Josh Hartnett explains why he was frustrated with ‘Hollywood heartthrob label’

Josh Hartnett has recently explained why he was frustrated with Hollywood heartthrob label.

“I was frustrated because I assumed audiences cared more about my choices than they did. Audiences mostly just want to be entertained,” said Josh in a new interview with PEOPLE.

The Black Hawk Down star revealed he picked characters who “were quite a bit different from the average hero at the time”.

“I did a couple of heroic films and everybody wanted me to play those kinds of roles and that's what I was being offered,” he recalled.

However, Josh told the outlet that he learned early on “to be very true to myself”.

The Pearl Harbour actor believed, “If I lost that in the midst of all these other opinions and in the midst of all this fame, I might lose myself entirely. And I didn't want that.”

Josh opened up about choosing roles that appealed to him, explaining, “I didn't want to be defined by other people. I wanted to define myself.”

He continued, “I knew that what I responded to in film was different than what people were offering me.”

Reflecting on stardom, the Oppenheimer actor noted, “It was more like I had a different vision of what I wanted than the media or the companies that were in charge of the movie business wanted me to be.”

"I just kept doing the thing I wanted to do,” he remarked.

Josh mentioned, “I feel really lucky that I've been able to make, I think, consistently interesting work over the course of my career. And now people are more interested in it.”

Meanwhile, Josh will next be seen in new movie, Trap, which will release in theatres on August 2.