Aaron Taylor-Johnson revealed to Esquire magazine that he turned down “big, huge franchises” after he started making a name for himself in Hollywood with roles in blockbusters such as “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Godzilla.” Those back-to-back releases made Taylor-Johnson one of the hottest young actors in Hollywood, but he actively rejected more franchises to spend time with his family.
“There was ‘Kick-Ass’ and then there was ‘Godzilla’ and ‘Avengers,’ and all those things lined up for me,” Taylor-Johnson said. “But I didn’t really care for them…[I was up for movies] that nobody knows about—big, huge franchises that were in play. [But] I wanted, purely, to be with my babies. I didn’t want to be taken away from them. I battled with what that would be like.”
“I would say I was probably not ready to be in that position anyway—it was too early,” he continued about acting in studio tentpoles. “But yeah, I also slightly didn’t give a fuck.”
Taylor-Johnson also said he does not like going so immediately from film role to film role. His most recent run of productions was “Kraven the Hunter,” “The Fall Guy” and “Nosferatu” — three movies that shot “with only 24 hours between each thing.”
“In my opinion, the actor that goes job to job becomes fucking boring,” he said. “You know that someone’s going to pick you up, take you to work, do your makeup, tell you, ‘Here’s your mark. These are your lines. You’re fucking great!’ And on to the next job. Fuck off. I’m sure people dream of that. If this is what you want to do, that’s great. It doesn’t feed my soul. I enjoy the normality of things, the everyday stuff. Getting my kids ready in the mornings, taking them to school and activities—that’s plenty. That feeds my soul.”
Taylor-Johnson is now returning to the world of Hollywood tentpoles with a leading role in Sony’s “Kraven the Hunter,” which is set in the studio’s Spider-Man universe.
“I mean, quite honestly, I thought I’d actually been done with these sorts of movies,” Taylor-Johnson said.
“You can’t step into this role, you can’t step into what this franchise is, with a fucking half-assed, ‘Let’s see how it goes attitude,'” he added. “You have to be mentally prepared for what could come with that. I think I’m secure in my life now to know that I’m happy to deal with that. I don’t think I was probably ready to invite that into my life earlier on.”
“Kraven the Hunter” is set to open in theaters Aug. 30, 2024 from Sony.
