If you’re a Westworld or Neighbours fan or love Marvel cameos, you’d be familiar with Luke Hemsworth’s portfolio.
If not, it’s time to meet the eldest of the Hemsworth triumvirate, as 41-year-old Luke gracefully steps onto centre stage in a new coming-of-age Australian film shot entirely in his Byron Bay backyard at the height of the global pandemic.
He’s speaking ahead of the national release of Australian film Bosch & Rockit, where he plays the lead role of wayward father Bosch, who makes one bad decision in his life and endeavours to right the wrongs on an emotional 1990s “run from the law” road trip with his teenage son down the New South Wales coast.
In a couple of firsts, it’s also Australian director Tyler Atkins first feature film – he won The Amazing Race and worked in the US as a model – and is based on some true stories from his life.
Although Hemsworth has been in and out of the business of making movies since his career launched, he knows what it takes.
He had some misgivings about his onscreen son played by local rising star, 16-year-old professional surfer Rasmus King, who was making his debut, “was untrained … and had very little life experience”.
“He was really forged in the fire,” Hemsworth said in an interview with Atkins ahead of the film’s release on August 18.
“The set can sometimes break people [but] Rasmus got better and better under pressure. The crew created a space where he could grow, experiment, f–k up, and no-one was yelling at him, judging him. We worked on it as well.
“It was important that Rasmus and I had a connection … it was easy, we hung out, went surfing, we spent a lot of time breaking the scripts down, pulling them apart.”
Luke Hemsworth a late bloomer
After graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), Hemsworth made his acting debut in 2001 as Nathan Tyson in Neighbours.
He scored episodic runs in TV series including All Saints, Bikie Wars and Winners and Losers and eventually scored big as security officer Ashley Stubbs in cult HBO sci-fi series Westworld.
His movie debut came in 2014 with The Reckoning and The Anomaly but he struggled to make an impact in the industry.
Seeking financial security, he took a break from acting and established his own flooring business.
He even hired his famous brothers Chris (Thor: Love and Thunder, Extraction franchise) and Liam (The Dressmaker, Hunger Games franchise) as employees.
He tried his hand at acting once more, and eventually broke into Hollywood, but not initially as an actor.
Instead, he became Chris’s personal fitness trainer for Thor: The Dark World and has starred in cameo roles, ironically playing Thor on stage in the latest Love and Thunder chapter.
When asked about this being his time to shine with the premiere of Bosch & Rockit, the father-of-three smiled, humble to the end.
“Everyone is very supportive.
“We are our best critics, besides ourselves, my brothers are my best sounding boards for problems and fears and success.
“It’s cool. It’s been great to have them on board.”
‘Unconscious parenting’ and themes of forgiveness
At the essence of Bosch & Rockit is a film about parenting, the repercussions of choices, and its impacts on children.
“One of the core intentions in making this film was to open a conversation around parenting and what our actions are doing to our children,” Aktins tells The New Daily.
“The juxtaposition of this is it’s shot through Rasmus’s eyes, and showing that through adversity you can still grow and it doesn’t have to be the end of you if you’ve had a hard life. That was my intention when I made this movie.”
Set in the 1990s, using a backdrop of a wide surf coast and a soundtrack full of the hits we all remember, Rockit’s mother is off the scene, his dad is running from the law, and all the boy wants is love and a solid family, so he finds solace in a teenage girlfriend and his beloved surfboard.
Bosch gives his all trying to protect his son. Rockit struggles to come to terms with the hand he has been dealt … it’s a film that exposes the devastation that unconscious parenting and addiction can have on a family, it is a story that ultimately gives us hope that no matter what our circumstances are, we will find a way through, reads the official synopsis.
“It’s really about forgiveness. Bosch made one bad choice and you see how much it can change your life and everyone around you from the choices you make,” adds Atkins.
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As a Hemsworth who still holds on to his old life, the heartbreaking father-son scenes towards the end of the film are gold.
“[Atkins] shot it chronologically, so by the time we got to those scenes, he was hitting his straps. He didn’t want to rehearse,” Hemsworth said.
“You could hear a pin drop when he was doing that stuff. It was amazing energy on set. Sometimes you get those feelings where you know you’re getting something really cool and I’m glad we captured it on screen.
“It’s raw, honest, and it’s heartbreaking … my heart was breaking standing opposite him.”
What’s next for Luke … and maybe his brothers?
Hemsworth’s face lights up when asked about future projects on and off screen.
He loves his timber and his grandmother’s passionfruit vines.
“I’ve been sanding back all the outdoor tables and chairs. I love working with timber … I love watching all the grain come out. The colours. I don’t think I’ll ever lose that.
“My granddad was a carpenter and there’s something about the smell of sawdust and sanding that transports me back to those moments.”
As for sharing the screen with Chris and Liam?
“We’d all love to work together, it’s just a matter of finding the time, the right project. Chris is very busy, Liam is always busy, it’s a miracle we’ve all been in one place for so long, it just happened to be because of the way the world has been.
“Who knows? There’s always things floating around.”
Bosch and Rockit is now showing nationally in select cinemas
