For years, Josh Hartnett was trapped within the dreamboat standing of Hollywood. He tried to interrupt freed from it by taking up darker roles in movies like “The School” and “Black Hawk Down,” however his chiseled options made it laborious for audiences to see previous his attractiveness. In a latest interview with Selection, Hartnett addressed this problem, saying his position in Michael Bay’s “Pearl Harbor” was the straw that lastly broke the camel’s again.
“I used to be nonetheless making an attempt to determine who I used to be,” Hartnett mentioned. “One thing of that magnitude that everyone knew about and kind of considered me because the character, had an impact on me that I kicked again towards. It was all the time one thing that I needed to deal with at that age, and I used to be nonetheless making an attempt to determine what I meant to myself and to folks round me.”
After his expertise on the epic warfare movie, Hartnett modified gears, performing in smaller, extra area of interest initiatives like “Fortunate Quantity Slevin” and “30 Days of Night time” — initiatives that had been extra pushed by creativity than field workplace draw.
“I like experimentation in movie,” Hartnett mentioned, later including, “I’ve by no means been anti [mainstream films]; I simply was anti-paint by numbers. I need to work with people who find themselves, for lack of a greater time period, artists.”
Regardless of working steadily for over 20 years, Hartnett nonetheless struggles together with his heartthrob id, however is now extra open to doing greater movies like final yr’s Greatest Image winner “Oppenheimer.” Working with auteurs like Christopher Nolan and, extra lately, M. Night time Shyamalan on the upcoming live performance thriller “Entice,” Hartnett has realized that he can stability being somebody followers adore, in addition to a real craftsman.
“I actually needed to be a severe actor,” Hartnett mentioned of his creating years. “What I didn’t perceive is that I used to be in an incredible place, working with terrific administrators on terrific initiatives. For all intents and functions, it didn’t matter how folks considered me in tabloids or no matter — so long as I used to be working inside the business. However I used to be too younger to actually perceive that, to make the differentiation.”