It was like being in the Colosseum: Chris Hemsworth up on shooting 'Extraction' in India

Don't want to miss the best from Business Standard?

Shooting in India was like being in the Colosseum or doing live theatre with thousands of people watching and cheering every take, Hollywood star Chris Hemsworth said on Wednesday as he looked back at the making of his new film Extraction in Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

The star, known for his superhero persona of Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, was supposed to travel to India again this March to promote his film but the trip got cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Thousands of people up in the buildings and bridges watching and we'd call cut' and they'd all start cheering and applauding, Hemsworth said at a virtual press conference in response to a question from PTI.

He was in India towards the end of November 2018 to shoot for the film.

It was like being in the Colosseum or a live theatre, which is very new to me but quite a lot of fun, Hemsworth added from his home in Australia.

Joining him in the press conference was Extraction director Sam Hargrave.

The Netflix production, set in Mumbai and Dhaka, revolves around Hemsworth's character, Tyler Rake, a former military man-turned-black market mercenary with emotional scars, embarking on a dangerous mission to extract the child of an Indian drug dealer from his rival in Bangladesh.

Hemsworth said he had never shot in India before, making the experience more unique.

I have such pleasant memories of people and interactions there, and a lot of enthusiasm and positivity. There was real excitement for us shooting there. We had never shot there before. From the crew it felt like there were not many films like this being shot there so there was a unique sort of originality to it, he added.

Extraction brings together the talent from the last two Avengers movies. It is based on a script by filmmaker Joe Russo. It also marks the directorial debut of Hargrave, who worked as a stunt coordinator on Russo's Endgame.

Hargrave, who joined in from Los Angeles, said the reason for Russo setting the film in India and Bangladesh was because it's a part of the world Western audiences are yet to explore.

Western audiences have not seen that side of the world. It is a very unique setting. It offered a lot of opportunities visually because it is a stunning part of the world."
It was extremely challenging because directing a movie is a lot of work... To add on to that, directing actors in two different languages, neither of which you speak-- Hindi and Bengali -- was extremely challenging."
That's one of the beauties of cinema because you may not be able to speak the language but you understand the scenario and intention in that scene..."