This is a great headshot of Chris Hemsworth, right? They made his eyes pop and the black shirt looks amazing on him. Chris covers the latest issue of Variety to promote Men in Black: International, where he and Tessa Thompson take the MIB reins from Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. This is sort of a reboot of the popular franchise, but they’re not starting from scratch, I believe. Anyway, Variety leans heavily into the narrative that if MIB is successful, Hemsworth will be the biggest action star in the world or something. You can read the full profile here. Some highlights:
He bought tickets for Avengers: Endgame: “My kids were dying to see it. I wasn’t going to take them. They were like, ‘Dad, we have to go!’ We found a small cinema so we wouldn’t get overwhelmed. I wondered if it would hold their attention for three hours. They loved it.”
Why he does such big, popcorn movies: “I asked Tom Cruise years ago what drove him to make certain decisions on films. He said, ‘I just want people to see my movies. I don’t want to put that much blood, sweat and tears into it, and have it come and go.’ I just love the theatrical experience. I think there’s nothing quite like it, and the industry will change in a big way if we don’t get people to the cinema.”
On the idea of replacing Daniel Craig as James Bond: “My vote would be Idris [Elba]. I think he’d give it a different sort of swagger, too, and each time someone new comes into the role, I think you’ve got to offer up something different.”
Doing the ‘Lebowski Thor’ thing in Endgame: “I like that anything goes. You’re not locked into expectations.” Originally, Thor was supposed to revert to his old self in the middle of “Endgame,” but Hemsworth fought to keep his pear-shaped body. “I enjoyed that version of Thor. It was so different than any other way I played the character. And then it took on a life of its own. Physically, it was a good three hours in hair and makeup. Then the prosthetic suit, particularly for the shirt-off scene, that was a big silicone that weighed about 90 pounds. It was certainly exhausting… People just kept coming up and cuddling me like a big bear or rubbing my belly like I was pregnant…Or trying to sit on my lap like I was Santa Claus. You get a lot of affection. I felt like an old man, an old grandpa, with a bunch of kids around.”
He didn’t enjoy 2015’s Blackhat: “I didn’t enjoy what I did in the film. It just felt flat, and it was also an attempt to do what I thought people might have wanted to see. But I don’t think I’m good in that space.”
He pushed for Thor to be lighter & looser after the first two films: “After I’d done ‘Avengers’ and ‘Thor 2,’ I did feel a bit trapped. I felt like I was typecast by whoever was writing those scripts. I feel like the creators were stuck on where they could take the character, and was this all he had to offer? I felt there was so much more we could do.”
He wants to do more Thor films: “I’d still love to do more, to be honest. And I don’t know what the plan is. I feel like we’ve opened up such a different character. I feel more energized for the possibility of where it could go. But I’ll use that in other places and other characters if it’s the end here.”
I feel like the past five years or so has been Chris coming to terms with his “place” in the Hollywood system. He’s not the guy who will do dark dramas. He’s probably not the guy who gets offered Oscar-bait. He’s the guy who makes crowd-pleasing action-adventure movies, like Tom Cruise used to. I get that. And we need those actors too. I also feel retrospectively justified with how frequently I pointed out Chris’s unhappiness with Marvel during those mid-point years. Thor: The Dark World was a slog for him and he barely promoted it. He perked up for Thor: Ragnarok though.
Cover courtesy of Variety, photos courtesy of WENN.
He sounded so over those Thor films. I can’t believe he’d consider doing another, fat suit or not.
He looked cute in the Endgame “fatty suit”…my teens cracked up and enjoyed his scenes so much. It was unexpected and sort of endearing. I never cared much for the Thor movies or character til Endgame. 😋 He did look cuddly and huggable, it made the character more relatable in a way i guess. It worked for me. Id SO watch a Thor movie now…like “Thor, the tough way back to strong abs” and Locki buying beer and fattening foods to sabotage his fitness efforts. They’d kill it with some comedy, i think they have a lot of comedic potential…oh well.
He is a great comedic actor. Thor: Ragnorak is probably my favorite movie in the entire series. And it’s because of Taika Waititi, and the freedom he gave the actors to improv and just be funny. Chris is great in small comedic roles (i.e. Vacation, Ghostbusters). He has excellent comedic timing and delivery. I’d absolutely watch the movie you described. Those guys would be hilarious.
Agree @Agirlandherdog! I never cared for Thor until the Ragnarok movie. Before then he was just sort of boring clod, other than his role in The Avengers movie.
The structure of the first Thor movie benefited Tom Hiddleston acting, being more theatrical; Dark World was clearly made to give more Loki to the audience and finally in Ragnarok they let Thor be funny and it was a smash (pun intended). He’ll probably be back in Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and maybe in the Loki show, who knows.
I thought the first Thor was interesting, but The Dark World was truly a slog. It seems everyone involved in that, aside from the top level decision makers, was like “seriously…are you sure THIS is the direction you want to take this character and this slice of the MCU??” Thankfully, Feige and company corrected with Thor:Ragnarok.
