Liam Hemsworth: “I was a little nutcase”

If you Google “Liam Hemsworth” you’ll see the internet’s overwrought and seemingly unending obsession with his private life. It comes with the territory of being a leading man in Hollywood, of course, not least one connected to an ex-Disney kid turned provocative pop-star. And while the relentless slew of articles and posts prying into his personal affairs must get irritating, they’re really the 2016 version of a fan club. An unnecessary evil if you want to stay relevant.

His on-again-off-again relationship with Miley Cyrus is portrayed as a modern Shakespearean sonnet of rekindled first love, while in reality it’s probably more like the natural vicissitudes of 20-something life these days. When we meet in the lobby of Vox Cinema’s Theatre by Rhodes in Mall of The Emirates, he seems unfazed; he’s exhausted yet polite, softly spoken yet giggly. His demeanour certainly doesn’t seem like a product of the fame machine that goes hand-in-hand with having a movie franchise like The Hunger Games under his belt. It’s more the result of the strict but happy working-class upbringing he enjoyed growing up in Victoria, Australia.

In his latest return to the big screen he’s fighting aliens in Independence Day: Resurgence – a sequel to the instant classic of the mid-1990s, which his parents thought he was too young to watch when it first came out. While he’s well versed in portraying the all-action hero, in real life the laidback surfer is much more likely to try and resolve conflict over a piece of cake and a cold drink. Although we’re not sure his brothers would agree.

It’s a quick visit to Dubai, you can’t have had much time to see the city?
No, not really. We got here yesterday afternoon and drove from the airport to the hotel and did a quick photo thing outside the hotel we’re staying in… ummmm… the tall one…

[Whispers] The Burj Khalifa?
Yeah! And we leave in a couple of hours so we haven’t had a chance to drive around and stuff.

How is it to star in a sequel when you weren’t in the first movie? Are you worried about the comparisons?
Yeah, I think definitely there’s going to be comparisons made between the first and second films. With something like this, you definitely feel a sense of responsibility to do justice to the first film and the fans behind it. But I feel that way about anything I do. You always want the film to be good! So it’s just sort of on a bigger scale with something like this. Because you know there’s already a built-in fanbase so there’s a good chance it’s going to be seen by a wider audience.

If aliens were actually to come to Earth, would you volunteer to fight them or would you be chilling at home watching Netflix?
Well, I really don’t think I’d be volunteering. I’ve been saying that we should maybe just start a peace offering and give the aliens a slice of cake or a cookie, or a drink maybe, and see if we could just resolve things peacefully. That might be the way to go, I reckon.

Roland Emmerich was telling us that you and Jeff Goldblum hit it off so much that he kept having to remind you that it was work.
Yeah, we had a lot of fun! Jeff is just a ball of energy and you know he turns up every day and makes everyone on set smile. He’s always keeping spirits high and, you know, it’s infectious for everyone there because he’s someone who really loves acting. He comes to work and he really cares about it. He cares about your part, that person’s part and everything that’s surrounding the film that he’s doing. Everyone looks up to Jeff.