Hacker hunt leaves star a bit paranoid

Blackhat, starring Chris Hemsworth, is about a convict and his partners hunting a global cybercrime network.

Chris Hemsworth swaps Thor's hammer for computer keyboard to save the world.

After diving into the world of cyber criminals in Blackhat, Chris Hemsworth resurfaced with some serious typing skills and more than a little paranoia.

Hemsworth, who has a self-proclaimed aversion to social media, had to head to "computer school" to pull off playing a hacker in Michael Mann's thriller, which is released on DVD, digital and Blu-ray this week.

"It felt like being back in high school," Hemsworth says.

"I was sort of thankful for the experience post all of that, but during it I can't say it was the most enjoyable thing to me."

In Blackhat, Hemsworth swaps Thor's hammer for a keyboard to save the world, playing a convicted hacker who must help authorities hunt a global cybercrime network.

First there was learning to type, then delving into the intricacies of hacking, computer code and Unix commands.

It did not come easily to Hemsworth, who doesn't even have a Facebook or Instagram account (he did cave and join the Twittersphere in March).

The 31-year-old father of three said he doesn't understand the attraction.

"I have a big aversion to all of it, to be honest," he said.

"I have enough stupid reasons to be on my phone, let alone things like that which would take me away from spending time with the kids."

Although working on Blackhat may have forced his hand, because he's hyper-aware now.

"It's nuts. I don't have a Facebook, and at first, that was it, I didn't care," he said. "But not having one is just as bad, because you then have people pretending to be you, posting things about you or claiming to be you, which is dangerous in itself again.

"We have to embrace it."

If Hemsworth sounds a bit paranoid, it's not surprising.

He worked with real-life hackers to bring his character Nick Hathaway to life realistically - and they really opened his eyes to how exposed people are online.

"I think it certainly led to a little bit of paranoia with computers and phones and storing knowledge that we think is secret, but isn't," he said.

"It sort of changed the way I did things in that regard."

It made him want to understand it more, particularly as cybercrime becomes increasingly pertinent, in a world of WikiLeaks, Sony hacks and whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden.

Hemsworth said Blackhat is the kind of film that seems to become more and more relevant.

"Now I think people have a much greater understanding of it and fear of it than there might have been the case a couple of years ago when we started shooting it," he said, about cybercrime and storing information online.

"What we all have to do, is [know] we can't take it for granted and assume it's all safe and sound."

- AAP