Chris Hemsworth Once Shared ‘Ghostbusters’ Affected His Acting as Marvel’s Thor
Marvel star Chris Hemsworth joined another team of heroes when he was cast in the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot starring Kristen Wiig. But the 2016 supernatural feature had a surprising affect on the actor’s future Marvel performance.
Chris Hemsworth on how ‘Ghostbusters’ impacted Thor
Hemsworth spoke very highly of his time on the set of the newly rebooted Ghostbusters. The movie was a remake of the classic 1984 Bill Murray picture of the same name. But 2016’s Ghostbusters featured a group of women defending Earth from ghosts and other supernatural delinquents directed by Paul Feig. Hemsworth joined the cast as a receptionist recruited by the ghost-hunting group. Although he was somewhat hesitant to join the new Ghostbusters, Hemsworth couldn’t have enjoyed the experience more.
Ghostbusters also offered a bit more flexible acting than Hemsworth was used to, allowing him to go off script.
“That was some of the most fun I’ve ever had on set, and probably my real jumping-in point to improvisation. Prior to that, I’d always wanted to be very confident in the fact that I knew exactly what was on the page, and I had my options worked out and I knew where the scene was going to go,” he said in an interview with Esquire.
Hemsworth would later find himself more comfortable improvising for Marvel films after his time on Ghostbusters.
“From Thor 3, definitely, it became hugely improvised. And I’m so glad I’ve been able to work with Paul prior to that. And I’ve done Saturday Night Live a couple of times; I have a movie called Vacation. So by the time I got to Thor 3, I was incredibly enthusiastic to do it,” Hemsworth said.
Chris Hemsworth almost quit ‘Ghostbusters’ at the last minute
Hemsworth revealed not too long ago that he was close to bailing on Ghostbusters. He had reservations regarding how his character was written in the feature, and brought his concerns to the movie’s director Paul Feig. Feig, however, reassured there would be changes made to Hemsworth’s role that would accommodate the actor.
“The night before I was shooting, I almost pulled out,” Hemsworth recalled to Variety. “Three or four weeks prior, Paul said to me, ‘I’m going to write up the character. Don’t worry.’ And then I got the script and nothing had changed.”
Feig informed Hemsworth that much of his performance as a character would be based on improvisation. This just presented another concern for Hemsworth. Especially when working alongside Ghostbusters cast of comedians who might have been more accustomed to improvising.
“I was really scared walking onto that set,” Hemsworth said. “I had no real plan, so I was just feeding off of them, and I just felt ridiculous. So I used that.”
Based on his previous comments about improvisation, however, The Extraction star seemed to be able to thrive in an unscripted environment.
“It was way more freeing and a lot more creatively satisfying, and just more enjoyable, you know? Because there’s a spontaneity that’s created that you just can’t get in a scripted scenario,” Hemsworth said about improvising. “Now I kind of want to put myself in a position where I feel like I’m right on the edge of getting it wrong and kind of not really knowing what’s happening—losing control of it—and I think that’s, to me, the key ingredient.”
Chris Hemsworth found responses to ‘Ghostbusters’ disappointing
It seemed that many had written off Ghostbusters before giving the movie a chance. There was some criticism towards the film gender-bending the original Ghostbusters team, which was comprised of all male actors. This was a particularly sensitive spot for Hemsworth, who had choice words for that kind of criticism.
“That whole period I was like, ‘What ownership do you guys have over those characters?’ Oh, you watched the film, therefore you should have a say over where it goes? I thought it was very unfortunate and kind of disappointing,” Hemsworth said.
