At some point, it really feels like people stopped giving a crap about Josh Hartnett (probably when he started looking like Ashton Kutcher, amirite?). About 14 years ago, he was the next big thing, the bad boy/heartthrob/Brando/James Dean. That was how he was billed, that was the press around him. Then he made some terrible career decisions and he spent a lot less time in LA and NYC. And people sort of forgot about him. He’s currently in Showtime’s Penny Dreadful, and he’s promoting the new season by sitting down for a strangely accusatory Playboy 20 Questions. Like, half the piece is the Playboy interviewer grilling Josh about all of the parts he could have had if only he had made smarter career choices. Just FYI: Josh talked about some of this stuff last year in Details, like how he was offered Superman, Spiderman and Batman. In this Playboy piece, the focus is mainly on how Christopher Nolan wanted him for Batman.
Why he turned down Batman, Superman and Spider-Man: “The intensity of my sudden fame was overwhelming for me, and in the middle of that, I felt I couldn’t trust any new person I met or their motives. I spent a lot of time back home in Minnesota with my friends and family. I did smaller movies, and I stopped working for a while. If I could go back and take with me my wisdom of today, I wish I’d been more resilient. I hope I wouldn’t be as panicked as I was. Maybe I’d have known that no matter what people try to take from you, you don’t have to give it to them. I’ve definitely grown a bit.
The blowback of saying ‘no’ to Christopher Nolan: “I’ve definitely said no to some of the wrong people. I said no because I was tired and wanted to spend more time with my friends and family. That’s frowned upon in this industry. People don’t like being told no. I don’t like it. I learned my lesson when [writer-director] Christopher Nolan and I talked about Batman. I decided it wasn’t for me. Then he didn’t want to put me in The Prestige. They not only hired their Batman for it, they also hired my girlfriend at the time…That’s when I realized relationships were formed in the fire of that first Batman film and I should have been part of the relationship with this guy Nolan, who I felt was incredibly cool and very talented. I was so focused on not being pigeonholed and so scared of being considered only one thing as an actor. I should have thought, Well, then, work harder, man. Watching Christian Bale go on to do so many other things has been just awesome. I mean, he’s been able to overcome that. Why couldn’t I see that at the time?
Working with Ben Affleck back in the day: “In what universe does Ben Affleck win an Academy Award for a best picture he starred in and directed? I knew he had it in him to do whatever he wanted to do. Ben has always been the smartest guy, but he holds that in reserve for some reason.”
Why he’s dated so many co-stars: “I think it’s a respectable way of going about it. I’ve met very important people in my life doing films. Sometimes that had consequences that were just awful for everybody involved. Some were fantastic all the way through. Everybody makes mistakes dating people they work with. They’re whom I’m attracted to because I share experiences with them and understand a bit about what they are and what they do. If I were able to go back in time, I don’t know if I could have done anything any different.
I feel like Josh made that “why do you date costars?” question unnecessarily complicated. Lots of actors date costars, it’s a pretty normal thing. As for the stuff about Nolan… I didn’t realize how far Hartnett got into the process of casting Batman. Do you think Nolan really took it out on him for saying no? Probably, although I would imagine Nolan has a different version of events. I don’t blame directors for not giving Hartnett much time after he refused major projects – the attitude among directors must be, “Hey, he doesn’t want to be a star, so don’t give any project that would make him a star.”
Oh, and that’s Tamsin Egerton in the background – that’s his girlfriend. I think they’re living together now. They were costars on a film that has never been released.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Boo Boo i Like you and all (in the most superficial of ways) but please stop this pity Party already, work on new stuff then
I doubt it’s that easy for him now. He’s totally missed the boat and the industry has moved on. Obviously he’s still working, but he’s no longer in contention for the top-tier stuff. It’ll take him a while to re-establish himself, and even so, it doesn’t really sound like he’s that motivated to make a major comeback.
I don’t think he really has that much to feel bad about. I think the industry has changed a lot. I don’t know if “huge” movie stars really exist anymore. The ones who have that individual mystique around them are the ones who came long before and slightly before Hartnett, but the ones after him? They all seem interchangeable to me. Ledger is the only one in Hartnett’s age range I can think of as having achieved something kind of huge movie-star wise, but he had to die to accomplish that.
