Liam Hemsworth covers the March issue of Details to promote his role in the upcoming The Hunger Games movie, which has the potential to catapult him to global superstardom at the age of 22. In other words, Liam will soon no longer be best known as “Miley Cyrus’ boyfriend.” From a gossip perspective, it will be interesting to see whether or not their relationship weathers the storm to come in terms of Liam almost certainly becoming the target of hoards of screaming fans in manner of Robert Pattinson. In the meantime, Liam comes across as entirely protective of Miley during this interview and discusses, among other things, the Bob Marley birthday cake scandal that featured Miley joking on camera about smoking a ton of weed:

On Dating Miley Cyrus: When Liam and Miley hooked up on [The Last Song] set, he was 19, she was 16–a fact he doesn’t shy away from. “What happened happened, and we’ve been together two and a half years. She makes me really happy. When you start, you want to be professional, but when you’re filming those scenes with someone and pretending to love them, you’re not human if you don’t feel something.” When the film wrapped, he went home with her to Nashville, where he was introduced to the joys of Cracker Barrel and Miley’s dad, Billy Ray. “He’s very spiritual. He’s just one of the nicest guys. Very accommodating. I’ve listened to his music since we got together. It’s awesome.” And so is Cracker Barrel. “I’d never heard of country-fried steak before. It’s great! I love fried food.”

On Miley’s Weed Scandal: Liam was there at her 19th-birthday party, which exploded in the tabloids after she joked about her Bob Marley cake and how she “smokes way too much f&*#ing weed” on video. For the first time, Liam is angry. “She’s in a room full of her best friends,” he says, almost breaking a sweat. “And you have one person who comes in there and videos it. The poor girl can’t have one night where she can feel safe in her own world. It’s ridiculous.”

On The Twilight Effect: “I’ve never met [Robert] Pattinson,” Liam says, remarking on the young Hollywood idol in whose footsteps he seems destined to follow. The path is fraught. Sure, there’s the ability to cherry-pick roles and use your name to get a passion project off the ground. But there are also the endless intrusions and the risk of being labeled for life. Liam doesn’t want to talk about the Twilight effect–that The Hunger Games might similarly explode his life and career–or think that he could gain insight from those who’ve come before him. “What do you say to someone? ‘Your life’s gonna change.’ Okay. Thanks. Cool. It is what it is. Whatever. If it happens, there’s nothing you can do.”

On His Hunger Games Role: Liam stars as Gale, a brooding man-child suffering a serious case of heartache when his girl, Katniss, is shipped off to compete in the killer Olympics. It’s Liam–not Jennifer Lawrence–who is this film’s ingenue, a pretty young thing watching the hero do battle. It’s hard to say how much pressure comes with fronting a franchise, especially when it could transform the guy who’s Thor‘s brother and who walks Miley’s dog into Hollywood’s hottest young star. While Liam downplays such expectations, he concedes that he and his Hunger Games character share a certain helplessness. “Gale is someone who wants to stand up to this thing but can’t. He’s pretty powerless.”

[From Details]

In all likelihood, The Hunger Games will be a raging success when it hits theaters on March 23, but I don’t think the fans will be quite as “fanatic” in terms of Team Gale or Team Peeta. Author Suzanne Collins takes great care to paint Katniss as a heroine who doesn’t need to be in a relationship, unlike Bella Swan of the Twilight universe. So maybe Liam can truly use his role in the (presumed) movie trilogy as a springboard and avoid getting pigeonholed as a teen idol like poor Sparklepants has experienced.

As far as this interview goes, it’s such a pity that we couldn’t find out what Liam thought of the p3nis birthday cake that Miley ordered for him. Honestly though, Liam comes across as very wet under the wings but nonetheless as quite a decent guy, not to mention an entirely photogenic one as revealed in the photoshoot:

Photos courtesy of Details