ON THE BIG SCREEN, Chris Hemsworth has played some near-invincible characters. He hurls hammers, leaps from helicopters and shoulders world-saving missions with a shrug. But the same genes that helped him become one of Hollywood’s most ripped leading men also come with some unwanted cellular cargo, predisposing him to Alzheimer’s disease.
A few years ago, Hemsworth learned he carries two copies of APOE4 – a gene that significantly increases his risk of developing Alzheimer’s. At the time, he was filming the National Geographic longevity series Limitless and was forced to confront the idea that someday he and his family could develop a fatal health issue.
Hemsworth’s father, Craig, is now living with the active form of Alzheimer’s. According to Chris, his father is already experiencing lapses in memory and perception.
While the diagnosis was shocking, the Hemsworth family’s outlook is positive. “He has a pretty incredible perspective around all of it,” Chris Hemsworth told Esquire. “It causes fear and anxiety, but it’s a motivator to not take any of it for granted and, while he can, capture as many memories as possible and revisit the old ones.”
To capture those memories, the Hemsworths have decided to document their experiences on film. The result is A Road Trip to Remember, an hour-long documentary airing on National Geographic on November 23 and streaming on Disney+ the following day, in which Chris and Craig retrace the roads that shaped their family.
“It was an interesting thing to even consider,” the actor says. “There was a lot of, as you’d expect, apprehension and concern about how will this be perceived or portrayed? I don’t want to feel like I’m manipulating any of it in any sense, so I asked him: ‘What did you think? What are your feelings about this?’ And he expressed a huge amount of enthusiasm to do it.”
Craig’s diagnosis sparked a reckoning for Chris. As a husband and father to three kids, he began living with new awareness and intent. “The biggest takeaway for me was the comfort crisis that we’re faced with,” he says. “The removal of all the safety nets and actually seeking new adventure is healthy for the mind, the spirit, and the body. We settle for the familiar… and that’s the problem.”
When A Road Trip To Remember was filmed in 2024, Craig’s symptoms were sporadic, but he was mostly lucid. The pair ventured across Australia, visiting their former home in Melbourne, a Northern Territory ranch where Craig once wrangled bulls and buffalo, and a particular creek where the Hemsworth brothers played when they were kids.
During the documentary, Craig reveals the daily challenges he’s currently dealing with. “Some days, things are quite clear and I can make sense,” he says. “And then some days it’s not so clear. It’s not so correct.”
He tells his son in the film that his greatest anxiety is that, “I can’t look after myself, and [will] be reliant upon other people to make decisions for me. … Being a burden is probably the biggest issue I think.”
Chris says that filming the documentary helped him focus on making the most of right now, even if Alzheimer’s is genetically hardwired into his future. “It became less about the reminiscence therapy, and the science around it,” he says. “What we came away with was connection. Whether we have another 20 years, or whether it’s another 20 days, it’s like: Hang on to every single moment. And connect on a deeper level as often and as frequently as you can.”
