The Josh Hartnett renaissance is in full swing, and we’re all the better for it. The past few years have seen a major surge for the star who broke out at the turn of the century across horror hits (Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, The Faculty), emotionally packed teen dramas (The Virgin Suicides, O) and major blockbusters (Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down). Recently, he’s popped up as a scene-stealer in two Guy Ritchie pictures (Wrath of Man, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre), twisted our stomachs opposite Aaron Paul in a standout episode of Black Mirror, played a crucial ing role in Oppenheimer and put deadlines on several lifespans as The Butcher in M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thrill ride, Trap.

One constant across the nearly three decades that Hartnett has been in the business is his monumental charisma. No matter the part, no matter the film, when Hartnett is on-screen you are drawn to him, and he wields that to charm or unnerve you in equal measure depending on the role. That movie star appeal is on full display in Fight or Flight, his new action thriller from director James Madigan. Hartnett stars as Lucas Reyes, a mercenary who we meet as he’s on the lam, having been hunted for some time by government agencies, and now trying to clear his name by tracking down a high-value target.

“My new goal in life is to one day have as much fun as I imagine Josh Hartnett had filming this,” enthuses Joel about the film, where Zack promises “Josh Hartnett got a chainsaw and yeeted it across the screen into someone’s head.” “If you came for Josh Hartnett, you’re in luck,” writes AClockworkCody, reflecting a common sentiment across Letterboxd reviews that the major selling point of the film is its leading man. One thing that can always be guaranteed: Josh Hartnett is going to deliver the goods.

As he launches into action mode with Fight or Flight, I had a lengthy conversation with Hartnett that journeys through his entire career, from the early days as a heartthrob to detective mysteries and the merciless macabre to being a Girl Dad for Shyamalan and more.

Because I was so young, I didn’t really understand the craft of acting in the way that I understand it now. It was more immersion and trying to find through play. It really was so wonderful to work with someone like Sofia who understood how to siphon off the best bits of that and make a fantastic character out of it. Also, the other actors were magnificent in it. And a lot of them were very young! She pulled off something that was really unique and super, super inspiring. We had such a fun time making it.

You were the first person cast in Black Hawk Down, and your performance in a way provides the soul at the heart of that movie. It’s such a harrowing film to experience, even just as a viewer. What was your biggest challenge working on it?
The physical aspects of that were very challenging. Ridley had access to so much cutting-edge technical stuff. We had a lot of different camera crews on it so they could shoot a sequence that was pretty long involving a lot of different elements like helicopters, a lot of squibs and a lot of gunfire, and a lot of actors, and a lot of extras. And we could do it all in real time because he had eight cameras rolling at once. So it felt very real, but it was also incredibly demanding and it was also maybe a little bit on the edge of dangerous, or we felt like it was.

It was physically daunting. But then also for me I felt a deep responsibility to get it right because I felt the book was so harrowing. The book is different from the film in many ways, but what we shot is different than what was actually put in the film in the end, too. We had shot it from the spring into summer of 2001 and we had shot it like the book with two different sides. We’d shot the Somali point of view and then the American point of view.

Then 9/11 happened, and there was no appetite for a two-sided version of American overseas military encounters. So the film became much more about the American side. But at the time while we were filming it, the responsibility felt really, really deep—to be able to show from the character’s perspective what it felt like while also for me having the knowledge that Eversmann himself had this really poetic kind of personality, and was very in touch with what was actually happening on the ground from the other perspective and was conflicted. I think that conflict lent itself to maybe what you’re saying, that sort of moral center of the film.

The stuff with Lucy, we just had a good, natural, instinctive rapport in those scenes, and she’s such a professional. She just brought it, and I was able to react to what she was doing in a way that made sense because the character obviously has ataraxia or whatever [laughs] and is in this reactive point of view. I had to mimic other people’s attitudes in a way. I just it being so much fun to work with her because she came in just nailing it every time. And so the response had to be that I was nailing it as well, and I think that really works.

I’ve always found The Black Dahlia to be quite underrated.
Thank you.

