Chris Hemsworth Changed His Life After an Ominous Health Warning

Does acting still excite you? Is it the kind of thing you want to keep doing or do you see yourself thinking, Maybe I’ll open a winery?

It does excite me. I'm going to recharge now and just not be so focused on the future—and what's next? And what else is coming? And what haven't I done? I'm in a state of, not passive, but a little more surrendering to [the idea that] things are as they are. I don't mean that in a sort of apathetic way, but there's a stillness to my thinking about it all now.

I can talk to you for hours about what I want to do, but it doesn't fill my head 24/7 like it used to. That's not out of having lost any of the passion for it, it's just a sense of contentment, and with being very proud of what I've done and the experiences I've had. I welcome whatever comes next.

But it's nice to sit now without the urgency or the anxiety of: “Quick! I need a job!” Or, “What if they don't give you another opportunity? What if this is the last one?”

Is that thinking necessary to succeed?

In order to get into this business, there's a desperation to it. There are a lot of nos, the odds are against you, so you need to be obsessive about it. And then you get to a point of achieving those things and the obsessive nature is still there. That's when it gets a little troublesome. That's when I think you're running past what you've thought was the dream scenario. I think I just want to, day by day, simplify again.

Being in these epic-sized movies is still going to be hard.

Yeah, I think it's enjoyable when I'm rested and I'm prepared. When I've gone from one to another straight off the back of each one, then it's exhausting and you kind of forget why you're doing it. I'm excited to do things in a more limited sort of—not limited, what's the word?

Curated. In a more curated way. I felt a sense of guilt when I would say no to a film before. There was a part of me that was like, “Who do you think you are? You've never had this opportunity and here it is! You're going to let it go and pass you by?” Now I'm much more comfortable saying no and much more at ease with it all. I'm very thankful for that. I'm glad I'm not having this conversation 20 years from now and my kids have grown up and left my home.

I've had older, very experienced directors go, “Don't do what I did.” They talk about their kids having grown up—and they missed it. What was interesting about it was, they were admitting the fault—but at the same time, they were still on set, still doing it. There's an addictive quality to it, I think, about being in the mix and being a part of the chase and being part of the adrenaline that comes with all of it.

People ultimately do what they want, even if later it isn't what they wish they had done.

Yeah, you can simultaneously still be doing the same thing knowing it's wrong but have no intention to change it either. It's like, “I know it's not right, but…”

I'm not talking about retiring by any means, but like you said: it's a more curated approach to things.