After a slew of hit films in the early 2000s, including Lucky Number Slevin, Black Hawk Down, 30 Days of Night, and Pearl Harbor, Josh Hartnett put a pause on his relationship with Hollywood. Now, he’s explaining why.
On Wednesday, Dec. 8, the Penny Dreadful actor made an appearance on Australia’s Channel Seven morning program Sunrise and shared that his decision to keep “Hollywood at bay” in the mid-2000s was “the best thing for my mental health and my career.”
According to Hartnett, his decision to step away from the leading man limelight in favor of taking on more artistic roles came after he discovered what mattered most to him in life. “Luckily, I think I hit onto it early on,” he said via Daily Mail. “It’s about creating a good home life and being able to do things that are wild and wonderful like making films, which is such a privilege.”