Josh Hartnett has opened up about one of the most frightening encounters he had with a fan. Speaking at the Toronto International Film Festival, the actor recalled an incident at a movie premiere involving a stranger who claimed to be his father and was carrying a gun.
As he recently detailed at Entertainment Weekly’s TIFF studio, Hartnett was sitting inside the theater when a staff member told him that his father was there to see him. Since his real father was at home in Minnesota, Hartnett immediately knew something was wrong.
“I had a guy who showed up at one of my premieres saying that he was my dad with a gun and he was going to kill me,” Hartnett said. “He came to my seat and said, ‘Your dad is here.’ And I was like, no, he’s not. He’s in Minnesota.”
However, his publicist went to check on the situation, and security soon discovered that the man had a handgun. The individual then fled the theater.
“And then they found out that he was carrying a gun. Then he ran away. And he got caught later trying to break into, I think, Charlize Theron’s house or something… he was in prison for a long time,” he added.
Hartnett has previously spoken about dealing with intense fan attention and stalking during the peak of his early-2000s fame. Those experiences played a role in his decision to step away from the Hollywood blockbuster scene and distance his personal life from his career.
Hartnett’s Hollywood story is entering another chapter
Josh Hartnett has since found a new phase of his career through darker and more challenging roles. He appeared in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, and his latest project, the six-part Netflix series Below, recently premiered at TIFF.
Created by Jesse McKeown, Below is set in Newfoundland and follows Calvin Penney (Hartnett), a fisherman who must protect his remote town from a growing underwater threat. The series also stars Mackenzie Davis and Charlie Heaton. Below is scheduled to premiere globally on Netflix on October 8, 2026.
He is also slated to appear in Verity, a psychological and erotic thriller film based on Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name. He will also be seen in White Lies, an upcoming film written and directed by Oliver Stone.
