Behind the scenes at the Chris Hemsworth Sexiest Man Alive Photoshoot
I’ll be the first to admit that interviewing the Sexiest Man Alive isn’t a terrible part of my job. My family and friends always give me a hard time because we really do keep each year’s honoree close to vest until we reveal the cover on newsstands, and I’ve become very adept with my poker face when they want to play guessing games.
And I’ve tried not to have favorites from those I’ve written about in years past. From Matthew, Hugh, Ryan, Channing and Adam, all were equally worthy of the title, thank you very much.
I’d met Chris Hemsworth briefly at last year’s Toronto Film Festival. We shot him for his amazing (and tush-baring) role in Ron Howard’s film, Rush, and after talking with him, I told him that my then 6-year-old son, Sawyer, was a huge Thor fan and would be thrilled that I had seen him. Chris then agreed that we had to take a photo together to prove as much to Sawyer thus making me – and my job – the coolest ever.
We shot this year’s Sexiest Man cover on a gorgeous October day at this amazing ranch overlooking the Pacific in Malibu with horses, llamas, donkeys and a plethora of rescue dogs. When Chris arrived, he immediately walked around and introduced himself to everyone. No movie star airs, no too-cool-for-school attitude, he was genuinely appreciative of being there and his energy exuded over the entire crew.
Not to mention how ridiculously gorgeous he really is. Of course most men in Hollywood are attractive but Chris is almost physically perfect. We’re talking 6’3”, 195 lbs. and eight percent body fat, people. Was I thinking of my husband the whole time I was there? Absolutely. Was I having a good day at the office? You bet.
The trick to interviewing someone for this cover is to remind him that it’s all in fun. Lucky for us, Chris thought the whole thing was hilarious and he was game to answer any question. The conversation was easy and he was the first to laugh at himself.
A typical SMA interview can reveal all sorts of intimate details like has he ever waxed (never) and what does he sleep in (hardly anything, he gets too hot). Okay, I might have audibly sighed over that one. When we asked him to show us his tattoos, he couldn’t pull his sleeve up far enough so we assured him it’d be okay to take his shirt off just to see it for ourselves (the tattoo of course!).
As we chatted for almost an hour, it quickly became obvious how much of a family man he really is. He got married young – especially by Hollywood standards – and now at 31, he and his wife, Spanish model Elsa Pataky, 38, have three young kids, their daughter, India, 2, and eight-month-old twin sons, Sasha and Tristan. India really does have him wrapped around her little finger and he said his worst fear is something happening to them.
"It’s funny, spiders and snakes and things never used to scare me or bother me because I grew up with them," he told us. Taking his kids back to Australia, "it was just like, Oh my God, that spider could kill her and so could that snake! I was kind of flipping out and my mum was like, ‘This is where you grew up!’ And I said, ‘Yeah, but there’s a lot of them! How did we make it past the age of two?’"
PEOPLE Editor Julie Jordan poses with Chris.
With only donkeys braying in the background and nary a spider in sight, the day passed quickly and as the sun settled in over the horizon, we finished almost an hour early (an unheard of feat) because Chris was just so accommodating and good-natured. Not to mention almost every photo that man took was cover-worthy.
As we were all saying our goodbyes, I laughed at how many of the crew now wanted a photo with him and how gracious he was (hugs for everyone). And yes, I got in line, too. I’d love to say I blamed it on Sawyer again but after spending pretty much a perfect day with truly one of the sexiest men I’ve ever met, I honestly couldn’t help myself. This one will be hard to beat.
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