Chris Hemsworth doesn’t have a whole lot of love for “Thor: Love and Thunder,” but he’s got some thunder.
The actor told Vanity Fair that he feels like he “became a parody” of himself, and “didn’t stick the landing” to presumably cap off his tenure as the titular Marvel superhero.
“I got caught up in the improv and the wackiness, and I became a parody of myself,” Hemsworth said. “I didn’t stick the landing.”
That won’t be a problem with his next film. Hemsworth is set to star in George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” which will premiere at Cannes. He explained that the role is something like what he has been waiting exactly a decade for, and exemplifies his acting skills beyond just action-stardom.
Hemsworth hasn’t felt this way about a role since he played against-type for director Ron Howard in 2013’s “Rush.”
“Ron took me out of that typecast space of the muscly action guy and let me play a character with complications and darkness,” Hemsworth said. “I remember thinking at the time, ‘Oh, this is going to change everything.’ It’s been a long wait.”
“I always felt like, Oh, I’m just being kind of put over here in the corner: ‘Yeah, just take your shirt off and go over there, and now you’re working at the gym and now you’re working at the bar,’” Hemsworth said starting his career on an Australian soap opera.
After years in the film industry, Hemsworth felt like he was at a crossroads.
“You’re sort of just running on fumes, and then you’re showing up to something with little in the tank and you start to pick things apart: Why am I doing this film? Why isn’t this script better? Why didn’t that director call me for that or why didn’t I get considered for this role? Why don’t I get the call-up from Scorsese or Tarantino?” Hemsworth said. “I had begun to take it all too serious and too personal.”
He added, “The one side of my brain tells me, Oh, you took too much time off and now the train’s passed you by. The more rational mind is like, You’ve turned down a lot of stuff too — big action films where there wasn’t a solid script.”
Unfortunately, “Rush” didn’t produce Thor bucks — but at least it provided a creative rush for Hemsworth. He got the same feeling from starring in George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” which will premiere at Cannes.
“This is the first film in years where I felt 100 percent involved in the experience as a true fan,” Hemsworth said. “I just got reinvigorated. Suffering without a purpose is awful. Suffering with purpose can be rejuvenating and replenishing. I’d grown so tired of myself, and now I had to lose myself in a character.”