I loved the book, and thought Brian De Palma brought it to the screen so vividly. You were attached to that movie for quite a long time, first when David Fincher was supposed to direct, then with De Palma. What was it that motivated you to stick with that character and that story for so long, and how did you feel about the final result?
I also loved the book. That was the main thing. I was hired by Fincher, and as he said, he wanted to make this massive… I think he ended up doing it with Mank in a way. He wanted to make a four-hour black-and-white version of Black Dahlia. At the time, the budget was getting out of control, and it was at Warner Brothers and they decided not to make it. It floundered for a little while. But then when it came back together with De Palma, I mean, I was always a huge De Palma fan as well, and the opportunity to work with him was just too enticing.

I had a wonderful time shooting it. I liked the world of it, and I liked Bucky a lot, and I spent a lot of time thinking about Bucky. The film’s reception was odd because it’s like people didn’t know what to expect. And I was like, “How do you not know what to expect? It’s Brian De Palma. You’ve seen his films. Of course it’s going to be like this. It’s not going to be exactly like the book and it’s not going to be the Fincher version. It’s going to be completely different. It’s going to be a De Palma version.”

So I was a little bit surprised by the reaction, and I wish that it would’ve gotten a better reception. But I’m very proud of it. I’m happy that we got to take it to Venice and the audience there really responded to it. I think people who did see it really enjoyed it, but it was not as successful as we’d hoped it would be.

Penny Dreadful was a unique experience for you in being able to sit with that character for years. Was there anything that surprised you about that role as time went on, something that maybe you didn’t see at first but spending all that time with him you were able to unearth?
There was something in the first season when I was talking to J.A. Bayona, who directed the first couple episodes. I spoke to Juan, and then we both spoke to John Logan, the creator of the piece. We petitioned for my character to be a depressive. This character had been running from himself for a long time and he didn’t really know what was going on. He knew that he woke up with blood on his hands and he knew that there were bad things happening, but he only had a vague idea of what that was.

He was in denial, but he was running from himself and he was running from his family. He was not a happy camper, but the way that first season is written, if you look at it, he’s supposed to be this charming, slick guy. I played the opposite of that, and I knew that would pay dividends down the line because then you have to explore where the guy is as opposed to him just being this anomaly werewolf guy.

The third season really makes good on that, and you see where he comes from. Wes Studi is fantastic in it. And Brian Cox, of course, amazing. It felt earned by the end of it. You really got a sense of how these people came together and that they were doomed and fated to be together. I love the ending of it—it really made good on the initial promise of the character.

Let’s talk about Fight or Flight. I found this list on Letterboxd the other day titled “josh hartnett movies ranked by his haircut”. It made me think about how you’re not an actor who does super drastic physical transformations in your movies, but your hair does often say a lot about your character. So with that in mind, what does this bleached look in Fight or Flight say about what you’re bringing to the role?
Well, I mean you brought up Slevin and I thought Slevin, his entire persona, his entire look was there to dupe people into a feeling of him being non-threatening.

Right, I mean, you’re in nothing but a towel for the first 30, 40 minutes of that movie.
The littlest towel we could find. And the most lavender towel. And the hair, everything, the broken nose, everything about it is just meant to scream, “I’m not a threat.” And that’s how he’s getting in there, right? That’s how he’s getting to these bosses.

With Fight or Flight, it felt like the reality of a situation, spending two years in Bangkok trying to hide from killers the whole time, he must’ve gone through a lot of different guises. He’s had to fight a lot of people, but he’s also tried to change where he is at and how he looks in order to survive. What I wanted to capture was that he got to the point where he’s dying his hair different colors or whatever, but then when we find him at this point, it’s been a while since he’s tried his last disguise, and he’s like, “I’m done. If they find me, they find me, and that’s the end of my life. This is it. I can’t do it anymore.”

So that makes the whole plot necessary in my opinion. It’s like we find him on the day that he’s given up entirely. He’s been found for the last time and he’s done. There’s no way that this is going to end. He’s a rat in a cage, he’s being chased, it’s over. There’s no maze left to hide in. He’s just there. He’s dead. But out of the frying pan into the fire, the fire may hold a little bit of redemption. Who knows? That was where I wanted to start the character from—the lowest point, and then potentially have him go lower or maybe higher. We’ll see.

Well, physically higher for sure.
Right, physically higher, of course. [Laughs]