Chris Hemsworth is about to take us for an extremely wild ride in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, in which he’ll play the wonderfully named Dementus. This rare villainous role gives him a chance to chew some scenery with a character very different from the Asgardian hero who made his career.
But, after over a decade of being closely associated with the Marvel Studios, he’s developed some pointed opinions about superhero movies and his co-stars. In a new interview with The Times of London, Hemsworth opened up on various topics, including the notorious comments by iconic directors Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola dismissing comic-book movies as “theme park” rides rather than cinema.
Leaving aside the observation that theme park rides are awesome, Hemsworth said “those guys had films that didn’t work too” (hi Jack) and dismissed their criticism as “tell that to the billions who watch them. Were they all wrong?”
Few Marvel fans are going to argue with that. But his subsequent comments about his Marvel co-stars should raise eyebrows.
“Humility goes a long way”
Hemsworth went on to express frustration with his MCU co-stars who later slammed their movies. For example, in an interview with GQ, Christian Bale described the experience of working on Thor: Love and Thunder as “monotony” :
“Can you differentiate one day from the next? No. Absolutely not. You have no idea what to do. I couldn’t even differentiate one stage from the next.”
Back in 2014, Idris Elba disparaged the MCU, saying playing Heimdall in Thor: The Dark World at the same time as Nelson Mandela was “torture”:
“Then there I was, in this stupid harness, with this wig and this sword and these contact lenses. It ripped my heart out.”
Hemsworth argues that they’re just bitter because The Dark World and Love and Thunder were poorly received: “They’re films that are successful. Put me in one. Oh, mine didn’t work? I’ll bash them.” He also pointed out that he began his career on Australian soap operas and that it always bothered him when his castmates were ashamed of the work, advising Bale and Elba that “Humility goes a long way.”
While he has a point, this is a bit rich given that Hemsworth himself was bashing Love and Thunder mere weeks ago. His Vanity Fair interview in April saw him open up about the experience of making the movie, which apparently saw him moaning “Why am I doing this film? Why isn’t this script better?” and saying that he spent the shoot “running on fumes”.
These comments aren’t a million miles away from what Bale and Elba said about their experiences, so it’s hypocritical to bash them for doing exactly what he just did. Either way we’re hoping Hemsworth gets a chance to leave the MCU on a high note. A Thor 5 feels inevitable, so let’s get some new directing and writing talent in and give the God of Thunder an explosive send-off.
