Chris Hemsworth Talks about SWATH and Kristen

We’re standing right behind the monitors in “video village”.  Behind us, on public land, curious couples push baby strollers on a path and wonder what’s shooting.

Kristen and Chris are now watching the playback footage on the monitors and she, wearing a warm black parka over her scoop-necked, short leather Snow White tunic and leather pants, is apologizing for the accidental punch. Chris, face swelling, is very cool about it and both stars are laughing.  Chris, in a great weathered, brown leather outfit, is swarmed by make-up people trying to make him look even more rugged and dirty… yum!

Here he comes. We’re standing in a mud puddle due to recent rain and we don’t care. We see a slight bruise starting on that handsome face and Chris mumbles that his nose is running. Ah, the joys of modern filmmaking!

Kidzworld: You got punched. 

Chris: Well you can see that it’s swelling going up my nose.

Kidzworld: Did Kristen do that? 

Chris: We misjudged one and I head-butted her fist with my nose which didn’t turn out too well for me.

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Kidzworld: So how much fun is hanging upside down all afternoon?

Chris: It’s not that much fun at all actually. It’s certainly a head rush. It’s like I’m on a roller coaster a hundred times upside down so you have that sick feeling coming off of it but it looks good [on the monitor].

Kidzworld: Do you two talk about anything when you’re hanging upside down? 

Chris: Get us down! Get us down! What am I doing? Honestly it’s using every bit of energy to hold yourself in a certain position so your arm doesn’t tear off because they’ve got a harness hooked over your shoulders and on your ankles and all different parts of the body are being pulled in an unorthodox sort of way.

Kidzworld: Owww! Can you talk about working with Kristen? 

Chris: She’s great. We both loved the script from the beginning. We both read it and had a huge amount of excitement coming into it and both love working with [director] Rupert [Sanders] and she leaves no stone unturned in her prep with the script. She’s always asking questions and trying to find out what’s the real truth in the scene but she’s great. It keeps you on your toes and the scenes are all the better for it.

Kidzworld: Can you tell us about your character? What’s he about? 

Chris: Yeah. He’s kind of a drunken mess at the beginning of the film [laughs]. There’s a hint that he may have been someone of nobility once upon a time but now he’s a bit of a lost soul and his faith in the world and hope doesn’t exist in him really. He’s kind of given up and the Snow White character kind of re-ignites that in him; gives him hope again. She instills that in him or at least makes him question his doubts in the world and in people. Hey, I’ve been hanging upside down for an hour. I’m just trying to put this plot back together somehow [laughter].

Kidzworld: Thor was a guy who wasn’t very heroic but became so and the Huntsman isn’t a very good guy at the beginning because he is supposed to kill Snow White. Is it fun for you to play characters in transition like that? 

Chris: Yeah. It’s more of an interesting character arc; starting somewhere and finishing somewhere else; watching someone grow or go the opposite. This got sent to me and I loved the whole script and everyone involved and I guess I was lucky that it was a character like that. We also worked on emphasizing more of that point. The more conflict and contrast you can have with a character makes him more interesting than one note.

Kidzworld: Did you like fairy tale films growing up? 

Chris: Growing up I always loved films like this; films where you’re transported into another world and things you would never see in everyday life. Also, [I love] these larger than life characters. I still enjoy a small, independent, simple story but I’m certainly having a hell of a [good] time working on films like this because your imagination is able to run wild while you’re working as well as when you watch it.

Kidzworld: Did you have a favorite fairy tale as a kid? Did you parents read fairy tales to you? 

Chris: Not really. I remember reading about “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” and certainly there’s a big tonal influence in this film from those stories and I think that’s why this was a big attraction for me. Also, when I found out that the film was going to be more like those books and films as opposed to the softer fairy tale side of it.

Kidzworld: Epic adventure? 

Chris: Yeah. Absolutely.

Kidzworld: Can you tell us about the rumored love triangle in the movie? [Chris and Sam Claflin who plays the prince and Kristen]. 

Chris: It’s not so much a love triangle. We haven’t really finished shooting it yet so we don’t know what it’s gonna turn into. It’s kind of what the individual characters feel for each other. I think they are kind of unaware of whether anyone else is involved in that mix.

It’s not quite as public or an open as a love triangle is. It’s not that obvious. I think it’s more of a [subtext]. They all come from a different part of the universe we’re creating and can find themselves getting along in moments and not in other moments. I think it makes an interesting mix.

Kidzworld: Do you and Sam hang out together? 

Chris: Yeah. We’re on set a lot on horses hanging out, having a good time. I’ve seen a little bit of him outside of work but we’re here working 99 percent of the time.

Kidzworld: Had you ridden a horse before this movie?

 Chris: In Thor a little bit. Then years ago a little bit but never anything as extensive as this has been and it’s great when they train you how to do it properly. I’d like to be able to do it better.

Kidzworld: Is this scene here in the woods the biggest challenge so far with this movie? 
Chris: I think so. No, we’ve had plenty of big fight sequences and battle sequences which have been great, just epic is the only way to describe them. We had a hundred horses on the beach at one stage and we had 30 or 40 horses within the castle they built and a hundred extras in full armor fighting and things on fire and we turn up and it all falls together somehow. It certainly gets the adrenalin going.

Kidzworld: Fans want to know. Are you ever shirtless in this movie? 

Chris: No. There was enough skin in Thor. Going to stay covered up in this one.

Kidzworld: Are you getting recognized more? Anyone recognize you as Thor? 

Chris: Only when I put a blonde wig on and wear a red cape. [we laugh]. Other than that I kind of slip through pretty unrecognized most of the time because my hair, especially at the moment, is dark and the films are vastly different I think. Some people sort of nod. I did a TV show in Australia years ago and you’re on TV five nights a week and I feel like more people recognize me off that because I looked like I did on the street in the show.

Chris is called back to set for more “abuse”. Later, when we are waiting on the lot to talk with Kristen, we see Chris in modern sweats as he gets in a car and escapes set for the day.

Kidzworld | swathmovie