Chris Hemsworth Once Shared What Was ‘Mind-Numbing’ About Doing Marvel Films
Chris Hemsworth has been very open about his appreciation for Marvel and his character Thor. But he also felt there were certain qualities of shooting those types of superhero features that could be tiresome.
Chris Hemsworth liked shooting films in the real world for a change
Hemsworth has seemingly grown very attached to Marvel’s Asgardian superhero. So much so he once shared that he planned to play the character for as long as he could. But although Hemsworth got his big break doing Marvel features, he’s branched out into other more grounded action movies as well. He’s starred in the hit Netflix movies Extraction and Extraction 2.
While doing Thor: Ragnarok, he also signed up for the film 12 Strong. The feature was an action thriller based on a true story about a United States soldier going to war in Afghanistan.
Hemsworth confided that doing these types of movies was a welcome change of pace to his superhero projects. These action thrillers offered a chance to shoot on actual locations with many practical effects. It was a strong contrast from the often CGI-laden Marvel films.
“Shooting on a green screen can be kind of mind numbing and exhausting from a standpoint of just being kind of bored,” he said in a 2018 interview with Screen Rant. “I much prefer being busy in the thick of it and being visually stimulated. It’s a bit like the horses. They are reacting to the environment as much as you are and you can’t fake that.”
Chris Hemsworth found criticism of Marvel films upsetting
Over the years, a few notable figures in the film industry have voiced their displeasure of Marvel films. Martin Scorsese famously shared that he didn’t see the Marvel Cinematic Universe as cinema. Quentin Tarantino, though far less critical of Marvel films, believes that there are no true stars in Marvel projects. Hemsworth was one of a few Marvel actors who responded to these criticisms.
“That’s super depressing when I hear that,” Hemsworth told The Hollywood Reporter not too long ago. “There goes two of my heroes I won’t work with. I guess they’re not a fan of me.”
Hemsworth wasn’t sure how Marvel affected the industry’s overall health. But the actor enjoyed being in the movies nonetheless.
“I’m thankful that I have been a part of something that kept people in cinemas. Now, whether or not those films were to the detriment of other films, I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t love when we start scrutinizing each other when there’s so much fragility in the business and in this space of the arts as it is… I say that less to the directors who made those comments, who are all, by the way, still my heroes, and in a heartbeat I would leap to work with any of them. But I say it more to the broader opinion around that topic.”
Chris Hemsworth felt his latest Marvel movie might’ve been far too silly for audiences
Hemsworth’s own Thor films have gone through radical changes throughout the MCU. But they were shifts that Hemsworth thrived in, as it allowed him to use his range as an actor for the same character.
“I love the fact that I’ve been able to do something fairly different throughout the process. Thor 1 and 2 were their own thing, Thor 3 and 4 were a very different feel… and then even Avengers, the Lebowski Thor, the Infinity War Thor, due to different directors and I think mostly my own need to do something different,” he said.
The latest Thor film, Love and Thunder, wasn’t received too well by critics and audiences alike. Many criticized the movie for demonstrating the very traits filmmakers like Scorsese accused Marvel films of having. And even Hemsworth himself thought they might’ve made a slight error with the film by not taking the material seriously enough.
“I think we just had too much fun. It just became too silly,” Hemsworth said. “It’s always hard being in the center of it and having any real perspective… I love the process, it’s always a ride. But you just don’t know how people are going to respond.”
