For 11 years, Australian actor Chris Hemsworth has been the perfect Marvel superhero, playing Thor, the invincible God of Thunder, with his mighty power, unmatched strength and eternal youth.
But that’s Hollywood.
In real life, the 39-year-old is feeling a little more vulnerable and, in the name of science, has put up his hand to be a human guinea pig.
In a six-part National Geographic series Disney+ directed by Darren Aronofsky (The Whale), the Byron Bay-based father of three is swapping his make-believe studio and SGI antics for some seriously insane death-defying stunts.
With no hammer or gold-plated chest armour in sight, Limitless shows Hemsworth pushing his body … well … to the limit – all in the name of science.
Dangling from a skyscraper crane hundreds of metres from the ground, plunging underwater with his hands tied or holding his breath for minutes on end, Hemsworth wants to explore the potential of the human body and how to defy ageing.
“It was one extreme after another – a series of scientific experiments where I was the guinea pig,” Hemsworth tells Entertainment Weekly.
“I was just in awe of the individuals I was working with who did this day to day. But also, I gained a beautiful understanding and appreciation for how incredible the human body and mind is, and what potential we all have.”
Why is he doing this?
Hemsworth asks himself the same question.
“Disney wanted to make a show about longevity,” he says in the new teaser trailer.
“I’m getting older now, I don’t feel invincible.
“It makes me want to push myself to such an extreme and live as long as I can and continue to make the most of every moment.
The official Disney synopsis reads: “New scientific research is shattering conventional wisdom about the human body and offering fascinating insights into how we can all unlock our body’s superpowers to fight illness, perform better and even reverse the ageing process!
“This science is put to the test by Hemsworth, who, despite being in peak superhero-condition, is on a personal mission to learn how to stay young, healthy, strong, and resilient.”
When Hemsworth was asked what made him nervous about a challenge the experts had in store for him, he replied: “Ah, death is usually the big one, yeah.”
He’s being told they’re going to “change his body to reboot his system”.
“We’re basically going to need Chris Hemsworth 2.0,” says one trainer.
Push harder, live longer is the motto
Hemsworth is perfect subject matter for the show.
He’s in perfect shape, and as his regular Instagram posts show, he’s all about training every day, lifting weights, suggesting how to do rest and repeats and dumbbell alternating reverse lunges and curls.
Aronofsky, who previously directed One Strange Rock and Welcome to Earth for National Geographic, developed the idea for Limitless out of a personal interest in mortality and the booming anti-ageing industry, according to EW.
His 2006 film The Fountain also contributed to his fascination with living a long time.
“There’s this very normal human fear of death that has kind of become a big point of conversation in culture right now,” he said.
“Mostly because the boomers are getting really old, and suddenly a lot of resources are going into the science of longevity.
“All the biggest tech companies have all these departments and wings that are looking into it.”
“There was this one throwaway line in The Fountain, which is, ‘Death is a disease, and I’m going to cure it’ … I remember when that line was in the movie, I debated if it was just too crazy of a line to stick in the film and [whether] people would think it was ridiculous.
“Now, it seems like lots of people are taking it seriously.”
Hemsworth was reportedly joined by his brothers Luke and Liam for his journey to the Arctic.
“That was a super hard, scary experience,” said Aronofsky.
“It was really dangerous. You’re asking Chris Hemsworth, one of the biggest stars in the world, to take an Arctic swim.
“To see him rise to that occasion was spectacular.”
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