Josh Hartnett Talks Career Priorities And New ‘Fight Or Flight' Movie

Forbes

08-05-2025

For decades, actor Josh Hartnett has taken on a variety of characters for the screen that have consistently drawn in audiences of multiple generations. From the 90s teen horror movie The Faculty to Pearl Harbor, followed by the Penny Dreadful series, Oppenheimer and Trap - just to name a few, Hartnett, 46, began his career as a young Hollywood heartthrob and has blossomed into a refreshingly unconventional leading man, who continues to keep us guessing with the roles that he chooses to take on.
In his latest movie, the action comedy Fight or Flight, Hartnett plays Lucas Reyes, a former FBI agent that is offered a chance at redemption with one final job, but he is ultimately faced with countless life-or-death obstacles in pursuit of his mission.
With Fight or Flight, which premieres only in theaters this weekend, Hartnett chose to do most of his own stunts throughout the movie's many elaborate combat scenes. Sitting down for a conversation with the seasoned actor, I wondered what initially interested him to want to add fight choreography and these other acting responsibilities to his performance.
Hartnett said, 'Well, this was like an opportunity that was unique for me because I haven't done anything in this sort of world where I've had to do my own stunts since I was 29. I did a movie called Bunraku when I was 29. I was 45 when we shot this, so you aren't getting a lot of people sending you scripts being like - Here, this is an opportunity for you to do all your own stunts in a movie. That doesn't happen very often. I was very excited to be able to pull that off, to try it - and the fact that we had such an amazing team of stunt guys and women, and they were able to kind of shepherd me through this whole process and nobody really got seriously hurt. It was an amazing experience.'
He went on to say that he would love to do a role like this again, but would prefer a little more time, as he shared that they shot Fight or Flight in 'such a short period of time and it felt like every day I was getting hurt. We just have to go back and do it again the next day. A little bit more recovery time would be nice.'
Since joining Christopher Nolan's Best Picture winner Oppenheimer and the praise he received in playing an unsuspecting serial killer in M. Night Shyamalan's Trap, a large group of moviegoers have come to call this era of Hartnett's career 'The Hartnett-aissance' - which he playfully says that the fan-driven term 'rolls off the tongue.'
So, what is it about his recent movie projects that he is perhaps enjoying more within his acting and character choices lately?
Josh Hartnett in the 2024 movie "Trap"
Warner Bros. Pictures
'I will say that working with directors that people are very interested in what they're going to do next helps because then you get an audience built in. I've always been trying to play unique characters in unique style films - things that I haven't done recently or that people haven't seen recently. Now, more people are interested in what I'm doing and I think it comes purely down to the people that I'm working with. These characters are each unique from each other. The next couple of films that I've got coming out are also incredibly unique and in different genres. I just feel so lucky to be able to jump from one style film to another and to be able to work with the caliber of people I've been able to work with recently. It's just luck, you know?'
Being someone who has been in the public eye now for more than two decades, I asked the well-known actor - Who is Josh Hartnett in 2025? What brings the biggest passion and purpose to your days?
Hartnett said, 'Oh, purpose is family. I've got four kids and I have to be dad way more often than I have to be me as a public figure or actor. That doesn't even enter into the equation most of the time and I only shoot one or two films a year. I spend most of my time with my family and am just dad, and for the most part, being beaten up by my kids. It's the thing that drives me but it's also the thing that gives me the most satisfaction. So, when I'm going to work, I want to make sure that it's worth it. I don't choose things, unless I really believe they're going to be awesome or really unique, or really kind of fun for the audience. There's not as much experimentation. I think in the - I'll just take it. I'll just take this job because it's something to do. I definitely don't do that anymore. I did that a little bit when I was younger, just like - It could be great. Who knows? I really want to be a part of something right now. I feel like this need to be creative. I want to be out there with these particular people. I don't want to do that, unless I'm really sure that it's going to have like an impact these days, because I don't want to spend the time away from home, unless I'm doing that. And so, it's made me sort of more clear-headed about what I choose to make.'
Being someone who has been a part of Hollywood for many years now and has seen the changes within the business, I was curious what Hartnett is liking about the ways of the entertainment industry today, and what things does he miss from yesteryear that he wishes were still in place.
'Well, I miss being younger, like physically. When we shot [Fight or Flight], I was definitely feeling it. I think things are constantly shifting in our business. There's a tendency to catastrophize the latest changes and to think - Oh, the movie business is never going to be the same again - and yet, it's persevered. I just hope people continue to see films together - that's the biggest thing. I do miss that there was that sort of round the water cooler conversation about the movies that came out the last weekend. Sometimes, that does happen still. When Sinners came out the last couple of weeks ago, there was a lot of conversation about it right after it came out. When Oppenheimer and Barbie came out, the same sort of thing. Every year, there's a few that come out that people are talking about, being a part of the zeitgeist. It used to be that there were more of those. I want that to be a thing that people participate in because I think you get more out of a film, watching it with a big group of people, personally. I love going to watch movies in theaters. I just hope people continue to do it.'
Looking ahead, Hartnett will star alongside Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson in Verity, a darker story from It Ends With Us author Colleen Hoover. Set for a May 2026 theatrical release, Hartnett plays Jeremy Crawford, the husband of a bestselling author (Hathaway), who hires a ghostwriter (Johnson) when his wife is unable to finish her novels after an accident.
Hartnett said of Verity, 'The reason that came about was that I had met Anne a few times. We said we wanted to work together, but you never know - people say those things - but then when she was producing this and they sent me the script, I was like - Oh, she really means it. Michael Showalter is an amazing director. I think he's got a really unique vision. He's been able to do a lot of different genres. He had a take on this that was so gothic and surprising and unlike anything else that I'd heard of from the Colleen Hoover world. Colleen herself was saying this is a unique book in her repertoire because it was the first one - it was nothing like the rest of them. It has a real sort of intensity to it. I don't want to give away anything, but just to be able to work with Anne and Michael was the first reason to come onto it. Dakota, I had never met before but she's an awesome actress and a true professional. We just had a lot of fun on-set making it. I think audiences are going to dig it.'
As I concluded the conversation with Hartnett, even after all of the characters that he has already taken on within his celebrated career thus far, I wondered if there are any particular characters or personas that he has in the back of his mind that he would still like to play in the near future.
'Oh, 100%. For me, it's like there are moments I see people engage in just normal life and I'm like - Wow, that was unique. Like, why did they do that? - try to figure out, psychologically, where they were at. Obviously, there's a lot of that in the news, but there's also a lot of that just in day-to-day life. I always kind of work backward from those moments and try to figure out someone's psychology. Then, I think - Oh, that'd be fun to play a character like that. I've got a few that I would like to play. The next one I'm going to do is going to be unique and fun, as well, and unlike anything I've done before. I can't say it yet because they haven't made an announcement on it yet. There are things that come along that are just surprising and they take you for a ride. Like [Fight or Flight]