Chris Hemsworth: ’12 Strong shoot with wife Elsa Pataky was a little holiday’

Chris Hemsworth made the most of having his actress wife Elsa Pataky as a co-star in new movie 12 Strong because it doubled as a “little holiday” for the couple.
The Avengers hunk portrays Captain Mitch Nelson in the war drama, which follows a team of U.S. Special Forces sent to Afghanistan immediately after the 9/11 terror attacks on America in 2001.
Furious 7 star Elsa was cast as Nelson’s wife, Jean, and despite the heavy subject matter, Chris admits the New Mexico shoot made a nice change for the couple to have some time away from daughter India, five, and twin boys Sasha and Tristan, three.
“It was great, it was like a little holiday away from the kids!” the Australian actor smiled while promoting the film on U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America. “We left the kids with their grandparents, and went off for a few weeks and shot together, and we said we’d been rehearsing that relationship and that onscreen chemistry for seven years, so if we didn’t have chemistry (in the film), we would’ve been in trouble!”
It was the first time the couple had officially acted together, although Elsa briefly stood in for Natalie Portman in the first Thor movie.
12 Strong, directed by Nicolai Fuglsig, is based on author Doug Stanton’s 2009 book Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of U.S. soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan, and Hemsworth reveals he was drawn to the project by the close bond the military men shared.
“What stood out to me was the brotherhood between these guys,” Chris said. “They had to link up with the local Afghan people and fight alongside them on horseback… The selflessness, the absolute commitment… there’s such an authenticity and humility to that, which all of us found incredibly inspiring.”
And Major Mark Nutsch, the real-life inspiration behind Chris’ character, has given his personal seal of approval to producer Jerry Bruckheimer for casting the likes of Hemsworth, Michael Shannon and Michael Pena as members of his 12-man team.
“We think they got it, they got the spirit of the Special Forces team in the post-9/11 moment in American history,” Nutsch shared.