Being the Thunder God son of Odin means you’re going to see a lot of action, and Chris Hemsworth has undoubtedly shown up with the physicality to handle all the fantastical enemies a God would encounter. However, it’s widely known that in order to film the otherworldly scenes of the Marvel universe, it involves a lot of wires and green screen manipulation. Entertainment Weekly reports that Hemsworth finds it much more satisfying to do the stunts for his gritty action film Extraction, which will have a sequel coming to Netflix in the summer of next year.
Hemsworth returns as his character Tyler Rake, and while the first had some incredibly ambitious action set pieces, including an extended sequence through an apartment building to the city streets in one uninterrupted shot, Hemsworth says the stunts in this new film are “the most detailed and exhausting fight training I’ve ever been a part of.” He continues, “We sort of went for the moon. In a very crowded world of action, I think we did something that’s very unique.”
Hemsworth is not averse to working very intensely with the action designers for his complicated fight sequences. He boasts about filming one scene that takes place in a prison yard filled with 300 extras in the snow. “There’s something so satisfying about that. Not to take anything away from the special-effects-filled sort of Marvel film, but you have a lot of help in post-production there. Obviously, I can’t fly, so they help through me that. Whereas in this film, the action is grounded in reality, and so much of it is in camera. So, it’s a different energy, and the preparation is a lot more extensive.”
There will also be a scene where Rake faces off against an army of enemies as he lands a helicopter on a moving train. Hemsworth says of the scene, “Probably the most intense part was not so much the exhaustion levels but just the sheer terror of all the things that could have gone wrong, but thankfully didn’t.” The director, Sam Hargrave, also reflects on that day, “I will never forget standing underneath that helicopter. I was our camera operator for that moment, so I was filming. I could reach out with my hand, and I could have high-fived our pilot. It was amazing.”