A medical diagnosis received during the filming of the extreme docu-series Limitless last year prompted Australian actor Chris Hemsworth to take a break from Hollywood.
After receiving the news he was between eight and 10 times more likely than the average person to develop Alzheimer’s disease – Hemsworth has two copies of the APOE4 gene, which is closely associated with the disease – he took the best option and hung out with his family over summer.
However, with an excellent body of work in the pipeline, and with the release of the trailer for his Netflix action-thriller, Extraction 2, his days of beachside barbecues, surfing and Kenyan safari trips are numbered.
Back to work
During his break from acting, Hemsworth’s Instagram was littered with family snaps of beach motorbike rides, caravan trips, skateboarding and treasured birthday moments with wife Elsa Pataky and kids India, Sasha and Tristan.
Now, he’s clocking on once again.
Hemsworth returns as mercenary Tyler Rake for another round of extractions in this action sequel based around getting the family of a Georgian gangster out of jail, three years after the first blockbuster saw him nearly killed off.
“It’s been almost three years since Tyler Rake killed a man with a rake,” writes Netflix.
“Now the gruff gun for hire is returning for another round of cinematic carnage.”
Australian director George Miller’s Mad Max prequel, Furiosa, in which Hemsworth stars, is also in post-production and ready for a 2024 release.
He has completed both films, but it’s only now the hard work begins.
In a wide-ranging interview with Vanity Fair in November, after the four- to five-month shoot is over, there’s reshoots, the press tour and promotional interviews.
Importantly, he says in reference to working on the big-budget film with Miller, “if something’s going to pull me away from my family and my kids, it’s got to be a positive, constructive, collaborative experience.
“I shot with … Miller on the new prequel to Fury Road, part of the Mad Max saga, and I said to my agent, ‘That’s where I want to spend my work hours’.
“I want to sit and be in this space with a greater sense of stillness and gratitude. And then you start talking about kids and family and going, ‘Oh my God, they’re getting older, they’re growing up and I keep slapping another movie on top of another movie’.
“It really triggered something in me to want to take some time off. And since we finished [Limitless, Apple TV+], I’ve been completing the things I was already contracted to do,” he said at the time.
‘Been in a sprint’
Hemsworth admits he has “been in a sprint” making movies for the past decade, and has been inundated with offers and scripts.
Now that he’s back, he’s “curating” his job opportunities and looking beyond always being in front of the camera.
He wants to make more documentaries, and is open to a “love story, a drama”.
Hemsworth says his production company, Wild State, has “a set-up with National Geographic in the unscripted space” and, after Limitless, he has got a taste for “the collaborative experience”.
“Whether I’m in front of the camera or behind, I think the collaborative experience was great.
“Producing and not just acting in it, but being able to contribute with the writing and the scheduling, the location sourcing and the casting, the whole thing.
“Even the editorial process, I love. You learn more and more with every film and I feel like I’m at a point in my life where I have a bit more to say, but I’ve earned that right to say it.”
According to movie database IMDb, Hemsworth has another three projects in development.
Avengers: Secret Wars, in which he returns as the god of thunder, Thor, is slated for 2026, a role that has taken an enormous physical toll (he was the only Avenger to have weights in his trailer).
“It’s exhausting. You have a cheat [food] day as far as you need time to repair … there’s a ton of injuries and just the exhaustion and so on, but I had big shoes to fill, as far as what the character looked like, and the physicality of it,” he told VF.
But his passion is back to play Thor, and he loves it, admitting that it will probably be the last time we see him play the character.
“I feel it’d probably be the finale, but that’s not based on anything anyone’s told me or any sort of plans.
“You have this birth of a hero, the journey of a hero, then the death of a hero, and I don’t know—am I at that stage?” he asks.
Tweet from @HulkHogan
Uncanny resemblance
Next job?
IMDb reports there’s an untitled Hulk Hogan biopic in development, with Hemsworth playing Terry Gene Bollea, better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan.
Hemsworth is producing.
Action comedy Down Under Cover, in which he’s acting and also producing, is at script stage in development.
“A detective teams up with a lone wolf cop to investigate a string of robberies where the prime suspects are a group of male erotic dancers from Australia,” writes the IMDb logline.
“I can talk to you for hours about what I want to do, but it doesn’t fill my head 24/7 like it used to.
“It’s nice to sit now without the urgency or the anxiety of: ‘Quick! I need a job!’, Or, ‘What if they don’t give you another opportunity? What if this is the last one?’
“That’s not out of having lost any of the passion for it, it’s just a sense of contentment, and with being very proud of what I’ve done and the experiences I’ve had.
“I welcome whatever comes next.”