I think he fits into the category of “working actor” which many people nowadays aspire to. He could do a Netflix series like Robin Wright and still get a lot of attention (which I think Wright gets both for being an actress and doing decent work).
I agree, he’s a working actor, which is still being very successful, and there aren’t really movie stars anymore like there used to be. I just mean that I don’t think he can, without serious effort, crack the top-tier of consideration in his age group. It’s not really about being a movie star, I just mean that I don’t think he’s even in the top 5, maybe 10, of anyone’s casting wish list.
I love Josh Hartnett. He’s such a gem. Penny Dreadful is great show and I’m glad he’s involved in it. Smart writing, Eva Green (i’d really like them to get together), and fun pacing.
Love them, love all of it.
I watched PD this past weekend during watchathon week and I ended LOVING it, it was messy and whatever getting all those Mythos mixed in BUT EVA GREEN’S ACTING IS OUTSTANDING
Eva Green is my number one girl crush. She’s so talented and takes some pretty interesting projects. I wish she was covered here more.
I really enjoy the actor who plays Dorian Gray as well. He’s fantastic, as is the way they approached his story.
Yes!! I turned my 70+ mother on to PD and she loves it QQ. I think Josh is excellent in it and can’t wait for the next season!
Penny Dreadful is SO GOOD!
ZOMGsh – don’t get T. Fanty or me started on Penny Dreadful. May 3rd is still too far away.
Personally, I think episode 2 was everything. I am hard pressed to choose between 2 and the season finale but I still think I go with ep. 2.
Episode 2 was a really incredible piece of television imo. The story and writing was just so solid. I would really love to work with the writers on that show.
SO excited for season two. And really hoping that Billie Piper stays dead.
The first episode of season two is up on YouTube. Showtime released it early. Edited version, but still soooo good.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u8LdbYbhnTI&t=3304
I also love Penny Dreadful. Started watching it with zero expectations and ended up obsessing over it. Hartnett, Green, the entire cast is awesome. It feels like they’ve been on hiatus forever. Simply can’t wait for the premiere.
Regarding Hartnett, I think he has time to re-establish himself. Plus, it sounds to me like he likes the work, not necessarily the fame. And there is nothing wrong with that. Fame is something I’ve never personally desired. I imagine if you love acting, that can be a tricky aspect.
He was so cute back in the day. I’m hoping he gets what he wants in life. Seems like a nice guy.
I doubt it was malicious on Nolan’s part, but he is a director who likes working with the same actors; he tends to cast his next movie out of the one he’s currently working on. If Josh Hartnett had done Batman Begins, his career would be so different.
“Hey, he doesn’t want to be a star, so don’t give any project that would make him a star.”
I totally agree with this. After Pearl Harbor, he turned down every tentpole/franchise film he was offered and people probably assumed he wasn’t interested.
Chris Evans is like a reverse Josh Hartnett; when his manager told him to take the superhero movie, even though he had misgivings, he listened to that advice and look how his career has changed. Hartnett missed the boat entirely.
Pretty boys like Josh Hartnett just don’t understand that there are lines of Chris Pratts, Chris Pines, Chris Evanses that are willing to replace them any moment.
All of a sudden it’s 1998 and I want to watch The Faculty. I admit I did like him back in the day. Dude probably realized he was day talented enough to be so picky.
Is he shamef*ck territory? Because I so would.
OMG I so would, too. I wouldn’t even be ashamed about it.
Hidey-ho, Neighbor. I just summoned you upthread in the PD discussion.
I am kind of with Hudson Girl – I would, repeatedly, but hold no shame for it.
However, I recognize that comment is not exactly uncommon for me.
There’s nothing shameful about fking Josh Hartnett. The man is FINE!!! 😀
I don’t know. There was a strong douche vibe going on for a while. And quality of material matters, too. Wicker Park did a lot of damage to his allure.
He was never really that huge, was he? I only saw The Virgin Suicides and Pearl Harbor, but he was never at this Leonardo DiCaprio manic fame level he makes it out to be. I legit can’t remember anyone who was his fan back in the day, and I grew up in an all girls school.
That comment about Ben Affleck sounds like such a backhanded compliment.
I think he may have been a rising star (sort of like the male equivalent of Blake Lively or whatever Chris Pine and Chris Evans are now? or whatever the Dawson’s Creek people were?), but I never thought of him as at Dicaprio’s level either.
