RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
Timing, self-motivation reasons for Hemsworth’s successful career
At 34, Chris Hemsworth knows he could easily throw around Thor’s hammer until he’s 40. But with acting ambitions that started when he was a boy, Hemsworth also knows he wants to do more than play a comic book character.
So, on a four-month break between Thor: Ragnarok and his year-long commitment to shooting two Avengers sequels — this spring’s Infinity War and next year’s untitled Avengers 4 — he sought out a story that was a little more down to earth.
“I desperately wanted to do something contemporary,” Hemsworth tells Postmedia from Los Angeles.
“And 12 Strong ( based on Doug Stanton’s bestseller), came up. In addition to being a fascinating story, it had all the nuance and heart that I was looking for.”
Co-starring Michael Shannon, Michael Peña, Geoff Stults, William Fichtner and Rob Riggle, 12 Strong, tells the declassified true story of 12 U.S. soldiers who went into Afghanistan just weeks after the attacks on 9-11.
Their mission: to link up with Afghan allies in the Northern Alliance to defeat the Taliban and al- Qaida in the city of Mazar-i- Sharif.
Accustomed to state-of-theart warfare, the team — led by Capt. Mitch Nelson (Hemsworth) — has to navigate the ruthless Afghan terrain on horseback.
During an interview, Hem- sworth — the middle brother of Luke and Liam — discussed leading the team in 12 Strong, his Hollywood journey and rejection.
Q You had experience with horses from growing up in Australia. Was this different?
A I did have some experience, which I was thankful for. But once you start putting on all the armour, the military gear and holding weapons, it requires a lot more training.
You have to almost start again and relearn from scratch. I remember asking a (military adviser), “What’s the right way to hold a gun on horseback?” And he said, “There isn’t one. This isn’t something we train for.”
Q What kind of training did you do for 12 Strong?
A We did a three, four-week boot camp with the actors and a number of military advisers, Navy SEALs, Special Forces giving us the help we needed. We were really looking for any telltales that would make anyone in the military roll their eyes and say, “That’s not authentic.”
Q Did you get to meet the real-life Special Forces team?
A We did and it was fantastic. Meeting them was essential, but it also helped us uncover the heart and soul of who these guys were. In terms of the guy I play, what really struck me was the huge amount of humility he has and the honesty with which he recounted his story. There was no big ego, it was just a matter-of-fact, “This is what I do and here’s why.” There was also a great respect he had for the Afghan people and the friendships he formed there.
Q These 12 men went into Afghanistan after the worst terror attack on U.S. soil and it changed the course of world events. What do you want people to think about afterward?
A On set, we had some guys that were from Afghanistan who were soldiers over there fighting alongside the Americans, and they were so happy this story was being told. There was a perception that everyone over there was a terrorist and they thanked us for telling this story that shows that wasn’t the case. Many of them fought alongside the Americans and they had a common enemy in the Taliban and al- Qaida. That stuck with me . … We may be from different sides of the world, but we have the same want and need for freedom.
Q To a lot of moviegoers, you came out of nowhere and landed Thor in 2011. Tell us what your Hollywood journey was like.
A If I could write down the formula and understand how and why it happened, I could bottle it and give it to someone if they asked.
I don’t know how it worked, to be honest. A lot of it had to do with timing. I was in the right place at the right time.
But you do have to have pretty thick skin and a lot of self-motivation to stick with it.
Q How did you cope with rejection in the early years?
A I had a huge amount of anxiety when I was auditioning and that just got worse and worse the more I heard the word, no. I did a lot of soul searching on a number of occasions where I asked myself, “Why am I doing this? What’s my motivation?” To be honest, it was to look after my family. I love acting, but I needed to make sure I was taking care of them.