In an extensive cover piece, Chris Hemsworth goes deep with Vanity Fair about leaving Hollywood for his native Australia, his disappointment over Thor: Love and Thunder and how — for the last time — he does not have Alzheimer’s.
On the latter point, Hemsworth found out through his 2022 Disney+ show Limitless that his DNA showed a risk for the disease. But that revelation, plus a planned break from making movies — partly to nurse an injured back — had the rumor mill spinning.
“It really kind of p***** me off because it felt like I had been vulnerable with something personal and shared this,” the Marvel movie star admits.
“No matter how much I said, ‘This is not a death sentence,’ the story became that I have dementia and I’m reconsidering life and retiring and so on.”
However, he did allow, “I did read a really funny comment at the bottom of one article: ‘I hope Chris forgets he’s retiring and comes back.'”
The star also looked back at his final film as Thor: 2023’s Love and Thunder, in which the acclaimed humor from director Taika Waititi‘s blockbuster predecessor Thor: Ragnarok went off the rails for both critics and audiences.
“I got caught up in the improv and the wackiness, and I became a parody of myself,” Hemsworth says. “I didn’t stick the landing.”
The actor will next be seen in the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa for one of his filmmaking idols, fellow Aussie George Miller.
The filmmaker explains Hemsworth became unrecognizable as the warlord Dementus. “When I saw Chris many months later, my first instinct was, ‘Wait a minute, this is not Chris Hemsworth. This is a fraud!” Miller says.
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