Trap star Josh Hartnett campaigned for his character's distinctive blonde hair in new action movie that's basically Bullet Train on a plane

Josh Hartnett in Fight or Flight
(Image credit: Sky Cinema)

Fight or Flight lands on our screens very soon as a new plane-set action thriller that sounds like Bullet Train meets John Wick. It stars Trap actor Josh Hartnett as a mercenary tasked with finding a mysterious criminal on a flight, only to realize he's also competing with a plane full of other assassins.

The first trailer gave viewers a hint at the carnage that ensues, with some sequences including a chainsaw, a drinks cart, and a drug-fuelled bathroom tussle. However, one of the biggest talking points was the Oppenheimer actor's distinct new peroxide blonde hair for the role, and it turns out it was all his idea.

"That was my decision, I campaigned for that," he tells GamesRadar+ when we ask if he had to be sold on it. "I just thought this guy's been hiding out in the same city for a long time, living in Bangkok, and he is being chased by a lot of people, probably has had to fight his way out of a few corners.

"He's over his situation, he is probably trying to evade through all sorts of different tactics. And at this point, this is the remnants of what he is, he's drinking all the time, he's got the remnants of a disguise from, obviously, a couple of months ago because the hair is growing in underneath it and he's just sort of giving up generally – and then this comes into play. I don't think he's a vain person either."

Hartnett had to train hard for the role too, which saw him performing his own stunts for the first time in 20 years. The graft paid off though as the actor recalls some of his favorite action sequences in the movie.

"I mean, they were all fun," he smiles. "I thought the bathroom sequence was a lot of fun just because I got to play with the barbiturate aspect of it, and any time we were able to introduce a sort of very different state of mind to the fight sequences. So in the end, as well, which I don't want to give too much away, when he's kind of in a different place himself, that was fun."

Hartnett adds that he loved working with the stunt team too: "They obviously do this all the time. I'm a novice. I'm in my 40s, like, how do we make this feel real and also kinetic and exciting for the audience?"

Fight or Flight releases on Sky Cinema on February 28. For more, check out our guides to 2025 movie release dates and upcoming movies.

Fay Watson
Deputy Entertainment Editor

I’m the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for the Total Film and SFX sections online. I previously worked as a Senior Showbiz Reporter and SEO TV reporter at Express Online for three years. I've also written for The Resident magazines and Amateur Photographer, before specializing in entertainment.

Read more
Josh Hartnett in Fight or Flight
Trap star Josh Hartnett's wild new thriller Fight or Flight is designed to be "be an anti John Wick", but with the same killer action
Josh Hartnett in Fight or Flight
20 years later, Black Hawk Down star Josh Hartnett says new action movie Fight or Flight brings him back to his stunt-sequence heyday
Josh Hartnett in Trap
There's a reason Josh Hartnett keeps taking unexpected roles, from serial killer in Trap to a physicist in Oppenheimer: "It's hard to be surprised"
Josh Hartnett in Fight or Flight
Trap star Josh Hartnett is stuck on a plane full of assassins in first trailer for new action thriller from the team behind John Wick
Josh Hartnett in Fight or Flight (2025)
Fight or Flight review: "Slick and silly action sequences garner well-earned John Wick and Bullet train comparisons"
Tom Hardy in the Havoc teaser
Tom Hardy’s upcoming Netflix action movie from The Raid director gets its first ultra-violent teaser trailer
Latest in Action Movies
Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk in Daredevil: Born Again
Daredevil: Born Again star Vincent D'Onofrio swiftly shoots down reports of his involvement in Spider-Man 4
Robert Downey Jr announces his Doctor Doom casting at San Diego Comic-Con 2024
The Russo brothers finally debunk that Avengers: Doomsday concept art leak: "Nothing spoiling in there"
Michael Fassbender as Magneto
Michael Fassbender recalls his "awful" Mad Max: Fury Road audition: "I couldn’t wait to get out of there"
Michael Fassbender in Black Bag
X-Men star Michael Fassbender says he auditioned for James Bond, but ended up suggesting they go for Daniel Craig: "I don't know why I was promoting him"
Warfare movie
First reactions to Ex Machina director's "intense" new war movie are comparing it to Black Hawk Down
Jack Quaid in The Boys
The Boys star and self-proclaimed "huge video game nerd" Jack Quaid says his dream role would be in a BioShock movie because it's "one of my favorite games of all time"
Latest in News
Jurassic Park Survival
As Jurassic Park Survival, John Carpenter's Toxic Commando, and the Star Wars KOTOR remake remain MIA, Saber CEO promises "everything that we have talked about is still in development"
Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Zero Dawn star Ashly Burch responds to Sony's controversial AI Aloy by pushing for actor protections: "You have to compensate us fairly, and you have to tell us how you're using this AI"
Silent Hill f
Silent Hill f's ESRB rating has zero chill: "Faces ripped apart," "a character burned alive inside a cage," and "entrails and sinew displayed on serving platters"
Silent Hill f
Silent Hill f writer says many of the franchise's female characters experience "a great deal of suffering," so he wants his protagonist "to be able to make her own decisions, for better or for worse"
Starship Troopers
District 9 filmmaker Neil Blomkamp is working on a Starship Troopers reboot that goes back to the original 1959 novel
Nova's helmet sitting among rubble
Jonathan Hickman will "revolutionize Marvel's galactic canon" in a new event that brings in the Hulks, Black Panther, Nova, and more