As everyone reenters their Hunger Games phase, there’s one actor that fans can’t get enough of: Josh Hutcherson.
In the Hunger Games movies, Hutcherson played Peeta Mellark, the affable baker boy from District 12 who is chosen to participate in the Hunger Games alongside Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence). In order to get lucrative sponsors from Capitol citizens, the pair manufactured a ‘showmance’ — but it wasn’t long until Peeta fell in love with Katniss for real.
Audiences, both on and off-screen, were enamored by Peeta and Katniss’ love story, and Hutcherson’s charismatic portrayal of Peeta in the Hunger Games movie led to him gaining an army of fans.
If The Hunger Games were to come out today, TikTokers would be making viral fan cams of Hutcherson not unlike those dedicated to The Last Of Us star Pedro Pascal. But the internet was a whole different beast back in 2012, with fans preferring to make edits of their faves with the help of PowerPoint effects, more filters than a fish tank, and a probably-pirated pop song.
After joining the Five Nights at Freddy’s cast as Mike Schmidt, Hutcherson is well and truly back in the public consciousness, which led to the resurfacing of a deeply iconic fan video on YouTube.
Now, as ‘Team Peeta’ well and truly reform, this video, which features various edits of Josh Hutcherson to Flo Rida’s ‘Whistle,’ has taken over the internet.
As well as making extended, hour-long versions of the edit, it’s also become a widely-used ‘bait and switch’ meme, meaning that wherever you go, it will end with a purple Josh Hutcherson. Who would’ve thought Mike Schmidt ended up being the Purple Guy after all?