‘Dancing With the Stars’ Almost Cost a Star the Biggest Role of Their Career

An A-list movie star recently credited “Dancing With the Stars” for a dance scene in their latest film, but has also said that the show nearly cost him the biggest role of his career.

Did you know Chris Hemsworth was on “Dancing With the Stars” Australia? He was, and he told Pedestrian TV that it made him a better dancer and some of his dancing in movies is definitely a “callback to [his] ‘Dancing With the Stars’ days.”

Here is what Hemsworth had to say about dancing in movies and his time on “Dancing With the Stars,” plus he reveals how “Dancing With the Stars” almost lost him the role of Thor.

Hemsworth Said His Dancing in Movies is Almost Entirely Improvised

When asked about his dancing scene in the new Netflix movie “Spiderhead,” Hemsworth said it was a total “freestyle,” which is what he usually does in all of his films — except one.

“[‘Spiderhead’ was] freestyle. The only one that was like remotely choreographed, and that’s not saying much, was in ‘Ghostbusters. We had a dance coach come in and to choreograph this thing. The scene in ‘Bad Times at the El Royale’ was just me kind of snake-hipping my way through that. There was a little bit of a callback to my ‘Dancing With the Stars’ days, some sort of samba or salsa or whatever,” said the actor.

Hemsworth went on to say that the dancing in “Spiderhead” wasn’t just stuck in the movie for no reason, it actually had a lot of meaning to Hemsworth and the production team.

“Spiderhead” is a science fiction thriller starring Miles Teller as an inmate who undergoes psychological experiments with drugs in a prison run by a pharmaceutical company. Hemsworth plays what is essentially the villainous warden of the prison, but Hemsworth wanted to give viewers an insight into the other sides of his character, hence the dancing.

“This was kind of another impropmptu dance, but there was a reason behind it, it wasn’t just to build up my archive of silly, self-deprecating dances,” said Hemsworth. “It was an insight into — you know, you often villains or heroes on screen in amongst the action. But then I’m always wondering what do they do when they’re at home? What do they do in their spare time? And this was a chance to show this sort of oddity to their individiual, that this is quite a strange kind of lost soul in one regard.”

Hemsworth Was on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Australia Season 5

In 2006, Hemsworth competed on the fifth season of the Australian version of “Dancing With the Stars” alongside pro partner Abbey Ross. The pair finished in fifth place, which Hemsworth is quite proud of.

“The people want it, I’m gonna bring it, you know? Final six in ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and that’s saying something — professional dancer. Top of the IMDB page now,” Hemsworth joked to Pedestrian TV.

But he also said that his wife, Elsa Pataky, saw that he was dancing again in “Spiderhead” and lamented that he is always doing that in films.

“My wife saw the dance and she’s like, ‘You’re not dancing again, are you? Stop it!’” said Hemsworth.

Interestingly, his stint on “Dancing With the Stars” almost cost him being cast as Thor in the Marvel-verse. In a 2017 interview with BBC Radio 1, he said that Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, later told him that they weren’t sure about him once they saw his “Dancing With the Stars” videos.

“You know, Kevin Feige said [‘Dancing With the Stars’] almost lost me the job [as Thor],” said Hemsworth.

He continued by saying that Feige told him, “We all saw your audition, we were passing it around the office, everyone was really into it, and then a few of the girls started Googling your name and up came this dancing video and [Feige] thought, ‘Oh no, Thor dancing. I don’t know. The fans are gonna eat us alive.”

Luckily, the producers got past that because they liked what Hemsworth brought to the role so much.

“We met Chris Hemsworth early in the process as we explored who Thor would be … he was able to occupy the character of Thor in a way that seemed just right to us,” said dirctor Kenneth Branagh.

Producer Craig Kyle added, “I’ve never seen someone throw themselves at work like that before.”

And Hemsworth joked to the BBC Radio 1, “[‘Dancing With the Stars’] made me more nimble on my feet, I guess … you might see a bit of that ‘Dancing With the Stars’ quality in Thor.”

“Dancing With the Stars” returns for its 31st season this fall on Disney Plus.

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