Good looks can only take you so far. Just ask Thor star and Hollywood heartthrob Chris Hemsworth. In an amusing twist of Hollywood fate, Chris recently found himself vying for a role in a project already earmarked for Tinseltown veteran Kevin Costner. Despite the Extraction actor's considerable charm and striking good looks, the seasoned Dances With Wolves actor was not swayed to pass the torch just yet.
Speaking to ET at CinemaCon, Hemsworth expressed his admiration for a particular script he read and instantly fell in love with. Unfortunately for the MCU veteran, the role was already in the hands of veteran actor and director Kevin Costner. Hemsworth recounted his futile attempt to convince the Yellowstone star to consider him for the part:
There was a movie, a script that I'd read and loved and was like, 'I want to get that,' and then someone said, 'Kevin Costner has that [role],' I'd love [to have] him as a director. I was like, 'Goddamnit!' [I spent] an hour the other day trying to convince him, and he was like, 'I'm doing it, kid.' Didn't work. I didn't get the part.
The Spiderhead performer describes the project in question as an "abstract and interesting" film that fits perfectly within Costner's “wheelhouse,”, especially given its Western themes and equestrian elements. Hemsworth added:
It's a small story about a man and a woman. There's horses involved, he's a horse wrangler, and my wife read it and loves horses. We have 10 or 11 horses back home, and so she's like, 'You've got to do this.'
Despite Hemsworth's apparent disappointment, Costner, when approached at CinemaCon, had nothing but praise for the Marvel star. The Waterworld A-lister said:
He's so handsome and he's so good. He's going to have to go find his [own] love story. [But] I'm glad he likes this one. If I reach a moment where I [don't] think I could do that, I would [reach out]. He's certainly one of our great leading men right now.
Hemsworth may not have been the right fit for the unnamed project in Kevin Costner's view, but he was an ideal casting choice for George Miller's vision in the upcoming Furiosa. At CinemaCon, the 79-year-old Mad Max creator praised the casting of Hemsworth alongside Anya Taylor-Joy in this eagerly awaited 2024 movie release. The action-packed trailer for the Max spin-off hints at a dramatic transformation for Hemsworth, featuring a distinctive prosthetic nose that blends seamlessly with the eccentric post-apocalyptic aesthetics of the Mad Max universe.
As for Costner, despite the highly publicized Yellowstone behind-the-scenes chaos, his recent comments make it seem like his time as John Dutton might still be ongoing. We will have just to wait and see how that shakes out; until then, fans can get their Kevin Costner western fix with his upcoming feature opus Horizon: An American Saga, set to hit theaters this summer.
Fans of Chris Hemsworth can anticipate his voice acting debut in the upcoming animated film Transformers One, set to premiere on September 13. Hemsworth's visual charm takes a backseat in this new role as he voices Orion Pax, who is destined to become the iconic Optimus Prime. The movie will serve as a prequel, delving into the origin stories of some of the most cherished characters in the Transformers movie universe, offering a fresh perspective on their beginnings.
