Chris Hemsworth is mighty well known for his action chops, especially when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he’s also been accumulating titles that show off what he’s capable of in other genres, too. There are comedies like 2015’s Vacation and 2016’s Ghostbusters where he’s a major scene-stealer in hugely talented ensembles, and there’s also my personal favorite non-MCU Hemsworth film, Bad Times at the El Royale where he’s downright riveting cult leader Billy Lee. However, I’m still tempted to call his latest movie, Spiderhead, the film that shows off how wide his range really is more than any.
The story takes place in the titular facility, a state-of-the-art penitentiary run by Hemsworth’s Steve Abnesti. Spiderhead is populated by inmates who get to live in a more free environment with no cells or jumpsuits, but in exchange, they must agree to wear a surgically attached device that administers mind-altering drugs Abnesti is testing.
Almost the entire film takes place in the Spiderhead compound, a stark contrast to the globe or galaxy trotting big budget sets Hemsworth frequently works on. While chatting about the making of Spiderhead leading up to its June 17th release on Netflix, Hemsworth highlighted why he was eager to switch gears and work on a project that felt a bit more like a piece of theater:
“I’d come off the back of Thor and Avengers and Extraction, so a lot big special effects and action, which I love and is fun and fantastic, but I really wanted to do something smaller and more contained and character driven and just focused on the individuals within this space. And it was right through COVID restrictions and so on, so if we were gonna make a film, it had to be contained and the opportunity came up to make this film and we shot it in I think about four weeks on two or three sets in one safe, contained environment.”
Hemsworth certainly makes the absolute most of working on a character-driven narrative in a contained environment. Steve Abnesti is an extreme individual, to say the least. He’s clearly a brilliant charmer, but also can’t seem to comprehend the problematic nature of his experiments in the slightest. While the film doesn’t necessarily need Abnesti’s backstory, it’s tough not to wonder what turned him into such a unique and often outrageous personality. Here’s what Hemsworth said when asked for elements of Abnesti’s past that we don’t necessarily hear about or see on screen, but we can feel influencing his performance:
“I think that he’s a complex individual, a huge ego, highly intelligent, void of the ability to feel empathy, I think, to an extent, and lack of social etiquette. Whether that had to do with his sort of inner chemical make-up or whether it was to do with his childhood is up to the interpretation of an audience. There is a little hint at his childhood and the fact that there was a real lack of emotional connection and love and support that we all need, and so I do think that his experience as a young child has led him to this place where he’s trying to fill in the blanks I guess, and trying to make up for what he feels is missing in his emotional personality and his makeup.”
In addition to scoring a role that calls for him to swing for the fences, Hemsworth has the benefit of doing that alongside an incredibly talented ensemble. Given that Hemsworth shares a good deal of screen time with Miles Teller who plays Abnesti’s favorite inmate, Jeff, I asked Hemsworth what he appreciated most about Teller as a scene partner in this theater-like environment:
“He has such a fun sense of humor and there’s this sort of cheekiness to him, which kind of made me feel like I was back in high school and we were doing something silly and wrong, and the film has that quality. There’s an unpredictable sort of odd suspense that plays out through the film and so we were playing one emotion and one idea yet we were sort of trying to stifle and hold something else aside. I think that comes through and it was great. He’s a great collaborator, incredibly talented. Quite an intensity to him too, but he can be vulnerable on a dime.”
Eager to hear more from Hemsworth on Spiderhead? You can watch our full conversation in the video interview at the top of this article!