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When I walk into Armie Hammers suite at New Yorks Crosby Hotel, Hammer is splayed across the bed.
Im not going to be laying down here during the interview, I promise, he says.
This is going to be like therapy Im going to lay down on the couch.
Can we talk about my deepest fears?
So perhaps its appropriate that were talking aboutHotel Mumbaiin patient-therapist format.
Hotel Mumbaiis a very dark, very violent film.
Why take it?The script was incredible.
It was just dripping with humanity.
And be like, What is he doing?
Why is he doing this to me?
This is a personal attack!
Im being attacked by this man and this direction!
It felt really firsthand.
And also, it was a very serious set.
And they didnt have the luxury of yelling Cut!
when things got too intense for them.
Was your family on set?Elizabeth [Chambers, Hammers wife] was there.
Harper [Hammers daughter] was there.
Noton seton set, because there was a lot of gunfire and blood.
Elizabeth was like, Aah, I dont want to do this.
And Harper is so young, I dont want to subject her to that.
Youre subjected to some serious violence in this movie.
Just feeling like you were in a first-person terror attack was really jarring.
So it was about the bigger issue more than me that this shit happens, and that fucking sucks.
It just happened again [in New Zealand].
How about we just stop fucking shooting each other?
Antiquated, extremist ideas.
Youve been pretty politically outspoken on Instagram and Twitter, but lately youve gone quiet.
Whats that about?Healthy emotional boundaries.
When did you put those up?Not soon enough.
Its a dangerous dance partner.
You might have a moment of fun dancing, and then its gonna stomp on your feet.
Im just like,Im getting too old for this shit.
It was a generalized thing, built up of specific moments.
Like when you werefighting with Jeffrey Dean Morgan?Yeah.
Part of me was like, Oh, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, really, lashing out here?
Methinks thou doth protest too much, my man!
I heard a rumor someone lost a hand while filmingHotel Mumbai?No, the director lost a thumb!
He stuck it into a fan by accident.
In India, they dont have the same safety precautions; they dont have OSHA.
He tried to move a fan that didnt have a grate over it.
Tried to reattach it, and they couldnt.
He has no thumb?Hes got, like, half a thumb.
Holy shit, really?Yeah, it was hilarious.
This was toward the end of the movie.
I have to ask about theCall Me by Your Namesequel.
Its in my contract.Is it really?
No, but we do care so much.
So whats the latest?Timmys out!
Im not sure why.
Timmy said the only way hed do it is if they paid him $15 million.
I dont know that anything will match up to the first, you know?
The experience of filming it, or the movie itself?Both.
Do Timmy and Luca feel that way, too?I dont know.
I havent had that conversation with them explicitly.
But I mean, look.
What shifted for you?Im not sure that it was ever really definitely going to happen.
People just seemed so excited about it that we were like, Oh, yeah, fuck it!
Well do it, sure!
[Turns to publicist.
]Was it ever really like,realreal?
Publicist: I think its not real until it is.
Hammer: Its not real until it is.
And I wont do it for less than, uh, $10 million!
[Laughs loudly.]
So theres no script or concrete plans.No.
And I was like, Those all sound like great ideas!
But thats as real as it is right now.
And I was joking about $10 million.
I want $12 million.
Okay, Ill verify to write that down.$12.5 million actually.
Lets go $12.5 million.
Plus 10 percent commission for my agent.
When was the last time you talked to Timmy and Luca?Timmy and I texted yesterday.
Luca, I talked to him the day of the Indie Spirit Awards.
The last time you spoke toVulture, you did this great profile with Kyle Buchanan.
And you spoke about how, in certain ways, you had fallen in love with Luca on set.
When he read that profile, what was his response to it?It didnt really come up.
But it was the thing we both felt.
Its not like he read it and was surprised.
He was like,Aw, nice of you to say.
I feel the same way.
Its a really intense process to make a movie in a foreign country.
And when you do it with people you really resonate with, it forms a special bond.
Im really excited about your upcomingremake ofRebecca.
Its funny because were still really getting into it.
With that being said, we havent started getting into it yet.
Its a couple months out; were filming this summer.
And what about theseInvisible Man rumors?I recently read those myself!
What is the Invisible Man?
Its part ofUniversals Dark Universe.What is the Dark Universe?
They tried to build a franchise around their classic monsters, like Frankenstein.Okay.
I dont know what that is.
Im not against it!
So its a peripheral universe?
I havent heard anything about it from anyone who makes actual decisions.
I read about it online: Armie Hammer might play the Invisible Man.
I was like, Okay!
Do I have to beinit?
Thats true, because youre invisible.I know, thats the thing!
That would be so easy.
I would do that in a second.
You could literally phone it in.I would literally phone it in!
Do you have a Google alert for yourself?No, no, no.
Thats part of the healthy emotional boundaries.
I dont want to take the brunt of that.
Full disclosure, I used to have a Google alert for myself, and search myself on Twitter.
If you dont Google yourself, and you dont know about something, it doesnt exist at all.
Though you did know about the Invisible Man.I did.
Because I get asked about that, and also about Batman: Are you gonna do Batman?
Im like, No … Theyre like, Are you gonna do the Invisible Man?
And Im like, Who is making these calls?!
Which man will you be, Armie?The bat or the invisible?
But, no, neither.
