Movies Chris Hemsworth says he threw the superhero rulebook 'out the window' for Furiosa Plus, what it was like not "being in the somewhat predictable box of the hero." By Lauren Huff Lauren Huff Lauren Huff is a writer at Entertainment Weekly with over a decade of experience covering all facets of the entertainment industry. After graduating with honors from the University of Texas at Austin (Hook 'em, Horns!), Lauren wrote about film, television, awards season, music, and more for the likes of The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood, Us Weekly, Awards Circuit, and others before landing at EW in May 2019. EW's editorial guidelines Published on May 1, 2024 02:00PM EDT EW's 2024 Summer Preview has dozens of exclusive looks at the most anticipated TV shows, movies, books, and music of entertainment's hottest season. Continue to visit ew.com throughout May for more previews of what you'll be watching, reading, and listening to in the months to come. Chris Hemsworth just can't escape that cape life. For his star-making turn as Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he had to wear a red one. In his upcoming film Furiosa, he also dons the garment, despite the fact his villainous warlord Dementus is a far cry from his superhero character. During an interview with Entertainment Weekly for our Summer Movie Preview cover story, Hemsworth is in the middle of discussing how much of a departure his new role in the post-apocalyptic Mad Max: Fury Road prequel is for him, when he's suddenly struck by the idea of capes. Chris Hemsworth as Dementus in 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga'. Jasin Boland/Warner Bros. “Yeah, it was a real departure, and it was nice...” he says before stopping himself. “I was about to say it was nice not to wear a cape, but…I did have a cape in this film. And it’s red — or it becomes red eventually, as well. The absurdity of that.” Hemsworth says he brought up this absurdity to his Furiosa director, George Miller, who had not clocked the amusing similarity. “It’s not intentional to be a comparison of Thor,” the actor says, “but I found a wonderful departure to it. To play the villain, transform, and inhabit a completely different physicality was a lot of fun. I loved it. And it was the real attraction.” He also cites working with Miller and a desire "to dirty it up and to be messy and ugly and violent and chaotic, rather than being in the somewhat predictable box of the hero in a superhero space” as reasons he wanted to do the film, which serves as an origin story for Fury Road character Furiosa. Hemsworth adds, “There's a whole lot of rules that you have to stick to [with superhero films]. With this, I could throw that out the window, which was nice.” Chris Hemsworth behind the scenes of 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' with director George Miller. Jasin Boland/Warner Bros. Seated beside him as he says this is Furiosa herself, Anya Taylor-Joy, who promptly jumps in to ask if, after all these years of wearing capes, he hates them. Hemsworth replies instantly, “Hate ‘em. So impractical.” To underscore his point, he tells his costar that he was constantly getting his capes stuck in doors. And, when he played Thor in the Marvel films, he actually had two different capes for shooting. "On Thor, there was [one cape] that was a foot or so shorter than the normal cape, for fighting, because you were tripping over it all the time. So impractical." Edna Mode of The Incredibles said it best: "No capes!" Furiosa races into theaters on May 24. Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more. Related content: Hitting the Fury Road: Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth go inside Furiosa, their full-throttle Mad Max prequel Everything we learned about Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga from new CinemaCon sneak peek Could the next Danny Trejo be in Furiosa?