** He wants to do more Thor films: “I’d still love to do more, to be honest. And I don’t know what the plan is.”**
– Spoiler Alert – If that’s necessary for a film that’s been released worldwide for over a month and is the 2nd top grossing film of all time
I’m guessing the actor who performed the line “Asguardians of the Galaxy” has SOME idea what the plan is for the next phase, whether appearing in the next installment of Guardians of the Galaxy or some other plan for Thor.
I love that they played with the character and developed it throughout the various Marvel CU releases. And it was really smart to allow each slice of the MCU to have a different look and feel, for example, Ant Man getting the ‘heist’ vibe, Guardians getting a ‘space comedy’ vibe, and Thor getting the heavy Shakespeare-ian vibe initially but tilting toward comedy as the character sheds the ‘Scion of Asgard’ mantle and and moves into the unknown.
My God i am so in love with his eyes
Same here!!!
Agree with you, Kaiser. He’s very enjoyable in what he does. And he’s pretty great in comedies! That’s not an easy thing to do.
It was pretty well-known how unhappy he was during that time. It wasn’t until he was given input into the character and Taika came on board that he got excited about the role again. And I don’t blame him. Ragnarok was a shot of adrenaline that role desperately needed. It made Thor more relatable and interesting and it showed that Chris is great at comedy. What he and Taika did was create an inner life for that character: Thor is basically a dork with self-esteem issues – but trapped in THAT body. Endgame came to have Thor’s outsides reflect his insides. He was depressed and it manifested physically. Thor has become one of my favorites. I just want to give the guy a big ole’ hug.
@ Valiantly Varnished : “Endgame came to have Thor’s outsides reflect his insides. He was depressed and it manifested physically”.
BOOM. Exactly. I have suffered from depression and your description of Thor is perfect. Thor’s character was the king who lost Asgard (the planet) and then went through Thanos killing half his people. It’s not hard to understand why Thor was traumatized and felt he was a crap leader for Asgard. Thank god Endgame actually gave Hemsworth a chance to show that in the character. That’s why it was a great movie and Hemsworth was great in it.
I love that the actor and franchise were willing to let Thor let himself go like that.
Someone, somewhere realized that the character is more than “glorious, ripped Thor God of Thunder” and that touching on that, even tangentially … because Endgame was so incredibly stuffed with stuff that there wasn’t time to dive deep on much… would be more interesting storytelling than having Thor be some always perfect thunder-god. And the fact that he handed the Ruler of Asgard torch off to a worthy warrior while carving out space for new adventures with an interesting set of characters made it even better.
Chris is amazing. He seems like a super nice guy. Very little ego. He doesn’t seem to buy into his own hype. He’s the best Thor and I am glad he got the role and not his Liam (they both auditioned for Thor).
That said, I’d like to be ‘trapped’ with 50 million U.S dollars
He’s just a bland hot guy to me, even in comedies. I watched the new MIB trailer and… meh. It just makes me realize how awesome Tommy Lee Jones was in the original.
I agree that he is bland and has mediocre talent. He is extremely overrated as a comedic actor. It is interesting that his name is not mentioned as starring in MIB International. But the MIB franchise is the big promotional push. Maybe the producers realize that all his films outside of Marvel have been total flops?
I always loved the scene in MIB (1) where Will Smith tries on the black suit for the first time and tells Tommy Lee Jones “You know the difference between you and me? I make this look good”. I spent the last year teaching english in Saudi Arabia and as a woman, I could not go outside without wearing an abaya (robe covering me from shoulders to ankles). I wore a black one like most other women in the city and put on a black head scarf like Audrey Hepburn. I look great in head scarves and would always tell myself Will Smith’s line and say “Yes, I make this look good!” My students bought me a pink head scarf for my birthday and I wore that too as well as a muted grey one. But my pink hijab (head scarf) was my go-to-town-party scarf. 🙂
There was a minute there where he was trying to be an “actor”, but he just doesn’t seem to have “it”. But I think it’s good that he’s come to terms with that. He will do broad comedies and action, and make a lot of money. However….buzz on MIB is medium at best (in both quality and box office prospects). And I’m not sure that working his way up to Thor 27 is a fulfilling career. I’ll be interested to see how sustainable he is.
I’m curious to see how MIB does at the box office. It cost a big time money to make, so it’s got a big hill to climb before it makes a profit. I find very little about Hemsworth appealing on his own, but he and Tessa seem to have good rapport and it might be fun to watch them together.
he’s not super talented and he made tons of money that he now has to build a gross absurdly huge monstrosity of a house compound in australia. i find this so annoying when actors cash those checks and make bank, only to sound so snooty and annoyed. meanwhile, far more talented actors and actresses would kill for the opportunity. its not classy.
That’s my biggest problem with him, if I’m honest. There are two things you can always count on seeing in a Hemsworth interview, he will complain about how he hated the most recent hair/makeup/costume he had to wear, and then he will find some way to diss one of his films that wasn’t very successful (there are a fair number to choose from). It’s annoying as hell. Constance Wu was rightfully skewered about publicly complaining about a job she didn’t like, but this guy does it in every single interview and invariably gets praised for his honesty.
