Chris Hemsworth Psychologically Tortures Miles Teller In Spiderhead Trailer

You've never seen Chris Hemsworth like this!

By Michileen Martin | Published

chris hemsworth

Who knew that one of the most disturbing things you could do with Chris Hemsworth is give him an American accent? The Thor: Love and Thunder star sounds a lot different from what we’re used to in the new trailer for Netflix‘s upcoming sci-fi thriller Spiderhead. But it isn’t his character’s voice that concerns the test subjects played by Miles Teller and Jurnee Smollett, but the fact that the darkly eccentric scientist is torturing them and other prisoners with bizarre mind-altering experiments. 

Netflix released the trailer for Spiderhead on Tuesday. Along with Chris Hemsworth’s Steve Abnesti giving Miles Teller’s Jeff as many assurances as he can, the trailer shows Abnesti having a grand time as he uses a series of experimental drugs to alter the emotions and abilities of its subjects. The trailer shows the prisoner subjects in various states of abruptly manifesting extreme emotion, including getting violent, amused, and in at least one case incredibly amorous in front of the watching scientists. You can watch the trailer below.

Based on the 2010 New York short story “Escape from Spiderhead” by George Saunders, the film is directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) from a screenplay by the writing team of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool, Zombieland). Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in April, Kosinki calls the character Chris Hemsworth plays “the genius visionary behind the whole Spiderhead program.” He went on to say the scientist “has noble intentions, but there are some darker things lurking underneath the surface.”

Miles Teller plays one of a number of prisoners in the Spiderhead program, Jeff, who for one reason or another Chris Hemsworth’s character develops a soft spot for. This is likely the reason why we see his character spending so much time with the scientist in the trailer. There is something dark in Jeff’s past that he’s wrestling with, which could explain why he volunteers for the strange experiments. 

Jeff’s closest compatriot is the mysterious Lizzy, played by Jurnee Smollett (Lovecraft Country). Director Kosinski says of the Jeff/Lizzy pairing that “She is drawn to Jeff, and they have a very close relationship, but where he kind of wears his heart on his sleeve she hides her pain with a cheerful persona.”

Chris Hemsworth is sure to be one of the biggest names in pop culture for a while now. Along with the June release of Spiderhead, he has the Marvel blockbuster Thor: Love and Thunder releasing in theaters the following month. As Marvel’s god of thunder, Thor will pal around with the Guardians of the Galaxy, welcome a new Thor in the form of Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, and battle Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher. 
While it doesn’t have a release date yet, Chris Hemsworth will soon be reprising the role of noble mercenary Tyler Rake for Netflix’s Extraction 2 and in 2024 he’ll star in the long-awaited Mad Max prequel film Furiosa. Some time after that, Hemsworth will play the titular wrestler in an as of yet untitled biopic about Hulk Hogan.