A restless mind

FILM, FAMILY AND FURIOSA, CHRIS HEMSWORTH HAS A LOT TO THINK ABOUT

- CHRIS HEMSWORTH

Playing a villain in the new film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a welcome change for Chris Hemsworth, 40, who is known for portraying Thor in the Marvel Universe.

"[Playing a hero] there's a certain amount of expectations and rules that you have to abide by, whereas the villain is sort of boundless and you're allowed to be complicated and unpredictable and be offensive," he told The Sydney Morning Herald at the Sydney premiere of the film. "You're not trying to win anyone over at that point, your job is to do the opposite so it's kind of fun, I really enjoy it." It was a family affair as he attended with his wife Elsa Pataky, 47, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, 10. The couple also share a daughter, India, 12, who was not pictured at the premiere.

It appears Hemsworth's last appearance as Thor wasn't one of his proudest moments. The film Thor: Love and Thunder took on a more comedic tone than the previous instalments.

"I think we just had too much fun. It just became too silly," Hemsworth confessed to Vanity Fair in 2023, adding that even his children's friends shared their critiques of the film.

Mad Max seems like a 'return' for the actor, who took some time off to spend with his family after a busy decade of blockbuster films and upon learning that he carried the APOE4 gene, which increases the risk of him developing Alzheimer's. He took stock of what really mattered to him, but he never planned to be gone for good. In fact, he quite resents that narrative.