Viewers who have already binged all ten episodes of The Bear’s third season on Hulu were pleasantly surprised to see Josh Hartnett appear as a guest star. According to an interview he did with the Hollywood Reporter, Hartnett said he’s friends with show creator Chris Storer. When Storer called his agent to see if he wanted to participate in the show, Hartnett “said yes right away” before he even read the script.
His appearance on the show is brief, playing the role of Frank — Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach)’s ex-wife’s new fiancé. But he made his fleeting moments on camera count, winning audiences over with his friendly, congenial interaction with Richie.
“I thought about, who does Tiff move on to after Richie? And what kind of a person gets into this situation knowing Tiff’s past with Richie. The guy’s got to be relatively confident. And there has to be an opposition to Richie’s character,” Hartnett said.
“And then when I got the script my reaction was just what a delightful sort of interaction this was between the two of them. I also knew it would be fun to work with Ebon [Moss-Bachrach] because we knew each other from a long time ago in New York and have never been in a project together.”
Something that Hartnett has in common with his character is his affinity for Taylor Swift. On the show, Swift’s music is playing in the background while Frank and Richie banter outside of Frank’s house. The popular singer-songwriter was also a part of last season of The Bear when Frank took Richie’s daughter to see Swift in concert. Hartnett revealed in his Hollywood Reporter interview that he went to see Swift in real life with his own daughters.
“Funnily enough, I went to the Eras Tour with my daughters recently and it was wild,” the actor said. “I’ve never experienced anything like it: 90,000 people at Wembley Stadium losing their minds, including my two daughters. And people were so respectful, my daughters were given so many bracelets and everything was really sweet. It was a good event for my daughters’ first concert.”
Hartnett added that he had to keep his appearance on The Bear a secret. “I felt like the city of Chicago was really protective of The Bear,” he said. “People there love that show, and it feels like it’s an unwritten rule that you don’t spoil it. And certainly nobody who is on the show wants to spoil it. It’s so much more fun to have that last-minute reveal. I told my parents about it, because they love the show, and I told a couple of friends who love the show. But I don’t have social media or anything so it feels like, who am I really going to tell?”
Next up, Hartnett will appear in M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller Trap. It’s about a father, played by Hartnett, who takes his daughter to a big pop concert (notice a theme here?), spots the cops surrounding the arena, and learns they’re laying a “trap” to catch a serial killer called “The Butcher,” who’s believed to be in attendance.
Trap is set to hit theaters on Aug. 9. Along with Hartnett, it stars Ariel Donoghue, Hayley Mills, and Allison Pill. Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka, who’s a musician, is set to play pop star Lady Raven and also wrote some original songs for the film.