He didn’t diss Blackhat, he dissed himself in Blackhat. That’s an important distinction. He admitted that he wasn’t good in that role and he didn’t enjoy it because he could tell he wasn’t delivering.
In the full interview, he had things to say about more of his projects than just Blackhat though. I’ll grant you that he was more diplomatic than he usually is, but only just. Hemsy has a pattern when talking about his resume. If the film in question was a hit, or his performance was well-reviewed, he says good things. If it was a flop, or he got poor reviews, he finds a way to tell everyone he didn’t like it either.
He’s done things that make me not so fond of him. He once said anyone could work out like he does, no need for personal trainers or a gym, people just need motivation (guess the cooking, cleaning, child care, work, & helping out my neighbor whose husband is sick with cancer doesn’t keep me busy enough). He’s so out of touch with how us peons live & how busy we are just doing the necessities. He also cancelled a couple comic cons last minute with some bs stories of why which just proved to be selfish reasons. The first time he claimed a hurt elbow where he soon after posted pics at the beach with surfboard, and a second time he cancelled over supposed family obligations & was then photographed camping with Matt Damon and their families. No biggie except I bet many people who bought tickets to see him lost out on money due to already paid plane fair & hotels. I think he’s a very selfish person & this sometimes shines through in his interviews.
Chris Hemsworth has brilliant comic timing. I’m looking forward to MIB. And I hope he shows up in the Loki series and Asgardians of the Galaxy
he was surprisingly hilarious in SNL a few years back… there was a random skit with a chicken (a live one) that he was in love with that was out of control.
i’d hit it.
Is he up for more Thor movies now that Loki is off in his own timeline? Something must have gone down between him and Hiddleston. They used to be “brothers,” now both can be at the same event, posing for bunches of pictures with other people, but none together.
I actually thought fat stoner dude Thor was hot….am I nuts?
He’s a very funny comedic actor & I hope he continues to take on roles that showcase that.
But if I ever hear him fully diss playing Thor I’ll be massively disappointed in him….Thor put him on the map. He’s worked with Kenneth Branagh, Anthony Hopkins, Renee Russo & others & made massive connections in the industry.
Tom Cruise was able to do action movies and Oscar movies back in the 90’s. I Don’t see Chris Hemsworth doing the same today.
He was pretty good in “Cabin in The Woods” but, IMO, he is/was excellent as Thor.
He was very good in Rush too although Daniel Bruhl is the reason to see that one
I really like Chris both as an actor and obviously as a man, he’s handsome and I also believe he’s underrated as an actor. I mean, he’s not the next Daniel Day Lewis but he’s done good work as in Rush and The Heart of The sea. They just didn’t earn lots in the box office but they held great with critics.
He tried the action hero (blackhat) and failed, so I guess now action/comedy films are his thing. Just like Schwarzenegger did in the mid 90s.
Anyway, I’ll continue to but tickets for his films and also buy the home media when they come out.
I think he is quite underrated, too. He’s especially good in Avengers Infinity War… he makes it look easy, but he pulls off lines and emotions no one else would be able to do and in a totally believable way. Same with Chris Evans.
I get the sense that many people discount the performances of actors in the Marvel films because they are ‘just comic book movies’ or ‘just superhero movies’, but there are some incredibly strong performances throughout the franchise. Evans is one case, CH is another. It looks ‘easy’ because they are playing a ‘type’ in a particular ‘type’ of movie, but if you take the time to follow their individual characters and the performances, they are firing on multiple levels – creating a performance with some depth while serving the needs of the quote-unquote ‘comic book movie’ they are in. I think that’s one of the many reasons why I’m finding the MCU films incredibly re-watchable. If I happen to come across one on TBS or whatever, halfway through, often I find myself sucked in… even if I might zone out during a particular battle scene, as soon as the camera is focused on 1-2-3 characters not punching someone, I get drawn right back in, because the characters/performances are so interesting. Very few other franchises have that effect on me, and certainly not ones that ramble across the range of Guardians of the Galaxy, The First Avenger, Thor Ragnarok, Doctor Strange, Ant Man as far as styles/genres go.
Then again, I can’t click past The Fifth Element without stopping, and will rewatch the “Leeloo Dallas Multi-pass” scene umpty-million times, so what do I know LOL!
He’s hilarious in his little videos he makes for Instagram or whatever. I see them posted other place cause I don’t have Instagram.
I thought the chemistry between him and Tessa was so strong and great in the Ragnarock movie…. in a respectual and platonic way. I am really happy to see them teamed up again!!!
I disliked how Loki basically took over the Thor movies. Just like Swann took over the Pirate movies. Studio mcu has done terrible things to Asgard. From a proud successful city state with culture to a fishing village in 3 movies. Shame on them. The studio should maybe recast Thor. Maybe chose someone who at least understands the world it created.