With his film career once again on a roll, Josh Hartnett is reflecting on the difficult circumstances that led to him stepping away from the spotlight at a time when he seemed destined to become a major Hollywood star.
Busy The Guardian While promoting his new movie Trap this weekend, Hartnett revealed that he turned down offers to play Superman in two separate projects, a decision he said he came to after struggling with the amount of attention he would receive from fans and the media.
“The level of interest in me at the time was unhealthy,” he explained. “There were incidents. People were coming to my house, people were stalking me.”
The breaking point, according to Hartnett, was when “a guy showed up to my premiere with a gun and claimed to be my father. He ended up going to jail.” According to the outlet, the incident happened in 2005, around the same time the Minnesota-born actor was rising to matinee idol status with a string of films including “Wicker Park” and “Sin City.”
In addition to turning down the chance to play Superman twice, Hartnett also admitted that director Christopher Nolan approached him to play Batman in The Dark Knight before Christian Bale got the role.
“I didn’t want my work to consume my life,” he says. “The idea was to give it all up. I saw what happened to some people back then. They were consumed by work. I didn’t want that for myself.”
Mark Mainz (via Getty Images)
In fact, Hartnett never gave up acting entirely, but from that point on, he began opting for more offbeat, lower-profile projects, and while his acting continued to receive praise, it didn’t stop there. Many outlets From the assumptions He turned away He had no interest in his chosen profession.
Interestingly, Hartnett will be returning to the big screen after co-starring with Nolan in last year’s Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer, in a supporting role. As the main character “Trap,” M. Night Shyamalan’s film that opens Friday, is a thriller about a seemingly doting father, Cooper (played by Hartnett), who takes his teenage daughter (Ariel Donahue) to a pop concert.
However, as is typical of Shyamalan’s filmography, there is a major twist in which it is revealed that Hartnett’s character may be a suspected serial killer on the run from the authorities.
Of course, “Trap” is a full-fledgedHeart Netisance” some people say. PredictedEither way, Hartnett says she’s now adopted a more balanced approach to taking on acting projects while avoiding the pitfalls of fame.
“I struggle with focusing my career on what interests me, but I don’t think that’s the most important thing,” he told The Guardian. “It’s about finding people you can really trust.”
