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Nerdist Special Reports

Interview: Chris Hemsworth, Michael Mann, and the Cast of BLACKHAT

“Hack the planet!”

Those immortal words launched 1995’s Hackers into cult movie status forever after, but Hollywood portayals of cybercrime and hacking on the silver screen have come a long way since then. The latest entry into the field is Michael Mann’s tense international thriller Blackhat. Starring Chris Hemsworth as Nicholas Hathaway, a convicted hacker furloughed from prison to stop a cyberterrorist in the wake of a nuclear meltdown, Blackhat throws viewers into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between two expert hackers. And given that it’s a Michael Mann movie, you can expect plenty of gunplay, too.

Recently, I was able to sit down with the cast and crew at a Los Angeles press day where I talked to them about how the film went from concept to completion. In particular, I asked actors Chris Hemsworth and Wang Leehom about the preparation that went into their roles– Michael Mann is a stickler for realism and famously sent James Caan to safecracking school when making his 1981 debut, Thief. Naturally, I was curious as to what sort of challenges he posed to the cast of his sometimes jargon-heavy new film.

Equally fascinating is the history behind Blackhat. As Michael Mann mentions in the video, the whole film was inspired after he learned about the real-life hacking attack known as Stuxnet. After speaking with him at the junket, I decided to do a little digging of my own into the fascinating true story on this week’s The Dan Cave:

(Editor’s note: Nerdist is owned by Legendary Entertainment)

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