Liam Hemsworth—brother of Chris, boyfriend of Miley—stars in the upcoming movie adaptation of The Hunger Games as Gale, the childhood best friend of protagonist Katniss. Hemsworth, who identified with Gale upon first read of the script, talked with senior West Coast editor Krista Smith about his slim-down for the role, his rapport with co-star Jennifer Lawrence, and his thoughts on becoming the next Pattinson—highlights from their chat:

Krista Smith: Did you read the books before you knew it was going to be a movie?

Liam Hemsworth: I feel like the books were just written like a movie. You read it and you can just kind of see everything. … [R]ight before I went in to read with the director, I read the first book and I loved it. I didn’t realize how good the writing was. And then I went in and read with [director] Gary Ross, and that was it.

__When you were reading it, was there a certain part you identified with?__Oh yeah, it was always for Gale. It was always for Gale. I read the script, and Gale definitely felt more right than Peeta.

Did they film all three of these in one, or did you just film one?

No, originally I think they talked about maybe shooting them back-to-back, but no, we shot the first one and it was all shot in North Carolina.

__And how was that? I know a lot of it was in the woods.__You know, it was great. It was awesome. We shot in a place called Asheville, which is like beautiful, beautiful forests. … And then part of it we shot all the reaping stuff, which was just crazy—because the reaping in the book and in the script is such an emotional thing for everyone. It really did feel like that when we were shooting it. You know, the thought of young kids going off into this scary kind of world was pretty crazy.

__How did they actually handle that in the movie? Because it is incredibly violent in the book—it’s basically kids killing kids.__Yeah, I haven’t seen anything cut yet. I’m sure they’ll do it very classy.

__What sort of stuff did you identify with, with Gale?__What I thought was really interesting was—and it’s one of the hardest things to think about: one of your best friends, or someone in your family, basically going off to war. And that’s kind of what happens to Gale in the first book. As much as he’s against the government and wants to stand up to them, he really is helpless. He can’t do anything about it. … I just thought it was such a gut-wrenching kind of thought.

__And how was the physical stuff?__In this one, for me, it was more about losing weight. He’s a pretty poor person.

Right, you’re starving!

Everyone’s pretty hungry, so I wanted to look a little hungry. [M]y brother said to me before I started shooting—he texted me and said something about me putting on weight. But basically his point was that it was called Hunger Games, not Eating Games. That was a wake-up call. I was like, Are you calling me fat or something?

__I remember when he [Chris Hemsworth] got so huge for Thor, it was crazy.__Yup, yup. He got big. He’s a freak.

__And how was working with Jennifer Lawrence and Gary Ross?__Jennifer was great. She is fantastic. Really easy to work with, no drama, really down-to-earth, such a funny girl. Nothing but good things to say about her. She really was great to work with. And it always makes it easier when you’re working with people that you like and you enjoy being around.

Gary Ross is amazing. He’s just—he always has a billion ideas of what he wants, but has a very clear perspective also; he just makes it work. He really does. He’s trying different things and making everything look amazing.

__Is there any trepidation as an actor about going into something like this, and becoming hounded like Robert Pattinson—living that kind of life, where you’re a prisoner in your own house?__The thought definitely crosses my mind, but for me, it has always been about reading great scripts and finding things I relate to, and this was one of those. As an actor, I think you always want your work to do well, and I think that’s hopefully what’s going to happen. Hopefully this movie does turn out as great as everyone wants it to be, and hopefully we don’t disappoint anyone.

Plus: More Hunger Games coverage on VF.com.