This spring, Marvel’s God of Thunder trades in his mighty hammer for a rifle in Netflix‘s upcoming action thriller, Extraction. Chris Hemsworth stars in the film as Tyler Rake, a black market mercenary who is hired to rescue the kidnapped son of an international crime lord. The intense and gritty thriller, which begins streaming on April 24th, is much different than the kind of movie fans of Hemsworth may be used to seeing him in, which adds to the excitement leading up to its debut. On Tuesday morning, USA Today unveiled the first photos from the highly-anticipated project.
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As a mercenary with a dark emotional past, Hemsworth’s Tyler Rake isn’t anything like Thor in appearance or attitude, but no amount of dirt or grime is able to take away the actor’s chiseled look. In fact, according to director Sam Hargrave, trying to dirty up Hemsworth for the role somehow only made him look better.
“We tried to make him dirty and bloody and (added) stubble and a beard and just beat him up,” Hargrave told USA Today. “But it seemed like the more dirt and blood we put on him, the more handsome he was. So we failed there.”
Extraction is Hargrave’s feature directorial debut, but he’s no stranger to big budgets and action thrills, having served as the stunt coordinator and second unit director on Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. He was also Chris Evans’ stunt double for multiple Marvel Studios films. In fact, Extraction is much more of a Marvel Cinematic reunion than folks may realize. The script was written by Endgame co-director Joe Russo, who is producing the film alongside his brother and directing partner Anthony Russo. Extraction also stars David Harbour and Derek Luke. The former is set to play Red Guardian in the upcoming Black Widow solo film, while the latter played Gabe Jones, one of the Howling Commandos in Captain America: The First Avenger.
Unlike other directors, Hargrave actually participated in some stunts with a camera in hand, in an attempt to get the best shot possible. There were times he strapped himself to the hood of a car or jumped from building to building alongside his stunt performers. Those actions became an inspiration for Hemsworth.
“He had as many scrapes, bumps and injuries as the rest of us,” said Hemsworth. “Like most stunt guys, there’s a couple of screws loose maybe but the guy’s infectious to be around.”
Extraction arrives on Netflix on April 24th.
