The best part about being an actor is (probably) learning that your peers also love your work. Making money and being famous might be cool too, but it’s mostly just about rubbing elbows with people who you admire. It’s nice when actors and directors gush about working with each other, or when they write parts specifically with someone in mind. But it’s got to be tough looking up to certain industry folks and learning that they might not feel the same way about you.
Over the years, various directors have been openly critical of Marvel movies and their stars. This includes Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, who have both slammed the cinematic integrity of the various superhero stories. “Part of the Marvel-ization of Hollywood is… you have all these actors who have become famous playing these characters,” Tarantino said last year. “But they’re not movie stars. Right? Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star. I mean, I’m not the first person to say that.” He’s not the first, but he is one of the biggest!
While some of the argument might be understandable, Chris Hemsworth took the criticism to heart. “That’s super depressing when I hear that,” Hemsworth told GQ. “There goes two of my heroes I won’t work with. I guess they’re not a fan of me,” he said. Technically, Tarantino isn’t a fan of Thor, but the two seem to go hand in hand.
Hemsworth is still grateful for the Marvel experience. He has been playing Thor for over a decade, and it’s helped him break out into Hollywood. “I’m thankful that I have been a part of something that kept people in cinemas. Now, whether or not those films were to the detriment of other films, I don’t know,” he continued.
Hemsworth then went on to express frustration with how different types of cinema have been perceived by various directors (and actors) over the years. “I don’t love when we start scrutinizing each other when there’s so much fragility in the business and in this space of the arts as it is… I say that less to the directors who made those comments, who are all, by the way, still my heroes, and in a heartbeat I would leap to work with any of them. But I say it more to the broader opinion around that topic.”
Whether or not they are considered “cinema,” the truth is that these movies dominate the box office for a reason: people love to escape the real world for a bit. Not everyone wants to watch a Tarantino movie about movies. Sometimes you want to watch a jacked Australian punch a space god. It’s all personal preference, anyway.