Chris Hemsworth is one of the most respected and well-known faces in Hollywood. Through his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as the Extraction films, he has gained a lot of attention in the film industry. Despite this, there is one fact that is undeniable; he has not been seen in many challenging roles for him as an actor.
While the characters that he played certainly require a huge level of physical dedication, his emotional range has rarely been taken out for a spin by directors. This is a fact that seems to bother the actor, as he spoke about it during a recent interview.
It would seem that there was one movie that Hemsworth thought would change his image in Hollywood. Unfortunately, this was not the case.
Chris Hemsworth Thought His Image Would Change
Chris Hemsworth recently gave an interview with Vanity Fair, in which he went into great detail about his personal and professional life. Here, he specifically talked about one of the biggest challenges he has faced throughout his career; typecasting. Some of his most successful roles have been in action films, which are famously restricting when it comes to emotional acting.
The actor revealed that there was one movie that he was a part of in 2013, that he expected would change this; Rush.
“Ron took me out of that typecast space of the muscly action guy and let me play a character with complications and darkness,” he says. “I remember thinking at the time, Oh, this is going to change everything.”
Despite his reputation at the time, he was cast in a seriously challenging role of a psychologically complex character. This fact helped the actor believe in himself and think that he would be able to escape the mold Hollywood was trying to put on him.
The Mold Lay Unbroken
Rush had everything going for it. It had an excellent cast of actors, including Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde, and Natalie Dormer. It was also extremely critically acclaimed, thanks to its director, Ron Howard, who is best known for The Da Vinci Code. All of these aspects helped the film receive a lot of positive attention, even having a rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Despite this, the movie was unable to do what Chris Hemsworth wanted it to. Soon after the movie, he starred in Thor: Dark World, then Avengers: Age of Ultron. The cycle kept going, and he was unable to break the stereotype. Stuck in a male version of the ‘bombshell’ trope, it is as though audiences only want the actor to stand there and look pretty, not letting him explore the layers of complexity he can bring to his characters.
Now, however, things seem to be changing for Hemsworth, as he went on to say in the interview. The actor has begun starring in more versatile roles, like Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and Transformers One, which will allow him to explore his abilities as an actor more.
