When it comes to big franchises like the Hunger Games movies, it’s always fun to delve into what other big names auditioned for the lead roles and what they could have been. Jennifer Lawrence was obviously chosen to play Katniss Everdeen in the YA films, but there were plenty of other young actors in the mix. Cheaper by the Dozen and Get Up ‘s Alyson Stoner just shared her terrifying experience auditioning for the role when she was 17, and it highlights some of the issues the former child actor faced.
Stoner has a memoir coming out next week called Partially Divided, despite literally everything , in which she recalls being a Hollywood actor since she was six years old. In an excerpt (via Vanity Fair ), Stoner recalled that she tried hard to win the role of Katniss. As Stoner writes:
[T]he role played me with fire. Katniss was characteristically thin—not from starvation, but small enough to reflect growth in a sparsely populated area—and muscular from hunting and archery. If I was going to dedicate myself to checking every box in the character’s description, I had to commit to strenuous training without completely giving in to my eating disorder.
Stoner had a personal trainer at the time to help them stay on track leading up to the audition, and a month later, Stoner says, they convinced a “world-renowned medical weight loss camp” to approve them for their program. Once they were approved, they ended up doing seven hours of daily exercise, as well as continuing a calorie deficit that included eating lots of egg whites and protein shakes. As the excerpt also goes:
The thrill of it all was never lost on me. But it wasn’t technically impossible for a director to pluck an unexpected person from the crowd and make them a star. The media loved an underrated story. I’d spent my entire career erring on the side of practicality, and it hadn’t achieved a breakthrough. So this time I jumped to the moon.
By then, Stoner had done two Cheaper by the Dozen movies (including a famous scene with Taylor Lautner next door ), two Get Up movies, and was a voice actor for Holly Hobbie’s Animated Specials. Alyson Stoner wanted to transform her career and thought The Hunger Games might be her ticket.
However, Stoner also trained to portray a starving teenager while also struggling with an eating disorder. In retrospect, the actor notes how doctors and trainers should have “never allowed a minor to be underweight” to do so much exercise and dieting, but because Stoner was “training for acting,” it was considered okay. Continuing:
Aside from a few comments that I was taking my workouts too far, my mother knew she couldn’t stop me. She wasn’t the only one who would impose restrictions or check in to understand what I was going through internally. Besides, why would she interfere with my mini-me who was going to achieve more fame? I held on to my last iota of sanity, reminding myself that if I booked the role, the studio would provide a trainer and nutritionist to make it healthily sustainable. Just a little longer.’
However, the program didn’t work out for Stoner, and his “immune system was weakened” from all the overindulgence. So unfortunately, the actor booked an audition for The Hunger Games and tested positive for strep throat that same day. This meant that his audition was moved up from Friday to the casting director’s last day on Monday. After his audition, here’s what happened:
Somewhere in the abyss, I got the email I was waiting for: “I heard from casting this morning. They have their shortlist. You’re not moving forward. You can take it off your plate.” Just perfect. I’ve moved on to filling my plate with donuts, don’t worry. I sat on my bed with my eyes wide open and my mind far away. I didn’t know what to do with myself.
The Hunger Games had a wide variety of talented names auditioning for the role of Katniss, including the likes of Hailee Steinfeld, Saoirse Ronan, Zoey Deutch, Brie Larson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Roberts. Looking back at our report when the casting took place in 2011, there was a disturbing description of who Lionsgate was looking for. Apparently, it asked for a Caucasian woman between the ages of 15 and 30 “who could portray someone who is understated but strong” and “naturally beautiful beneath her tomboyishness.”
The description sparked controversy at the time, but Stoner’s recollection of the audition shows the true negative impact the whole thing had on them as teenagers. The story certainly serves as a solid teaser for Stoner’s brutally honest memoir, which is sure to be peppered with more about what it’s like to be a child star in Hollywood. After a new Hunger Games cast made Breaking Dawn, one of the most anticipated book adaptations to come out , here’s hoping the industry has improved in that department over the past 15 years.
