As two-thirds of the original Avengers line-up, Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo have starred in many projects together. But none like Crime 101. For writer-director Bart Layton’s glossy thriller, they’re dropping the capes, magic hammers, and rage issues to play a master criminal (Hemsworth’s jewel thief Mike Davis) and the cop on his trail (Ruffalo’s Detective Lou Lubesnick), putting their Marvel star power behind an old-school grown-up thriller.
For the pair, it was a chance to unite on a new kind of project and see each other in a new light. “Everything was different!” Ruffalo tells Empire. “When I first saw [Chris], the hair was a different colour. His voice was different. Everything had transformed. And it was exciting. It was like, ‘Okay, now we’re in this world. Now we’re cooking. This is what I wanted.’”
It’s been nearly a decade now since Ruffalo and Hemsworth saw the potential of what they could do with real screen time together. “Thor: Ragnarok was the first time our characters [Thor and Hulk] spoke to each other properly,” says Hemsworth. “In that setting, we had a very different opportunity than we had in other Marvel films.” From that point on, the hunt was always on for another joint project they could sink their teeth into. “We had such a good time,” says Ruffalo. “We had so much chemistry, and I just love the guy, so every time I saw him, I was like, ‘When the fuck are we going to do something?! We gotta find this thing.’ And then this was it.” Sign us up for Crime 101.
Read Empire’s full interview with Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo on Crime 101 in the Lord Of The Rings 25th anniversary reunion issue – on sale Thursday 15 January. Crime 101 comes to UK cinemas from 13 February.