With his movie career once again in high gear, Josh Hartnett is looking back on the troubling circumstances that prompted him to retreat from the spotlight at a time when he seemed destined for Hollywood megastardom.
Speaking to The Guardian this weekend to promote his new film, Trap, Hartnett opened up about turning down the role of Superman in two separate projects. He said he arrived at that decision after he’d grown distressed at the amount of attention he was receiving from fans and the media.
“People’s attention to me at the time was borderline unhealthy,” he explained. “There were incidents. People showed up at my house. People that were stalking me.”
The breaking point, Hartnett said, was when “a guy showed up at one of my premieres with a gun, claiming to be my father. He ended up in prison.” According to the outlet, that incident took place in 2005, around the same time that the Minnesota-born actor was rising to matinee idol status following a string of films like Wicker Park and Sin City.
In addition to passing on the chance to portray Superman twice, Hartnett also acknowledged he’d been approached by director Christopher Nolan to play Batman in The Dark Night before Christian Bale landed the role.
“I just didn’t want my life to be swallowed up by my work,” he said. “And there was a notion at that time you just kind of give it all up. And you saw what happened to some people back then. They got obliterated by it. I didn’t want that for myself.”
Josh Hartnett at the Los Angeles premiere of "Wicker Park" in 2004. In reality, Hartnett never gave up acting completely. However, he notably began opting for more offbeat, less high-profile projects from that point onward. And though he continued to receive acclaim for his performances, that didn’t stop many outlets from assuming he’d turned his back on his chosen profession altogether.
Interestingly, Hartnett went on to work with Nolan in last year’s Oscar-winning smash Oppenheimer,”in which he had a supporting role. He returns to the big screen with a starring role in M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, out Friday. The thriller follows Cooper (played by Hartnett), a seemingly doting dad who accompanies his teen daughter (Ariel Donoghue) to a pop concert.
As is Shyamalan’s cinematic signature, however, there’s a big twist when it’s revealed that Hartnett’s character may also be a suspected serial killer on the run from the authorities.
Of course, only time will tell if Trap leads to a full-blown “Hartnettissance,” as some have predicted. Either way, Hartnett says he’s come to adapt a more balanced approach when it comes to pursuing acting projects while avoiding the pitfalls of fame.
“I’ve figured out that as much as you’re worried about curating your career to things you’re interested in, I don’t believe that’s the most important thing any more,” he told The Guardian. “It’s about finding people who you really trust.”
