Hemsworth steps out of the shadows

Hemsworth steps out of the shadows

In Hollywood's collective consciousness, actor Liam Hemsworth is known mainly as Miley Cyrus' ex-fiance and the little brother of Thor star Chris Hemsworth.

His acting credits have been fairly modest so far, with the Melbourne native graduating from brief stints in Australian soap operas such as Neighbours and Home And Away in 2007 and 2008, to a blink-and-you'd-miss-it part in last year's The Hunger Games.

But the 23-year-old is finally carving out more of a name for himself this year, with a meatier role in the new The Hunger Games: Catching Fire sequel, in which he plays the thwarted love interest of the crossbow-wielding girl warrior Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence).

Hemsworth also scored top billing in the thriller Paranoia, which debuted in the United States earlier this year and put him next to heavyweights such as Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman.

It bombed at the box office, though, and the young actor is still struggling to step out of the shadows - a daunting task given the continuing interest in his failed relationship with Cyrus, 20.

Since he announced his engagement to then 19-year-old Cyrus - a children's television star turned flesh-baring wild child - last year, two months after the first Hunger Games film opened, he has become the unwitting star of his own private soap opera, a prime target for the Los Angeles paparazzi as the couple's public break-up continues to play in the tabloids.

It does not help that he seems ill at ease dealing with the media.

Reporters in Los Angeles for a recent press event for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire are warned to not to ask any personal questions, which in Hemsworth's case is understood to mean anything to do with the end of his engagement a few months ago.

Most oblige, but the actor could not have looked less enthusiastic about facing them, preferring instead to chat and joke around with 52-year-old co-star Woody Harrelson, whom he is paired with for the interviews.

When he responds to anyone else, the younger actor's answers are curt and joyless, except when he talks about how much fun the cast and crew had making the film, an adaptation of the best-selling young-adult trilogy by Suzanne Collins, and his admiration for those he worked with.

After trying and failing to get him and Harrelson to settle down and take the interview semi-seriously, reporters feel somewhat better when they hear that things got rowdy on set too.

"It was very, very difficult to get anything serious done," says Hemsworth, noting that director Francis Lawrence had to be extraordinarily patient in dealing with the cast's high-jinks between takes.

He adds, however, that Oscar winner Lawrence proved the consummate professional and was able to switch off the tomfoolery the instant cameras started rolling.

"She'll snap within a second, whereas you are left there like laughing and vomiting from what she just said, and then she walks in the room dead-faced, ready to do the scene."

Prompted by reporters, he also heaps praise on the director and the Oscarnominated Harrelson, whose acting career (No Country For Old Men, 2007; The People Vs. Larry Flynt, 1996; Natural Born Killers, 1994) he describes as inspirational.

In The Hunger Games, both Lawrence and Harrelson have far juicier roles than Hemsworth, playing former "victors" of the games, alternately coddled and exploited by the oppressive Panem regime as it uses the tournament to instil fear in the population.

Hemsworth's character Gale Hawthorne, on the other hand, is the loyal friend and wannabe love interest that Lawrence's Katniss leaves behind when she is forced to take part in the games.

He remains committed to living in the United States, however. "Hollywood is where I came to find the best people to work with, the best projects. This is where the centre of this industry is, not Sydney. This is where most of everything is. It begins here."

Asked about the downside of this, including the fact that the most aggressive paparazzi are also found in Hollywood, he looks distinctly uncomfortable, although eventually admitting that it can be a double-edged sword.

But when it comes to attention from Hunger Games fans, Hemsworth and Lawrence have signed on to appear in the next two instalments, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2, is more upbeat.

"It's very nice when someone is so happy to meet you because of a character and a story that they really love. It's a lovely thing."


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