The movie Chris Hemsworth thought would end his career: “I’m going to ruin this film”
Spending over a decade as one of the figureheads of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is enough to set any actor up for life, with Chris Hemsworth in the position to be a lot more selective in choosing his projects, knowing fine well the next bumper payday for playing Thor is right around the corner.
There’s been plenty of disappointment outside the confines of his comic book comfort zone, though, with the actor lending his talents to an alarming number of box office bombs. The Red Dawn remake, Blackhat, In the Heart of the Sea, The Huntsman: Winter’s War, and Men in Black: International flopped with Hemsworth taking top billing in all of them, but at least he’s always got the MCU to fall back on.
Ironically, the role that had Hemsworth fearing the end of his career was nigh turned out to be one that won him plenty of praise, opening the eyes of audiences and casting directors alike that his comic talents had largely gone untapped. Unfortunately, it came in a movie best by unnecessarily scathing criticism.
From the second it was announced that Paul Feig would be rebooting Ghostbusters with an all-female team, the knives were out and being relentlessly sharpened on the darkest corners of the internet. The outpouring of bile and vitriol repeatedly overstepped the line, with its most vocal opponents getting exactly what they wished for when it lost over $70million to destroy any chances of a sequel.
Heading into the shoot – where he played buffoonish eye candy and secretary Kevin Beckman – Hemsworth was required to lean heavily on improvisation to play off his co-stars and scene partners, a methodology he was entirely unfamiliar with and in his own mind, completely unprepared for.
“I said to Paul, ‘There’s not a whole lot on the page, like, what do you want me doing?’ He said, ‘Oh, we’ll figure it out when you get here’. So I said, ‘Okay, why not? Let’s go’,” he told GQ. “And I got there, turned up to the studio the day before we started shooting and he handed me the script, I read the script and I said, ‘There’s still nothing in here. Like, what am I doing?’ And he said, ‘It’s okay, we’re gonna improvise and have fun'”.
Flummoxed at being dropped in at the deep end with barely anything to work with, Hemsworth’s entire professional life flashed before his eyes. “My immediate reaction was, this is not only the end of my career, but I’m going to ruin this film,” he continued. “I’m going to let everyone down, I haven’t done this before, what am I doing?”
He turned out to be one of the most entertaining aspects of an uninspiring rehash, albeit one that didn’t deserve the overwhelming assault of negativity it was subjected to. Not only that, but improv then became a key part of his career-defining role when he teamed with Taika Waititi on Thor: Ragnarok.
