Chris Hemsworth photographed by Darren Tieste for Prestige HK.
From Prestige HK.
You’re filming Thor: The Dark World at the moment with [Game of Thrones director] Alan Taylor. As a fan of the show, what’s it like working with him?
Awesome. Yeah, I love the way he adds an incredibly organic element to the fantastical world of Thrones, and I think that’s what Thor could benefit from. It’s grounded in reality, no matter how mythical or science-fiction-like it becomes. There’s a truth to it all. Certainly, working with him now, you can see he doesn’t want Thor or the Asgardians to seem like some distant race or god-like. He still wants them to be relatable.
Does your background in TV – particularly with the pace and limited rehearsal time of soap operas – affect the way you approach projects now?
It was a great training ground. The conditions are tougher than a film set, where you have a lot more rehearsal time, a lot more prep and discussion, and the scripts have been worked on for longer. Whereas TV, in my experience, was incredibly fast paced and you’re kind of thrown in the deep end. I credit a lot of my time in TV with whatever ability I might have now.
Both your brothers, Liam and Luke, are actors. Is there more than the usual amount of sibling rivalry in the Hemsworth family?
[Laughs] No, we have a healthily competitive relationship in everything – as brothers do. Whereas with [acting], all three of us are so aware of the instability of it all and how much is up to chance. It’s far more of a supportive relationship [we have in acting] than backyard football, or surfing, or whatever else we do in our free time.
Earlier this year, Prestige Hong Kong interviewed your younger brother, Liam. He was saying something very similar: “I have great brothers who are my best friends in the world. That stuff really does help in this industry – to have a tight, strong support system.” Do you think you would have become an actor if it weren’t for your family?
I’ve always had a love of film and storytelling in general, but I never thought seriously about acting until my older brother [Luke] did it. So, probably not. He definitely kicked it off, and was the catalyst to my interest in professional acting.
Liam famously also auditioned for the part of Thor. Was it a tense situation for your both?More at Prestige HK.
It was never at the same time and, to be honest, we’ve auditioned for a lot of different things and a lot of the same parts over the years. That [time] was strange because it came right down to the wire. I was no longer involved in the audition process – I was set aside. It was Liam or a couple of other guys who were going to get it, so I was helping him run through the stuff. Then I got a call, and suddenly I was back in it and Liam was helping me! So it was a bit of a team effort.
