Chris Hemsworth and Rudhraksh Jaiswal in a scene from Netflix film, Extraction. Photo / Supplied
Chris Hemsworth and Rudhraksh Jaiswal in a scene from Netflix film, Extraction. Photo / Supplied
Chris Hemsworth will always be Thor. No one can take that away from him.
But he's certainly got some competition from his younger brother Liam, who is looking incredibly buff of late.
news.com.au caught up with Hemsworth this week (over video call, of course) to chat about his new Netflix film Extraction - and we couldn't resist asking him if he thought his little bro had become the fitter Hemsworth.
"I think he's done it," Hemsworth, 36, said. "Did you see the Men's Health cover? I thought, 'Not bad kid. Not bad'.
"He's out there training and staying fit, and back in Australia doing his thing.
"It's Australian living, I guess. We got him out of Malibu!" Hemsworth added with a grin, a quip that was met with laughs from his Extraction director Sam Hargraves, also on the interview.
Malibu is where Liam lived with his ex-wife, American pop star Miley Cyrus.
Cyrus even wrote a hit single in 2017 titled Malibu, which was about finding love again with Liam.
Liam Hemsworth(left) giving his big bro a run for his hammer. Photo / Supplied
Of course, Hemsworth himself is keeping fit amid Covid-19 isolation, where he said he was enjoying spending more time with his family, wife Elsa Pataky and their three kids, at their home in Byron Bay.
And he does mean that literally. When we caught up with him via Zoom, his kids were climbing on him.
"I've got the kids who are in the background jumping around making noise," Hemsworth said.
"Trying to home school them is certainly a challenge. Trying to do an interview with one on the back of the chair is a challenge.
"But it's kind of nice to be home at the moment and not be travelling all over the globe and be with the family a bit more."
Chris Hemsworth and his wife, Elsa Pataky. Photo / Instagram
Hemsworth's latest role is as Tyler Rake in the Netflix action film Extraction, which hits the streaming platform next Thursday. He plays a fearless black market mercenary whose skills are needed to rescue a child kidnapped and imprisoned by an international crime lord in India.
He teamed up with Avengers: Endgame stunt co-ordinator Sam Hargraves, who makes his directorial debut on the film, bringing the extreme stunts he's known for.
"The whole thing was by far the most exhausting shoot I've ever been a part of," Hemsworth said.
"Sam and I have worked together on Avengers films and I knew it was going to be full of all the talent he was going to bring to the table with actions and stunts, but he took it up to a whole new level that I hadn't experienced before.
"You know, you have Sam strapped to the bonnet of a car, diving off buildings with you in amongst fight sequences.
"The camera work has an energy for us as performers that's pure adrenaline. And exhaustion."
Chris Hemsworth in a scene from Extraction. Photo / Supplied
As for who was the best stunt actor on Endgame, between the likes of Hollywood's biggest action stars including Hemsworth, Robert Downey Junior, Chris Evans and Tom Holland, Hargraves was quickly cut off.
"[I'm] way better, I'll answer that. Just way better," Hemsworth said.
"Obviously," Hargraves added.
Robert Downey Jnr and Chris Hemsworth. Whose tougher? Chris says Chris is. Photo / Instagram
"It was interesting, movies like that you've got 32 different stars that all share the screen at different times of the story that you have to piece together.
"Then this movie [Extraction] is Chris' movie, it's a different machine. This was our arthouse action movie.
"He was there for rehearsals for the character for a long time.
"We'd shoot an action sequence and then we'd both be there with the stunt guys rehearsing after that, so it was a very intimate collaborative experience and took our relationship to a new level."
And some good news for Marvel fanatics. Hemsworth also said he was in preparations for his next stint as the god of thunder, which is currently on hold as the world waits out the coronavirus pandemic.
"At some point with the next Thor movie, Thor: Love and Thunder, we're writing now and in the middle of prepping everything.
"It's been put on hold, as you can imagine, but that will be what I'm gonna dive straight into."
Extraction hits streaming on Netflix Thursday April 24.
