and how they handle themselves and posture and how they are in general.
Faze: Have you had the opportunity to take any classes since your earlier roles to improve your craft?
Josh: I haven’t really taken any acting classes. I have an acting coach with me sometimes, but that’s just how I prepare to audition and get into character but other than that, I just kind of look to the directors and that’s just how I have always learned- I think I’m a hands-on kind of learner.
Josh Hutcherson stars with Brendan Fraser in Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
Faze: Obviously you were born for acting, but what do you think you would do if you weren’t in the acting business?
Josh: I would probably be a soccer player, or I’d try to be- there’s a really slim chance of that too. But, some sort of sports guy probably because I love sports so much.
Faze: Any other sports that you like?
Josh: Soccer, basketball, baseball, football – pretty much all of them. And golf, I love golf too
Faze: Do you get the opportunity to play any of those sports still?
Josh: I play basketball almost everyday. I play golf occasionally, soccer every now and then. Baseball, football, not so much but I still love them.
Faze: So most teens your age don’t have a career already, so you’re definitely ahead of the game, but do you ever wonder if you missed out on anything by going into this career so early?
Josh: I’m sure I missed out on things, but the way I look at it is, I’m getting to do so many other things that most kids would die to do or love to do, so yeah I missed out on a normal kind of experience, but for me, this is normal and this is what I love to do, and I’m totally fine with the trade-off
Faze: So what do you think is the best part of working on a set?
Josh: I think the best thing about working on a set is just getting to hang out with all the different crew members and learn every aspect of film making because I want to be a director someday and hopefully- that’s a goal that I’m working towards and just being behind the scenes and getting to learn how everything works and how the cameras work and how the … and electric guys work and everything like that- that’s really interesting for me, and I’m been getting to travel all around the world, filming in all these different places, so that’s really good too
Faze: What are some of the nicest places that you’ve been to?
Josh: I’ve got to film in New Zealand which is like paradise, and I’ve filmed all over Canada- Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary. I’ve filmed in Iceland and New Orleans, so a whole bunch of really cool places.
Faze: Is there any place that you would like to go next, if you could choose?
Josh: They’ve been talking about- I’ve doing a Journey to the Centre of the Earth sequel sometime next year, and they’re talking about filming that in Costa Rica, so that’s going to be awesome
Faze: We hear it’s very beautiful there
Josh: Yes, exactly.
Josh Hutcherson with The Rock in Journey To The Centre Of The Earth 2
Faze: What’s the hardest part about being an actor?
Josh Hutcherosn: I love traveling but at the same time you have to leave your family and friends in one place, and you definitely miss them. So whenever I’m filming, I try to have them come out and visit me and I go home as much as possible but you still miss them and that’s one of the hardest parts about acting for sure. And it’s kind of a sporadic kind of schedule- most places you’re never in for too long so it’s kind of like you have to pick up and move everything for 3 months and then go back to the way that everything was, so it can be difficult sometimes, but I love it.
Faze: And how do you stay in touch with any friends that you have back home?
Josh: You know, e-mail, texting, Facebook of course, so just a typical type of communication, besides hanging out.
Faze: What is it like when you go back home? Do people recognize you on the streets, come up to you for autographs or anything like that?
Josh: I’m pretty sure that back in Kentucky, where I live and where I’m from, I think I have signed an autograph for almost all the people there, so they’re just sort of over me at this point. I don’t think they care at this point because I’m one of the locals around there, so that’s cool.
Faze: They haven’t named the town after you yet?
Josh: Ha no, not yet
Faze: We’re sure it’s to come
Josh: We’ll see, we’ll see
Faze: Do you have any influential people or role models in your life that you like to live by?
Josh: I’m a big fan of Ron Howard because he started out as a young child actor and made it into being a director and actor kind of all of his life and Natalie Portman is a big idol of mine because she has also made it as a young actor. And actually one of my favourite actors is Jake Gyllenhall, so those are the people I look up to and admire.
Faze: If you had a choice, would Ron Howard’s career kind of be your idea of the perfect path?
Josh: I’d like to do a little more acting than what Ron Howard has done but that’s what I would love – to have that kind of longevity in my career and be able to switch it over and do some directing for a while but, at the same time, also maintain an acting career because I love acting so much and I would never want to give that up and become a full-time director.
Faze: Last question: in the best of all possible worlds where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Josh: In 10 years, I’ll be 27. I will have done a large selection of movies including action and comedy and drama and a lot of independent films, as well directed a few movies and hopefully have a production company up and running that would make movies – even ones that I’m not in, to help find and produce and portray interesting stories.
Faze: That sounds like a good plan. Hopefully we’ll talk to you in 10 years and you’ll have done that and more!
Josh: That sounds good, and maybe with a house in Hawaii would be nice, or in the Caribbean.
Faze: Or maybe Costa Rica, you never know, and you may fall in love
Josh: Oh yeah, that’s right! Forgot about that!
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