Chris Hemsworth in Extraction on Netflix: Australia’s new action hero
He is most well known as Norse god Thor, but when Chris Hemsworth took on a new role as a damaged mercenary in Netflix movie Extraction, he pushed to make his character an Australian action hero instead of an American — and it worked.
New Movies
Don't miss out on the headlines from New Movies. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Just when you thought you couldn’t love him any more, Chris Hemsworth has gone and made sure there’s a new Aussie action hero coming to your lounge room.
The actor, also known as Thor, is starring in a new big budget action film that will drop on Netflix this week and he made sure his character had that distinctive Australian sound.
Hemsworth plays Tyler Rake, a damaged mercenary who is contracted to rescue the kidnapped son of an Indian crime lord from the dangerous street of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.
Written by Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo and directed by renowned stunt co-ordinator Sam Hargrave (Endgame, Thor: Ragnarok), Extraction was always going to be an explosive film.
MORE STORIES FROM DAVID MEDDOWS:
What Home and Away’s stars are doing while locked up during pandemic
From rescue dog to koala rescuer: Bear is a true blue hero
But Rake, the emotionally challenged and fearless former special forces officer, was always meant to be an American.
So when Hemsworth scored the role, he set about changing that and securing that rare Aussie action hero we’ve always wanted.
“The character evolved when I came on board. He was originally American and I said to Joe we don’t see many Australian action heroes very often and you don’t see many Australian characters on screen outside of Australia unless it’s a quintessential Aussie bloke or with a comedic element to it so it would be nice,” he says.
“It then also shaped a lot of the language in the film and the way he spoke and moved and reacted. There were a lot of things that were certainly very new to me as far as character exploration.”
Hemsworth, 36, sat down with Insider last year on the huge set of the new Netflix movie. Set up in a town about an hour outside of Bangkok, the cast and crew had taken over several blocks and transformed them into the bustling overcrowded streets of Dhaka.
No stone has been left unturned in the effort to transform the alleyways — even the rubbish that litters the ground has been picked up and replaced with discarded waste that bears Bangladeshi brands and writing.
We sit inside a large covered market where one of the film’s main battle scenes takes place. It’s difficult to concentrate in the 38-degree heat and a level of humidity that feels like you’re being smacked in the face with a wet towel every time you move.
Hemsworth is dressed head to toe in military fatigues. Sweat pours from his face but miraculously his hair remains perfectly in place. A miracle because he’s just finished a short but meticulously choreographed action scene where he’s thrown around the room more than once.
That’s what happens when the movie you’re starring in is directed by one of the most respected stunt co-ordinators in Hollywood. Hargrave and Hemsworth have worked together on a number of films including Avengers: Endgame and Thor: Ragnarok and it’s obvious there is a mutual respect and friendship between the pair.
No stranger to an onscreen fight or gun battle, you know a movie is going to be intense when Chris Hemsworth says it’s far and away the most action he’s ever done in front of a camera.
“I think if I added up every action film that I’d ever done or every piece of action I’ve ever done in a movie, it wouldn’t even come close to what we’ve done in the last nine weeks on this movie,” he laughs.
“We’re limping home at the end of most days, it’s the most complex, most real-life action I’ve ever done.”
Indeed, Extraction is dialled up to 10 almost from the opening credits and doesn’t really waver from that until they roll again at the end, with most of the action scenes performed by the stars themselves.
“There’s not really any wire gags or special effects, we are diving down stairs, across cars and having things blow up in front of us, it’s pretty hairy,” Hemsworth says.
Rake is a far cry from Thor, a role Hemsworth has owned for more than a decade, but he says it’s a refreshing change to put down the hammer and try on a new skin.
“Coming into this was fantastic, completely inventing a character here that isn’t held to any restrictions from something you’ve done before, or from a comic book that’s known or an iconic real-life figure that came before,” he says.
The change of scenery, away from the boredom of the backlot, was also something that appealed to Hemsworth when he was first approached about playing Rake.
“I just love getting off the sound stages and the backlot at Pinewood Studios where I’ve spent years, whether in London or Atlanta,” he says.
“I love being on location, there is a different energy that is immediate and there’s a different realism that’s pulled from you when you have a real environment to interact with.”
With Thor and the Marvel Cinematic Universe hugely popular in India and Thailand, locals came out in force when they realised the Norse god was filming on their streets.
“In India, we had thousands of people turn up and watch every day and it felt like you were in a colosseum sometimes: all the big buildings that were surrounding us with all these little heads popping out,” Hemsworth laughs.
On the set outside of Bangkok, where 400 people work to make the wheels turn on this production, who can’t find a soul who hasn’t warmed to the Aussie visitor.
Hemsworth walks around the set and warmly greets locals as if they’re his own neighbours, many by name.
It’s what has made this Australian success story so popular on both sides of the equation – fans love him because he’s a dinky-di Aussie who hasn’t lost his accent and continues to be as laid back as he was when he got his break on Home and Away all those years ago.
Film makers want him on their sets because he doesn’t give them a hard time. He’s constructive, wants to be a part of the process, but he’s not a diva.
That whole Hollywood attitude is why he very deliberately left Hollywood behind and headed home to raise his kids with wife Elsa Pataky.
“When you’re suffocated by the work, every conversation that you’re having and every billboard you’re seeing is to do with a movie or whatever around the industry. You lose perspective,” he says.
“That was the reason for leaving Hollywood and coming to Australia. There’s not a single person there that I interact with, or close friends of mine, that are really in the industry and so that’s hugely refreshing, it’s great for my kids and my wife.”
He reflects on all the success he has had since breaking into the industry, but he looks tired. Mentally more than physically and he clearly misses his family.
“I just want to stop for a while. I need to be home for a minute. Just enjoy it. It all flies by.”
Originally published as Chris Hemsworth in Extraction on Netflix: Australia’s new action hero