Chris Hemsworth Was Really Set On Fire For Extraction 2's One-Take Action Sequence
Chris Hemsworth is returning as action man Tyler Rake in Netflix's "Extraction 2" this summer. While the movie will largely exist via the world of streaming, make no mistake: this is a genuine blockbuster. Returning director Sam Hargrave and producers Joe and Anthony Russo, aka the Russo brothers, pulled no punches this time around. Case in point, they straight-up lit Hemsworth on fire as part of a massive, 20-minute action sequence.
Speaking with Empire Magazine in the latest issue of the publication, Hargrave explained that the "Thor" star went to pretty impressive lengths to help make this massive action sequence something special. That included lighting his arm on fire over and over again during a massive brawl, which was teased in the movie's trailer. Here's what Hargrave had to say about it:
"For me, the image of Chris Hemsworth beating the s*** out of a bunch of prisoners, while on fire, in the snow was something that I couldn't pass up. And hats off to Chris. It wasn't CG fire. And he had to do it over and over. I don't know a lot of people, let alone Hollywood A-listers, who are gonna let you light them on fire while on camera."
Granted, it wasn't Hemsworth's entire body or anything like that, but dangers were still very present. "If the wind blows the wrong way, the moneymaker's right here," Hargrave joked. "We had a bunch of different jackets all prepped for him, with different layers. But we lit Chris Hemsworth on fire, and he beat up a bunch of guys all night. It was pretty incredible to watch."
A oner for the ages
Joe Russo penned the screenplay for the sequel to the 2020 hit (read our review of the first film here), and did so intending to top what came before. The huge, 20-minute action sequence that Hemsworth lit himself on fire for was described as "the craziest oner in cinema history" in the script. Given that the first film already had a pretty crazy one-take action sequence, that's no small task.
"It's an insane undertaking," Hargrave explained to Empire. "It travels miles of terrain over the course of the sequence, and many minutes of time. It's very ambitious." While the filmmaker admitted they didn't actually pull it off in one take (which would be logistically impossible), he said it will be presented as one long sequence with natural cut points built in so they could actually film it, which took place over the course of nearly 30 days:
"We build in certain stitch points where we could. But in those broken-up pieces you still have sequences that will be between 30 seconds and a minute-and-a-half. Sometimes there are 50, 60, 75 moves in a row with dozens of stunt performers. And it was at night, in the middle of winter. Chris had red ears and a red nose because he was freezing."
We'll see if it lives up to the hype this summer but, if nothing else, nobody can accuse Hemsworth of phoning it in.
"Extraction 2" arrives on Netflix on June 16, 2023. Here's the film's synopsis:
Chris Hemsworth returns as Tyler Rake in "Extraction 2," the sequel to Netflix's blockbuster action film "Extraction." After barely surviving the events of the first movie, Rake is back as the Australian black ops mercenary, tasked with another deadly mission: rescuing the battered family of a ruthless Georgian gangster from the prison where they are being held.