What has Josh Hartnett been up to for the past few years?

Josh Hartnett was once one of the most promising actors in Hollywood. Then suddenly came the career break. Hartnett is now celebrating some successes in the cinema again. What has happened there in recent years?

In the early 2000s, it blossomed Josh Hartnett into one in no time of the biggest and most promising actors in Hollywood. He first gained attention with the horror sequel “Halloween: H20”, successful teen flicks like “The Faculty” and the acclaimed novel adaptation “The Virgin Suicides”. The war films Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down, as well as the comedies 40 Days and 40 Nights and Lucky Number Slevin, catapulted Hartnett into Hollywood’s A-League and established him as a versatile actor. The road to superstardom was within his grasp – he was even offered the roles of Batman and Superman.

But then suddenly the tide turned for Josh Hartnett. He increasingly stepped in smaller films (“The Black Dhalia”, “The Stock Market Crash”) and mega flops (“Bunraku”) – and then disappeared from the scene for a while. What has happened there?

Josh Hartnett: Voluntarily Retiring From Hollywood

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Josh Hartnett and his wife Tamsin Egerton.

Like Hartnett in one, among other things Interview with Mr Porter revealed, which he gave in 2021 on the occasion of the theatrical release of Guy Ritchie’s “Cash Truck”, he had no desire for Hollywood and the hype and pressurethat comes with superstar status. Regarding his notoriety, the actor said yes a few years earlier ChronicleLive: “I know what it’s like to be in this whole world. I was up there for a few years and it was uncomfortable. I think trying to stay on top is a shortcut to unhappiness.”

So Hartnett did one for over a year break from acting, to find out what he wants to do with his life. When he then turned down the role of Superman, the actor became persona non grata in Hollywood. During this time, Hartnett – fed up with Hollywood – moved to Great Britain, where he played a leading role in the theatrical adaptation of “Rain Man” in London’s West End. Larger productions and roles stayed away during this time.

In 2012, the mime, who largely keeps his private life away from the public, met his future wife, the actress Tamsin Egerton. Hartnett had three children with her, born in 2015, 2017 and 2019. As the actor just said in the interview with Mr. Porter: “I decided to have a life. That should come first. That was always my goal.”

Is Josh Hartnett making a comeback with Operation Fortune?

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Poster for “Operation Fortune”.

From 2014 it went for Josh Hartnett with the acclaimed series “Penny Dreadful” in terms of career then slowly uphill again. But bigger films stayed away for him for the time being. Finally, in 2021, Hartnett had a small supporting role in the aforementioned thriller Cash Truck alongside Jason Statham. He meets him again in the action comedy “Operation Fortune” (release: January 5), which was also directed by Guy Ritchie. In it, Hartnett plays, with a great deal of irony, a conceited Hollywood star who is hired by MI6 to bring down an arms dealer. In addition to him and Statham, Hugh Grant and Aubrey Plaza also appear in “Operation Fortune”.

Josh Hartnett shines the comeback to have succeeded. Because his next projects should also attract a lot of attention. He stars in “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s eagerly awaited new film about the inventor of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the physicist and Nobel Prize winner Ernest Lawrence. Hartnett will also appear in Season 6 of the sci-fi anthaology series Black Mirror. The actor is currently back in business.