‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’: Josh Hutcherson Called His on-Screen Kiss With Jennifer Lawrence ‘Very Slobbery’

Even though Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson’s on-screen kiss in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire pulled at many fans’ heartstrings, according to Hudson, kissing his on-screen counterpart was anything but romantic.

In the ‘Hunger Games’ movies, Katniss and Peeta’s uneasy friendship progresses into love

Though Katniss Everdeen was fighting to the death in the Hunger Games franchise, she still found time to strike up special bonds with Peeta Mellark or Gale Hawthorne.

Though her relationships with both men were vastly different, that didn’t stop fans from hoping that she would end up with one over the other as the films grew in popularity.

While Katniss developed a close friendship with Gale before being shipped off to train for the 74th Hunger Games, she grows close to Peeta, the male tribute of District 12, after he saves her from starving during the first movie.

From there, the pair develop a friendship, which at times appears to be romantic. While it’s clear Katniss and Peeta had a deep connection, the kissing scene between them in Catching Fire was downright awkward, and there seems to be an explanation as to why that lip-lock was neither hot nor heavy.

Josh Hutcherson admits that his ‘Catching Fire’ kiss with Jennifer Lawrence was a little…snotty

During a 2013 appearance on Live! with Kelly and Michael, Josh Hutcherson (who plays Peeta in the Hunger Games films) opened up about his big Catching Fire kiss with Lawrence.

Though that was a big moment for Katniss and Peeta shippers, Hutcherson revealed that the kiss wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be, noting that there was a ton of snot involved.

“It was very slobbery…It was right after Peeta had been knocked down and it wasn’t looking too good for him,” the actor told Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan, per Just Jared Jr.

He continued, “So, she was upset, she was crying, and when she was crying there was fluid here [points to an area on his face]…and then when we kissed it was just fluid.”

A few days after Hutcherson’s appearance, Lawrence stopped by Ripa and Stahan’s show and cleared the air about her “slobbery” kiss with her on-screen counterpart.

“That can be explained,” she said after the talk show hosts asked her about Hutcherson’s snotty remark. “[Josh’s character Peeta] was getting CPR before we kiss, so most of that drool belonged to Sam Claflin. Then I got involved and I was crying, because it was an emotional scene. So, I’m snotting.”

“On my phone I have a video of the longest snot string you’ve ever seen,” she added. “It was unbreakable. Even when I was [coughing], it was blowing and moving [but not breaking]. It was made of like, Spiderman webs.”

Liam Hemsworth’s on-screen kiss with Lawrence wasn’t particularly enjoyable either

Just like Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth also had pretty lackluster kissing scenes with Lawrence.

While appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2014, Hemsworth revealed that locking lips with Lawrence was far from ideal, noting that she would purposefully eat foul-smelling foods right before filming their kissing scenes.

“Anytime I had to kiss [Jennifer Lawrence] was pretty uncomfortable,” he said of his The Hunger Games co-star. “When you look at it on the outside, it looks like a great picture. She’s one of my best friends, I love her, but if we had a kissing scene, she would make a point of eating garlic or tuna fish or something that was disgusting. Right before the scene, she’d be like, ‘Yeah, I ate tuna,’ or ‘I had garlic, and I didn’t brush my teeth.’ And I’d be like, ‘Fantastic, I can’t wait to get in there and taste it!'”

Talk about gross.