Josh Hartnett | Explain This | Esquire
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00:00Did you know you were a style meme?
00:02No, but that's hilarious.
00:03That's the style that people like?
00:06Is that a li- do they like it?
00:08Or is it just a meme because it's bizarre?
00:12I'm gonna say that I look like I weigh about 12 pounds
00:16and I'm wearing my dad's shirt
00:18over my dad's shirt.
00:21Hi, I'm Josh Hartnett
00:23and Esquire wanted to ask me some things.
00:30How did the Bear cameo come to be?
00:32I've known Christor for a long time.
00:35He and I were talking about doing his first film together
00:38years ago and he was, you know,
00:41giving me the background of the story that he wanted to tell,
00:44which was in Chicago as well.
00:46And then he also just told me about this other script
00:48that he had on the side because his sister's a chef
00:50and he wanted to do a film about a family
00:52in this small restaurant in Chicago.
00:56I don't think it was called The Bear yet,
00:58but it was another film script.
01:00And then we never ended up making our film.
01:02We lost touch.
01:03And like two years ago, The Bear came out.
01:05I watched it.
01:06I was like, holy shit, that's Chris.
01:08Gave him a call.
01:09I was like, congratulations.
01:10You've got the biggest show in the world right now
01:12and it's the thing we talked about.
01:14And he was like, yeah, you should come be in it.
01:17And so I did.
01:19And everybody just has a good time.
01:20It's like a five-hour workday.
01:22They shouldn't get away with that.
01:23Like somebody should go and-
01:24the fun police should go and like stop them
01:26because they're just like, they go to set
01:29and they like play for a few hours
01:31and by lunch they're all done.
01:33And then the show gets like Emmys and SAGs
01:37and you know, everybody watches it.
01:39It's just not fair.
01:40It's not fair.
01:41I mean, while I'm at it, it's totally fair.
01:43Have you ever been tempted to play a superhero?
01:46Yeah, I've been tempted, of course.
01:49There isn't a genre that I wouldn't be tempted to explore.
01:53It's not about the genre.
01:55It's about what you think you can bring to the character.
01:58And I think what's clear about the films
02:00that I've done in my career,
02:02I'm always looking for something
02:03that's a little bit challenging, a little bit new.
02:05So I'll continue to do that.
02:07And if at some point that happens to be a superhero role,
02:10it will be.
02:11I don't know.
02:12So how did I prepare to play a tough role
02:14like a serial killer?
02:15Read a lot of books about sociopathy.
02:18Try to understand what this type of person
02:23would find alarming and what they wouldn't.
02:26And maybe throw in a bit of mania.
02:30All of us have a light in our personalities,
02:33but Cooper's lights are maybe a little brighter
02:36and his darks are definitely darker.
02:39And that's fun to take on.
02:42Knight said to me that he thought
02:43that this character should be in Technicolor,
02:46meaning just sort of very vibrant.
02:48And for me as an actor, that was a challenge to pull off.
02:52Also, also a lot of fun
02:54because challenges are the most fun.
02:56If you were offered a journey into space,
02:58would you take it?
02:59I love this question.
03:01So I've heard two theories on this.
03:03One, it's unlike anything that you've ever experienced
03:08or would ever experience.
03:09So you should because it's phenomenal
03:12to go out into the great unknown,
03:15look back at where we are
03:17and recontextualize your experience of your life.
03:20But then I heard David Attenborough,
03:22who I love, say recently,
03:24why would you go into space?
03:25There's nothing there.
03:26All the good stuff's down here.
03:28I think I've always had a fascination with space
03:30because part of that, a few generations of people,
03:33post-moon landing, who are obsessed with it.
03:37I don't know.
03:38I saw Star Wars too many times.
03:39Of course, I want a lightsaber.
03:41First off, I've been a huge fan of Black Mirror
03:43since the beginning.
03:44I think Charlie Brooker's a genius.
03:47He's from satire.
03:49That's what I think levels up that show so much
03:53because over the years,
03:55there have been lots of attempts
03:56at making something that's similar to that
03:58and people can't pull it off
04:00because they're too self-serious.
04:01They're trying to find a way to predict the future
04:03and just leave it at that.
04:04Charlie's not necessarily trying to predict the future.
04:06He's thinking of the most absurd outcome
04:09and it just happens to come true a lot.
04:11What do you remember from this moment in your career?
04:14If I remember correctly,
04:15I wasn't supposed to be on the cover of this
04:17and they put me on the cover after the fact
04:20and I look like I'm like 11 years old.
04:24Whoever the giant person with sparkly red lips
04:27that kissed me was very sweet.
04:31All I remember is that it was all sort of brand new to me
04:34and then when they party for this at Sundance
04:36when it was coming out,
04:37Johnny Rotten was there,
04:40which is very cool.
04:41Of all the characters you've created,
04:43which of your characters would you most want to have a dinner with
04:46and why?
04:47Well, there's a lot I could just cross off the list right away.
04:50I mean, it'd be nice to go out to dinner with Zeke.
04:52What is Zeke up to these days?
04:54But then again, you know, Ethan Chandler's not too bad.
04:57Not many chances to meet a werewolf.
04:59I've met Matt Eversman, who is a real guy.
05:02I have had a meal with him.
05:04I think I'm going to go with my initial instinct and say Zeke.
05:07I want to know if he's still selling scat
05:09and who's buying it.
05:11So what comes to mind when you recall
05:13working with Michael Bay on Pearl Harbor?
05:15There was massive explosions on set every day.
05:18We were running around in the actual place.
05:23I'm surprised no one got hurt.
05:25But it was a wonderful experience.
05:28We were in Hawaii and we were making something
05:30that was a beautiful romantic film
05:33that had the backdrop of World War II.
05:36I don't know.
05:37I just had a really nice time.
05:39It was also a very interesting moment in my career
05:42because I had done Versus Suicides at the faculty
05:45in Halloween H20,
05:46but I hadn't done something really big like this.
05:49Ben and I got along really well.
05:51Everybody on set was very kind.
05:54It was my first experience of a giant film.
05:57So what was the audition process like for Oppenheimer?
06:00It wasn't really an audition process.
06:03I've known Chris for a long time.
06:07They called me and said that they wanted me
06:10to look at the script.
06:12They asked me if I would make a tape.
06:15I did, but apparently Chris didn't watch it
06:19and he just hired me.
06:23How did you come to direct Kid Cudi's
06:25Pursuit of Happiness music video?
06:27I met Scott, Kid Cudi, in New York
06:30when he was having his first gig
06:32just after Day and Night came out.
06:34He came out and he was awesome.
06:36His performance was amazing.
06:37I was like, this kid is going to be huge.
06:39He came off stage and he was like,
06:40hey man, I know you.
06:42I was like, oh yeah, I'm Josh, how are you?
06:44He's like, I'm Scott.
06:45He's like, do you want to be friends?
06:47I swear to God, that guy list.
06:50Over the course of the first year of hanging out,
06:52he was like, I want to do a new video
06:54for this new thing that I've got.
06:55I wrote the concept for it and then he loved it
06:58and we went and shot it in one night.
07:00Thank you for joining me and asking me questions
07:02and I hope I gave you guys really insightful answers,
07:05which I don't usually do.
07:08Please go watch me in Trap.