I don’t know if he’s that good of an actor — not as good as Bale, anyway. Even if he had been cast as Batman, maybe his career would have gone the same way. Wasn’t Bale considered a strong actor even before he was cast as Batman? I never thought of Batman as “making” Bale.
He did pick some bad movies — 40 Days and 40 Nights?
He could make a big comeback in his 40s like McConaughey did, but I don’t know if he’s really transformative in his roles.
No, he peaked at the level of ‘rising star’ and his career was going downhill before he turned down any of these roles. He was never a household name, more of a teen heartthrob, and a forgettable one at that. Similar to Orlando Bloom and Ryan Phillipe, he was never going to be a proper A-list star. Even if he’d taken a superhero film, he just doesn’t have that x factor. He would have been another Brandon Routh, not an RDJ.
While I think he’s about as interesting as a telephone poll, I respect his conclusions about the Batman situation. It’s about time actors stopped blaming everyone but themselves for getting “pigeonholed.”
he is so handsome. I would do anything for that face.
My boyfriend and I watch Penny Dreadful, it’s awesome and Josh and the whole cast are all great in it.
It is a shame that things didn’t work out, but I think he’s great and fine and who knows, he could have become an awful person had he gotten those big roles. maybe those role would have sucked with Josh in them…
I can’t say I see him as Batman, but I could totally see him in The Prestige, I wish he was picked.
Apparently he was an awful person in the early fame days. He was a philanderer and jerk who cheated on his serious girlfriends. He was nicknamed Josh Hart-less for awhile. Ugh.
But all these years later maybe he has maturity and humility now.
Isn’t there a story going around that Harrison Ford HATED Josh Hartnett on the set of a movie they worked on together? I can’t remember the name of it, but I just remember seeing their names on a list of co-stars who hated each other.
I don’t know. I don’t see Josh Hartnett as a superhero type, I really don’t. I don’t think he would have made a better Batman than Bale. Or a good Spiderman or whichever other one he turned down. I think he’ll have a nice career but it won’t be as A List as he was hyped to be all those years ago.
If we are to believe some of the casting rumors, Ryan Gosling has turned down almost every tentpole picture in the past few years, and directors don’t seem turned off by that.
I think it was called Hollywood Homicide,in the UK at least.
They did not speak apart from the script this it permeated through to the feel of the movie and it was universally panned,if I recall correctly.
After that he was history.
Harrison Ford of course survives these occasional bombs!!
Who was the girlfriend that got cast when he didn’t? I haven’t had coffee yet…
I don’t know which Batman Nolan directed, but the girlfriend could be Katie Holmes.
Scarlet Johansson is the girlfriend he’s talking about. She was in The Prestige.
@Callmeanything Ah. I misread his comment. Thanks!
Katie Holmes? She and Josh Hartnett dated right before she hooked up with Tom Cruise.
Like, right before enough that it’s always been my secret conspiracy theory that Suri is actually Josh Hartnett’s kid. I always figured that’s why he went so far off the radar, too.
I think he was saying his GF was in The Prestige…that would be ScarJo. They were a thing way back when.
RIGHT. He did date Katie, though, so I’m still sticking with my conspiracy theory though. I think Suri even looks like him.
I like that theory better than Suri being Tommy Davis’s or David Miscavige’s. For Suri’s sake.
No, he means Scarlett Johansson. Nolan cast her in The Prestige, which is the movie he’s talking about. They were a thing for years before she hooked up with Ryan Reynolds.
The Batman comment throws me, but I think he’s referring to Scarlett Johansson. They dated for a while, and she was in The Prestige.
Nolan hated working with Katie Holmes; he recast her part for The Dark Knight.
He didn’t hate working with her he hated the fact TOMKAT took attention away from the movie. It’s widely believed Tom Cruise didn’t let Katie reprise her role.
I’m too lazy to look for it right now but I thought at one point it got out that Nolan fired her because he didn’t want Tom Cruise around, and he said something like Katie’s talent didn’t justify the interference. Either way, I think Tom Cruise was involved/at fault at least in part.
I’m just confused by Josh’s comment because the timeline fits with ScarJo/The Prestige but ScarJo wasn’t in Batman.
