Hollywood action star Josh Hartnett surprised fans with a rare social media appearance on Tuesday.
The reclusive actor, 46, appeared in a clip shared to the official Instagram for his latest film, Fight or Flight, which has a 100% Rotten Tomato score.
The Oppenheimer star — who left Los Angeles at the height of his fame due to stalking incidents — was pictured typing on the phone, his face barely visible in the lower part of the screen, with a text overlay that read: ‘Me promoting my film before ghosting social media for another 10 years.’
The caption of the post jokingly stated: ‘when your team insists on a social media content day to promote your new film, Fight or Flight (in theaters May 9), but you don’t get any of these viral trends.’
Fans in the comments shared their surprise, with one writing, ‘What the hell? Josh Harnett?’
‘Please josh you need to come back (actually come back),’ another pleaded.
Reclusive Hollywood action star Josh Hartnett, 46, surprised fans with a rare social media appearance on Tuesday to promote his new film, Fight or Flight
Hartnett plays an assassin protecting a VIP on a plane in the new thriller, which is set to hit theaters May 9th
‘Oh Josh i never thought i will see this,’ someone else wrote.
‘2035 shaking in its boots right now trying to figure out how to top that,’ another joked.
Hartnett plays an assassin protecting a VIP on a plane in the new thriller, which is set to hit theaters May 9th.
Chaos erupts as rival assassins emerge, all vying for the same target.
The cast also includes Charithra Chandran, who plays the target he’s charged with protecting, as well as Julian Kostov, Katee Sackhoff and Marko Zaror.
The film is director James Madigan’s feature-length debut, after previously working on Marvel’s Runaways and blockbuster films including Iron Man 2 (2010), The Meg (2018), and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023).
The trailer for the movie shows Hartnett rocking bleach blonde hair and sporting bruises on his face, as he spars with the other killers on board of the plane.
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes have given the action movie a perfect 100% score.
‘A solid bit of high-concept B-movie fun, establishing Josh Hartnett as a credible action hero, and James Madigan as a genre director to watch,’ John Nugent from Empire Magazine wrote.
The actor appeared in a clip shared to the official Instagram for his latest film, which has a 100% Rotten Tomato score
The Oppenheimer star was pictured typing on the phone, his face barely visible in the lower part of the screen, with a text overlay that read: ‘Me promoting my film before ghosting social media for another 10 years’
Fans in the comments shared their surprise, with one writing, ‘What the hell? Josh Harnett?’
Chaos erupts in the movie as rival assassins emerge, all vying for the same target
The cast also includes Charithra Chandran, who plays the target he’s charged with protecting, as well as Julian Kostov, Katee Sackhoff and Marko Zaror
‘Fight or Flight is a bonkers action-comedy that is fun and devilishly gory enough to overlook some of its more gaping flaws, while providing Josh Hartnett with another magnetic lead turn in a script filled with chaos,’ Jack Martin from Film Feeder said of the film.
Donald Clarke from Irish Times added, ‘This is cartoon violence at a level of savagery that might give Itchy & Scratchy pause for thought.’
Before taking on his latest role, Hartnett played a brutal serial killer dubbed ‘The Butcher’ in director M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological thriller film Trap, which premiered last year.
And the actor revealed to Entertainment Weekly that he drew acting inspiration from ‘psychopaths’ he’s come face-to-face with in show business over the years.
‘There are a lot of CEOs, politicians, people in our business… a lot of people who are at the top,’ Hartnett dished.
‘They don’t mind stepping over people or doing horrible things to get where they’re going, and not having any empathy is a pretty big sign of being a psychopath.’
With these ruthless real-life people in mind, Hartnett and Shyamalan felt they could mold the perfect complex character.
‘Whether or not you’re murdering people, I’ve met people like this, you know what I mean? So it was easy to take it all a step further, make it a little bolder, and make his cover so intense,’ he explained.
Last year, Hartnett opened up about his exodus from Los Angeles at the height of his stardom more than two decades ago.
Last year, Hartnett opened up about his exodus from Los Angeles at the height of his stardom more than two decades ago; pictured 2024
While he said there were many factors as to why he left, a number of stalking incidents paved the way for the move; pictured 2024
The actor and his wife Tamsin Egerton, 36, now live permanently in the U.K.’s Hampshire countryside; they are seen in 2024
The Minnesota native was just 19 when he arrived in Los Angeles, and quickly started landing roles, with his film debut as Laurie Strode’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) son in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.
While his career skyrocketed with roles in Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, 40 Days and 40 Nights and others, he moved back to his home state in the early 2000s.
Now residing in England with his wife Tamsin Egerton, Hartnett opened up about his L.A. departure in an interview with The Guardian.
While he said there were many factors as to why he left, a number of stalking incidents paved the way for the move.
When asked if there was a certain moment that triggered the move back home, he admitted, ‘People’s attention to me at the time was borderline unhealthy.’
When asked to elaborate, Hartnett insisted, ‘Well, look, I don’t want to give this a lot of weight. There were incidents. People showed up at my house. People that were stalking me.’
Another scary incident involved, ‘a guy showed up at one of my premieres with a gun, claiming to be my father. He ended up in prison.’
Hartnett was 27 when he decided to move back to Minnesota, 19 years ago, adding, ‘There were lots of things. It was a weird time. And I wasn’t going to be grist for the mill.’
Hartnett rose to fame with a number of prominent roles, including his role in the big-budget war epic Pearl Harbor (2001); seen in a still
He admitted that at the time ‘I just didn’t want my life to be swallowed up by my work. And there was a notion at that time you just kind of give it all up.’
He added, ‘And you saw what happened to some people back then. They got obliterated by it. I didn’t want that for myself.’
The actor and his family now live permanently in the U.K.’s Hampshire countryside.
Josh and Tamsin wed in 2021.
