Sam Hargrave thinks Chris Hemsworth has the same action movie outlook as Jackie Chan.
Chris Hemsworth puts the character first
The 'Extraction 2' filmmaker - who has directed the new Netflix movie after helming the original 2020 blockbuster - has heaped praise on Hemsworth's performance as mercenary Tyler Rake because he isn't afraid to look vulnerable in fight scenes.
He told Collider: "I think that's one thing that makes Tyler Rake so great, and a lot of that, for me, comes from loving Jackie Chan movies so much growing up.
"And what I think he did that separated him from the Bruce Lee’s and Jet Li’s is, he wasn't the martial arts expert.
"The viewing pleasure was kind of voyeuristic, you're living out your fantasies of being untouchable, and you were like, 'How is he going to dismantle these people?'
"Like Steven Seagal, he doesn't get touched. How is he going to dismantle all these people? And that's part of the fun.
"What made Jackie Chan so exciting was he always put people who, whether they were actually in real life or not, better fighters around him, and he would have his character get beaten up."
Hargrave pointed out that this means future battles are "much more dramatically interesting" because there's no guarantee he'll emerge unscathed.
He added: "So, Chris is great in that, when we talked about it, he was very much a fan of being – I mean in this movie, he borders on being superhero status because he does some pretty incredible things – however, we wanted to make sure that he wasn't just floating through it and not getting injured.
"We wanted him to make sacrifices because the greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph. So we wanted to make him earn it.
"And in the courtyard, when he gets smacked in the back of the head and he kind of just falls down, we're kind of like, 'Oh no, is he gonna make it?' "
The director likes working someone who is willing to put any "ego" aside for the good of the story.
He said: "Anyway, I think it's really refreshing working with an actor who is, is willing to, for the character, he separates his ego from the character that he's playing and is saying, like, 'That's not me. The best thing for this movie and this character is to take punishment so that when I prevail, everyone feels that victory that much more.' "
Tagged in Bruce Lee Jackie Chan Chris Hemsworth