Ask any teen in the early 2000s to name Hollywood’s biggest hunks, and chances are a lot of them would choose Josh Hartnett.
With movies like Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down to 40 Days and 40 Nights, plus the rumours he was dating Rihanna, Hartnett shot to the top of the list of hotties.
That was never his plan, though.
“It was never my intention to be a heartthrob,” Hartnett admits in a new interview with Variety, saying he had to “fight against” that perception.
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“I really wanted to be a serious actor. What I didn’t understand is that I was in an amazing position, working with terrific directors on terrific projects,” he adds.
“For all intents and purposes, it didn’t matter how people viewed me in tabloids or whatever – as long as I was working within the industry.
“But I was too young to really understand that, to make the differentiation.”
After a slew of big-budget roles, Hartnett all but disappeared from the spotlight, leaving fans wondering where he’d gone.
In 2023, he made a big comeback with roles in Black Mirror and Oppenheimer and returned to red carpets for the first time in years.
Roles in the movie Trap and hit TV series The Bear followed, and Hartnett is now busy filming the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s book Verity, alongside Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway.
So, where has he been all this time?
Here’s everything Josh Hartnett has been up to.
What happened to Josh Hartnett?
In the early years of his twenties, Hartnett starred in hit after hit. He dated fellow actors Julia Styles and Scarlett Johansson, and was truly regarded as one of Hollywood’s biggest young stars.
Before any of his starring films even hit cinemas, in 1998 the New York Post declared: “Josh Hartnett could become a Hollywood legend.”
But just when it seemed like his career was about to truly take off, he seemed to slowly fade away.
By 2006, though, his roles began to dry up. It wasn’t because he was no longer in demand – he just needed a break.
“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 told Details in 2014.
“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.”
He even turned down roles in Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man during this time. Was it the right choice? Maybe not. Speaking to Playboy, Hartnett said he “definitely said no to some of the wrong people” at the peak of his career.
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Hartnett took an 18-month break from the spotlight, in order to gain a “healthy perspective” on fame and the industry.
Upon his return, he didn’t jump right back into the leading-man roles which made him famous. He had a few parts in well-known films, including Resurrecting the Champ, horror film 30 Days of Night and crime thriller Lucky Number Slevin.
Though he had a steady stream of projects, he never recovered his level of A-list fame that he enjoyed in the early ’00s.
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In 2015, he told Playboy that he now has to work a lot harder to land work. “When I see a role now, I’ve got to fight for it. It’s not bad. It’s actually more rewarding. Depressing when something doesn’t go your way, but only for a minute.”
Is Josh Hartnett in Black Mirror?
Josh Hartnett kicked off his career comeback with a part in Netflix’s sci-fi anthology series, Black Mirror.
He and Aaron Paul star as two astronauts midway through a six-year space mission when an unthinkable tragedy strikes Earth.
In an interview with The Independent, he said he recently decided he wanted to start his career over from scratch, and take on projects from all different genres.
“I have an artistic mind, and I want to follow things that are somehow just outside of my understanding,” he explains.
“Does that necessarily make for a cohesive career in a movie star sense? No. But before the last few years I just had less of a chance to do it.”
Where you’ve seen the actors of Oppenheimer before
Hartnett’s starring role in Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster epic, Oppenheimer, marked his return to big-budget films.
Hartnett told The Independent Nolan has a lot of strict rules while filming. “No one’s allowed a cell phone,” he revealed. “No one comes in late. No one has an assistant. Everyone’s there as equals.”
He added that he actually loved having a clear line drawn between work and life: “That’s essential to me maintaining a healthy mind.”
Why did Josh Hartnett take a break from acting?
At the height of his fame, it all just became a bit too much for Hartnett. He moved back to his hometown to take a break and reconsider his choices.
“Being famous is a full-time job, because every time you leave your house – and especially in that time – you were followed,” he told The Independent in 2023.
“I had paparazzi chasing me, people approaching me. You weren’t allowed to really be yourself.
“There was no time for family or friends or any of that normal stuff. Plenty of actors have found that work-life balance, but I found it hard and I really sought it. People thought I was nuts. Like, why not just kiss the brass ring?”
What is he doing now?
Hartnett’s acting comeback is in full swing, with roles in Oppenheimer, Trap, Black Mirror, and Guy Ritchie’s action comedy Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre.
His next big role will be in Verity, the big-screen adaptation of a book of the same name by Colleen Hoover, the author behind It Ends With Us.
But he’s adamant that most of his spare time is spent with family.
The actor married English actress Tamsin Egerton in 2012, and the couple share three kids. Hartnett says he spends “90 per cent” of his time with them.
“Coming up to the city and doing an interview is a rarity,” he said.
“Typically, I work on the films that I work on, and then I go home.”
They live in Hampshire, England, an hour-and-half outside of London.
How did Josh Hartnett become famous?
Hartnett first gained recognition with his role in the crime drama series Cracker. From there, he was cast as Jamie Lee Curtis’ son in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, which was a box office hit.
The actors roles in The Faculty and The Virgin Suicides confirmed his status as a star, and his career took off from there.
Did he turn down Batman?
Josh Hartnett had no desire to play a superhero – mainly because of the years-long commitment it required.
He flat-out refused the role of Superman, and only took a meeting about Batman because he was a fan of the director, Christopher Nolan.
“Warner Bros wanted me to do one of their superhero films,” he explained.
“Chris Nolan was directing one of their superhero films. I met him. I talked to him about it. It wasn’t something that was interesting to me at the time. I was on a different path to a lot of actors.”
Though he turned down the role of Batman, Hartnett did end up working with Nolan 20 years later, on Oppenheimer.
Josh Hartnett’s movies and TV shows
Some of Hartnett’s biggest credits and most recognisable roles include:
- Pearl Harbor
- 40 Days and 40 Nights
- Sin City
- Penny Dreadful
- Black Hawk Down
- The Virgin Suicides
- The Faculty
- 30 Days of Night
- August
- The Lovers
- Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre
- Oppenheimer
- Black Mirror
