Posted on 05/01/2014 7:04:02 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Josh Hartnett is 35 now and mostly acts in indie films, but he was a hot commodity back in the early 2000s, and almost every big picture wanted him in the lead.
"Spider-Man was something we talked about. Batman was another one. But I somehow knew those roles had potential to define me, and I didn't want that," he told Details magazine of passing on the iconic characters.
He also passed on 2006's "Superman Returns."
"I didn't want to be labeled as Superman for the rest of my career. I was maybe 22, but I saw the danger."
Hartnett admits that he and his agents even parted ways after passing on such projects.
"I didn't have those agents for much longer after that,” he said. “There was a lot of infighting between my manager and agents, trying to figure out who to put the blame on. It got to the point where none of us were able to work together.”
Indeed, Hartnett got so sick of fame in his 20s that he moved back to his home in Minnesota.
"I was on the cover of every magazine. I couldn't really go anywhere. I didn't feel comfortable in my own skin. I was alone," he said. "I didn't trust anyone. So I went back to Minnesota and got back together with my old friends — ended up getting back together with my high-school girlfriend for a while — and I didn't do any filming for 18 months. I'm still finding my way through all that."
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I was just thinking bout him the other day....one actor I really like. Kind of reminded me of Tommy Lee Jones but much younger. Lucky number Slevin. :-)
Happy to see Hollywood didn’t get to his head; I wish him well.
I thought he was great in Black Hawk Down.
You're a puppet, Einstein. That's your vocation.
Take the damn money and run.
What the Hell is going to do in MN now? Shovel snow?
Probably has enough money to not worry about it.
Well, unfortunately, this guy is still a moron:
In 2012, Hartnett also joined Barack Obama in his campaign in Minnesota, appearing at such events as the Minnesota Greater Together Youth Summit before formally endorsing the President on the official campaign YouTube channel.
He would have made a good young Darth Vader.
He is a moron. If he had gotten those roles and made a pile of money, he could have made any number of indie films he wanted, and crowds would go to see it just because he was in it. As it is, he's deep-sixed his career over the snobbish attitudes of a bunch of poseurs.
He’s a moron because he passed up the big bucks??
Wow!
.
Loved him in Hollywood Homicide, one of the funnier Harrison Ford movies.
Really, I watched 15 minutes of that and stopped. No one I was with wanted to watch it further.
He is one of those ‘so famous’ actors that I have never head of him.
Check out “The Faculty”!
Why? Because you’ve never been in a film that’s made money except “Pearl Harbor.”
I am with Finny, love Hollywood Homicide.
yeah, he’s so famous I don’t know him.
I guess he got his wish.
Minnesota was as globally cool as it’s been in 35 years.
LA proved too much for the man.
He turned into a vampire to beat a pack of vampires in ‘Thirty Days Of Night.’ When the sun came up he got all burned up, so that had to hurt.
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