I gotta be honest and say that I was disappointed with the interview with Chris for GQ. I don't want to make it seem like I'm rallying against Chris or have Alba haters after me as if I'm siding with them that she's ruined his life (because please get off the internet and touch grass) but that interview was still disappointing.
Namely, I'm super confused at how stans attacked the interviewer for Esquire for 'painting him in a bad light'...when the new GQ interview literally covers all the same topics and is 3x longer, and Chris did himself no favors as far as his pseudo-personal and professional image goes.
Chris doesn't like to talk about himself and spends the whole interview talking about that anxiety about talking about himself? but he'll read the interviews he gives about how much he hates to talk about himself and how he still doesn't like to do interviews because of the way he comes across?...when interviews are essentially about talking about yourself or investigating your experiences about your life and how they relate to yourself? Check.
His main source of someone vouching for him is his mom? Check.
He talks about Dodger's purity? Check.
He admits to not liking a lot of the work he's done but doesn't talk about his ambition to do better? just leave Hollywood behind and be a carpenter? Check.
How much he likes Boston over L.A.? Check
I hate how harsh this sounds but the last thing this thing needed was him to mention how much he likes karaoke, Disney, and his favorite movie is Legends of the Fall. Like, I don't read interviews for the juiciest gossip or rumors. But for good writing by the journalist and to learn about human stories. And SIR, there was nothing about nothing going on here. As an actor that I really like for his work, it was just....frustrating.
I was about 2/3 through when I just started feeling like DAMN, he is really stuck in a mindset cycle that he has not grown out of in three years, at the very least. At some point, I really did feel like if he feels if it's in his best interests to leave Hollywood, feel free to leave. Because he shows an incapability to a) be proud of the work that he does even if it has mediocre responses like everyone faces and b) really challenge himself and go after projects that are apparently what he enjoys about his career like Snowpiercer, Knives Out, etc. I'm not sure what other objective the interview was supposed to have. And, I'm not putting that result on the writer because you really can only do so much padding and 'digging', or in this case, surface-level reporting if your subject is giving so little.
Since I mentioned Alba before, I have no hate or ill towards her whatsoever. If they're married, good for them. I'm happy that he mentioned Alba versus the alternative route he takes which is to never talk about his significant partners. (It is somewhat side-eyed that when the math is mathing and if you rewind the clock ten years, he would've been 32 and she would've been 16).....No one can say what happens behind the scenes and how he is able to help them through the hateful misogynist scrutiny...but at the same time, the fact that she had to deactivate her account months before him due to the attacks, and he only did it for a social media break does subtly speak wonders about how online culture does not give women the grace to be in a public famous relationship as much as it does a man.
Other actors - with just as rabid fans either continue living their life as best as possible doing what they love (Tom Hiddleston despite the racist attacks against his partner) or at least have come out to stans to stay knock it off (Henry Cavill). Two (if not all) of Chris' girlfriends have been thrown to the wolves online - and one (Jenny) mentioned the stress that they were put under by being in that relationship which is neither of their faults...but he never said anything to protect them - it was just to stay off the radar entirely and keep as quiet as possible. They have the privilege and the means to do so, and it's their choice. If he's gonna take a retirement, that's what retirement is - living a low-key life. But it's also somewhat disconcerting to me that his/their form of escaping trolls and haters is just to hole up in his mansion in Boston, and she gets the brunt of the hate online while he continues to promote his projects, Jinx, do A Starting Point, etc. All of their choices are their own, and their adults to make them. I just hope if she decides to continue with her career, she gets the opportunity to do so if he decides to leave Hollywood behind for a while/forever.
I, like anyone, has been a fan of his and had a crush on him at some point that's worn off. But his inability to grow - emotionally, ambitiously in his career, etc. - at least in the interviews he's been recently and throughout his career - is really making me take a step back as a fan, even though I think I'm as far back as one can get.