Which I feel sorry for because Holmes was making some interesting movies for awhile, putting a distance between her and Dawson’s Creek. I loved her in The Gift.
And I don’t remember himm and ScarJo together but that is the girlfriend he is talking about.
I remember when he was considered the next big thing but he was never the next Brando or James Dean. His acting was and isn’t good enough.
He was more on Orlando Bloom territory. To his day he thinks he was on DiCaprio, Affleck territory. But it was Orlando Bloom. He would do 1 or 2 big budget movie as Lead Actor, they would underperform and he would be where Orlando Bloom wentd after Pirates ended for him.
Thank you. He is a very wooden actor but was easy on the eyes.
He was hot stuff for teen girls in the late nineties, him and Ryan Phillipe. I think he was on the verge of being big but he had this torn artist thing which made directors eventually move on. I mean you can only ask someone out on a date a number of times before you lose interest.
All that matters to me is that he is still f**king HOT!
Happy Friday 😉
I think what Josh has yet to realize is that he’s not that great of an actor, and he has little charisma. If he was incredibly charismatic but lacking as an actor, he’d be more successful. I’m sure turning down larger movies also hurt his career, because had he done one of those stupid superhero movies, he could have been the one that all the boring, basic up and coming male actors were compared to, instead of being just another “Whatever happened to?” people. He probably felt burned after the failure of “Pearl Harbor,” and decided that he had too much talent to star in big budget movies, and his agent didn’t care enough to tell Josh that you have to do the dumb big budget movies if you want to do the less successful, interesting movies. And now that Hollywood is firmly ensconced in the “let’s reboot the same movie every 3 years” era, he’s S.O.L.
Pearl Harbor bombed???? This is news to me.
I can’t tell if you’re trying to make a pun, but I’m pretty sure it was a flop? Maybe I’m just thinking of the awful reviews it got. (I saw it in the theater, but in my defense, I had a major crush on Ben Affleck at the time. And I was a teenager. lol)
bombed badly.
I Iike him. Really, really like him. Seems like he’s still not overly interested in becoming ‘big’ on screen, perhaps his priorities simply ARE family, and friends. Can only be healthy, and he’s got enough talent to stay around. I don’t even know if Batman would have been such a wise choice for him…
Still hot!! I definitely “forgot” about him, but if/when he decides to jump back in the game, I’d open my wallet for a movie ticket in no time 🙂
Chris Nolan offered the role of Batman also for Heath Ledger, who turned down:
“Heath Ledger and Christopher Nolan had met several times before The Dark Knight about working together — most notably Ledger turned down the role of Batman in Batman Begins — but before he even read the script, Ledger contacted Nolan about playing the role of The Joker.”
http://uproxx.com/filmdrunk/2014/11/7-things-christopher-nolan-has-revealed-about-heath-ledgers-joker-role/
I miss Heath Ledger to this day. It is so sad that he left us all too soon. Also River Phoenix. I like Josh and I wish him the best of luck!
Nolan met all Hollywood’s less 35 years old actors to act Batman.It’s how he met Ledger and Cillian Murphy for example
My point is that Josh said he lost opportunity to work with Nolan in The Prestige because he turned down Batman. But if so, Nolan wouldn’t have worked with Ledger who also turned down Batman.
The new Keanu w/o the glorious Matrix fame and recognition to rest on.
honestly though… there’s something to be said for recognizing you’re not ready for that level of fame and i get directors acting like a Svengali but isn’t it better to pull out then do it and burn. He may have to start over for it but hey, you gotta start somewhere.
“The intensity of my sudden fame …” I actually think that even if he regrets it now, he was brave for not going with the flow while feeling that new reality difficult to handle. That’s why it seems better to get this level of success after a certain age, so you don’t loose it and know how to deal with the pressure and say no to right things and yes to the important ones. We’ve seen many times young artists being completely eaten by the machine while they are money makers. But like he said, saying no because of you family doesn’t seem to go that well in a world of nannies and vanity.
Oh josh. I loved him so much in Pearl Harbor, when I was in high school. I think it’s good Christian bale was batman in the end though. He’s a much better actor than josh IMO. Josh kind of reminds me of Keanu reeves.
STILL HOT.
