Chris Hemsworth has a new science-fiction film – Spiderhead – out on Netflix, as well as of course having Thor 4 coming out. He spoke to GQ about some of his best-known roles, including Rush, Snow White and the Huntsman, and 2016’s Ghostbusters. Considering that Ghostbusters was before Thor: Ragnarok, this was the first time we’d really seen Hemsworth do comedy, but Feig and his co-stars brought out the best in him.
The 2016 Ghostbusters didn’t get a fair shake, due to the fact that it starred Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones…instead of men. But it’s extremely funny, and Hemsworth’s ditzy receptionist Kevin is one of the highlights. But this was the first time that the Australian actor had ever really improvised in a movie, and he was extremely nervous about it.
“I said to Paul (Feig) ‘there’s not a whole lot on the page. What do you want me doing?’ And he said ‘we’ll figure it out when you get here.’ I turned up to the studio and he said ‘it’s OK, we’re gonna improvise and have fun.’ And my immediate reaction was: this is not only the end of my career, but I’m going to ruin this film. I’m going to let everyone down. I haven’t done this before. What am I doing?”
Hemsworth continued; “But then I met Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, the whole crew and cast, and I just became a whole lot more comfortable, because there was such a sense of camaraderie and collaboration there at play. They took me under their wing and we just went on this adventure. 90% of it was improvised and in the moment and not often do you have an environment to really do that in.”
Hemsworth concluded; “Melissa would say ‘I’m gonna try something’ and then just start coming at me with a line and I’d have to sort of sink or swim and try to come up with something to throw back. It was incredibly freeing, there was still a lot of anxiety bubbling under the surface but it became so much fun. It reminded me of drama class. I want to take that into everything I do, I want to be able to have that much fun and for it to be a wonderful collaboration and exploration as that was.”
Thankfully, Ghostbusters released Hemsworth’s comedic side, which we’ve since seen in Thor 3, Infinity War/Endgame and is still sure to be in Thor 4. For further laughs, check out our guide to the best comedy movies.