Chris Hemsworth talks ‘Transformers One’ and ‘G.I. Joe’ crossover

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Chris Hemsworth has no shortage of toys based on his likeness. As the star of Marvel’s Thor series, he owns an assortment of action figures showing off his chiseled physique.

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But now that he’s voicing Autobot hero Optimus Prime in the new animated film Transformers One, Hemsworth, 41, is wondering where he’s going to display the latest toy version of himself.

“That’s a good question,” he grins in a Zoom call from Los Angeles. “There were some big eight-foot tall ones on the red carpet the other night. I was trying to nab one of those and my wife said, ‘Where the hell is it going to go?’ and I replied, ‘We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry.’ It will probably be on the front lawn outside my bedroom.”

Already having checked off a childhood dream by joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hemsworth is having another pinch-me moment as he takes on a younger version of the heroic metamorphosizing robot in a new origin story based on the Hasbro toy line.

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Out today, Transformers One follows Optimus Prime and Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry) when they were best friends and knew each other as Orion Pax and D-16, respectively, long before they became mortal enemies, fighting to control their home planet, Cybertron.

Joining them in the first Transformers animated feature since 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie are Scarlett Johansson as Elita-1, Keegan-Michael Key as B-127 (who will later become Bumblebee), Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion, and Steve Buscemi as Starscream.

The new entry follows seven other live-action films, including last year’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, but it is a standalone story, Hemsworth says.

“This is a prequel. There’s some of the mythology and history of the Transformers universe baked in, but this is well before anything fans have seen previously,” Hemsworth says.

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With a script credited to Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarok) and Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (Ant-Man and the Wasp), and Toy Story 4 filmmaker Josh Cooley directing, Hemsworth relished a chance to add a unique layer to the Transformers universe.

“This is a new iteration, a new journey, a new version of the characters. This is a younger version of them before they became the God-like characters we know them as,” he says.

And with his Marvel future far from over (yes, we will eventually find out why Thor was crying in Deadpool & Wolverine), Hemsworth is enjoying getting a chance to put his stamp on a whole other franchise.

In addition to his vocal work in Transformers One, Hemsworth is in talks to star in the upcoming crossover between the Transformers and G.I. Joe franchises.

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The crossover was hinted at during the end of last year’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts when the G.I. Joe character Agent Burke (Michael Kelly) popped up in an end-credit scene to recruit Anthony Ramos’ Noah Diaz and the Autobots to join forces with the Joes.

“(Producer) Lorenzo di Bonaventura approached me about that and we’ve started to throw around a few ideas of what that could be,” Hemsworth offers. “But it’s all dependent on us being able to crack a story and come up with something that’s entertaining and fresh and feels different. That’s what it deserves.”

Of course, Hemsworth knew he had some big shoes to fill, voicing a character that Peter Cullen has portrayed in the animated series and live-action films. But he says that it was fun to create his own interpretation of Optimus Prime.

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“I was a little nervous to try and follow Peter Cullen, but I was thankful that this was an origin story,” he says.

But most of all, Hemsworth loves how the new story follows two characters who want what everybody wants, which is to figure out who they are as they make their own way in the world.

“There’s got to be something more I can do,” his character says at one point early on in the film as he tries to leave his mark on Cybertronian society.

It’s a journey that in some ways mirrors Hemsworth’s own, growing up in a small town in Australia.

“Where I came from, I couldn’t have been further from Hollywood and the entertainment business,” he recalls with a smile. “So it was a pretty far-fetched, far-off dream.”

Bit parts on the small screen in his home country in the early aughts led to a cameo in 2009’s Star Trek. Shortly afterwards, he was cast as the God of Thunder in Thor and the rest is history.

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“What (acting) gave me was the opportunity to be creative and immerse myself in something that captured my imagination and stimulated my thinking, and once I found my way in drama class in school, everything else seemed like a distant memory,” he says of his early years.

“Even today, acting still feels like a constant exploration, which I love. Besides,” he says with a soft chuckle, “I’m not sure what else I’d be able to be a part of at this point.”

Transformers One is now playing in theatres.

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