If he had taken Superman in 2006 it could of hurt his career just as much as passing on it. The movie was a shit show and killed the career of Brandon Routh as any potential movie star. But blowing off Chris Nolan was a bone head move.
To the comment above about Billie Piper staying dead, well she most likely will be undeaded as the Bride of Frankenstein’s Victor.
I also go with / remember something about the Katie Holmes theory.
Word was that even when Katie was early dating Cruise, she would still hook up with Hartnett. She got pregnant and Cruise took advantage of this, went far along with Suri being his daughter and He even paid Hartnett to go under the radar for a bit, so the press could not speculate. That’s why he “took some time off”.
At least that’s what I remember reading back in the day.
Never heard. The rumor was always Chris Kline since they were engaged.
Suri really does look like Tom Cruise in some of her pictures.
The thing with Josh Hartnett is that he thought that he had the talent to become DiCaprio and was all like: “I don‘t want to be teen idol and do those movies or superheroes one. I will be serious actor. I’ll turn down those silly movies and wait for Scorsese and Tarantino”.
But serious roles in big movies didn’t come. Because he is simply not that interesting and doesnt have that talent. And when he understood it – it was too late. Everyone stopped caring. And its too late now because his “teen face” is gone.
I’m watching 6-th season of Entourage now and after this interview Josh reminded me Vincent Chase. Remember how in early seasons pretty boy Vince got lucky to become popular and get in megabig movie and then was like: “I don’t care. Ill turn down sequel and piss off studio moguls and powerful people”. And then he coulndt find any role because no one wanted to work with him because he had the reputation that he didnt care and could let down. This is like when Josh rutned down Nolan and other and was like: “I don’t care about big movies”. And Hollywood stopped caring because there are plenty of other pretty boys that will care and work.
I didn’t get that from his words. It seems to me that yes, he wanted to be taken seriously but the problem was the lack of control, expectations, the pressure to become something he was not entirely sure it was for him. And then there were no expectations and the moment was gone. But still, being famous as an overnight success has messed up a lot of people, I guess his reaction was quite understandable.
Its the same with boybands often. They work, get crazy popular sudden and are tired of it and want to live normal life and quit/split up and tnink that they can have solo career later when they rest from fame. Only to realize that no one cares for them anymore. And THEN after 5-10 years they miss that fame and money and want to bring back those glorious years when they were on top. And they remember in interviews how popular they were.
Same with Josh. He thought he will hide from teen fame and get back. But no one cared anymore.
I’m not sure if he hid before thinking he would then come back on his terms, he used the word “panic” and that leads me to thinking he was scared and had no strategy. But about what you wrote on boybands, you are seeing it just with the perspective of arrogant teens who think they know-it-all with the world at their feet, but you can’t consider that and not also add the amount of pressure and external control they have to deal with when they are still not sure of who they are. Some get really messed up while trying to be what everyone thinks they should be. I don’t see arrogance in trying to get in control of your life.
This dude is handsome and I love him in Penny Dreadful, but I’ve never gotten the impression that he’s hiding some dynamic personality that would lend itself to a superhero role. There’s something about him that reminds me of Jeff Bridges–not stoner “The Dude” Bridges–but like he hears a different drummer and is moving to a slower beat than most Hollywood celebs. I’d like to see him in a really good Western. He’s has a little of the Gary Cooper persona about him.
I never forgot about Josh. I think some people on here are being incredibly harsh. People are always telling actors and actresses such as JLaw to leave the spotlight momentarily. Well, that’s exactly what Josh did. He had a hugely successful career and wasn’t sure if he wanted to reach a higher height. He returned home to be with his loved ones and has worked steadily on smaller projects. Okay, he might not have been a Christian Bale but Christian ALWAYS protests about how much he hates the acting process and how he only does so largely for the money. He also could have gone the way of Heath who had the world in his palm and sadly lost it all to addiction.
So really in many ways Josh dodged a bullet and made an INCREDIBLY humble, respectable and self-aware choice. If he felt he wasn’t ready for such fame, he was probably right. He didn’t disappear in a haze of drugs and scandal – he voluntarily stepped away.
He still has an impressive body of work, he is a gorgeous man, hugely talented and seems a very humble man to work with. I believe he still has a place in Hollywood if he wants it. Best of luck to you Josh.
+1
He needs a good haircut.