Liam Hemsworth didn’t want to take any chances when it came to keeping Laura Dern safe on the set of Lonely Planet.
At one point in their new Netflix romance, the actors’ characters, Owen and Katherine, ride off on a motorcycle together to explore more of Morocco outside of the writers-retreat kasbah where they meet early on in the movie.
As Hemsworth, 34, recalls in a joint conversation with Dern for PEOPLE, it “was quite a scary day” for him on set, despite his riding experience.
“I didn’t want to crash,” he says. “I mean, I’ve ridden motorbikes a lot growing up and I can ride, but it was an old, really heavy, not very great bike, and I hadn’t ridden too much with someone else on the back and I was like, ‘Let’s just do a practice run and put some proper gear on.’ ”
But according to Hemsworth, Dern, 57, was confident about his background, telling him, ” ‘Oh no, you’ve ridden your whole life, right? You’ll be fine.’ ”
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Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth in Lonely Planet (2024).
Anne Marie Fox/Netflix
“I’m like, ‘Let’s have a practice, just to put me at ease, ’cause I’m a little nervous about it. You might be fine, but the responsibility’s on me,’ ” he recalls. “And on the day (of the scene) she’s in a dress, and I’m like, ‘If we come off on this road, we don’t have to be going fast to get really injured.’ “
The Jurassic Park actress tells Hemsworth, “I remember, too, how protective you were, because you were like, ‘You don’t want this caught in that.’ ”
“And at one point they were like, ‘But the helmets. Maybe better to just see your faces.’ And he was like, ‘No, no, no, she’s wearing a helmet,’ ” Dern adds.
“I was like, ‘We’ll be wearing helmets,’ ” Hemsworth agrees.
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Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth in Lonely Planet (2024).
Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/Netflix
Written and directed by Susannah GrantLonely Planet follows “reclusive novelist” Katherine (Dern), who “arrives at a prestigious writer’s retreat in Morocco, hoping the remote setting will unlock her writer’s block,” per Netflix.
“While there, she meets a young man” named Owen (Hemsworth), and “what starts as an acquaintanceship evolves into an intoxicating, life-altering love affair,” the synopsis adds.
Asked about any love lessons they have taken from the story, Dern tells PEOPLE, “When you feel seen, there’s a reset that happens, and I think it’s beautiful to discover it, so you never go back. And it’s hard to go back once you’ve had that experience.”
“I think that’s part of the journey for these characters,” she adds. “And I think even in our experience of exploring that idea, the being vulnerable and exposing flaw and leaning into it, even being deeply honest about who you are, also holds the fun and the sensuality and the safety of relationship. And it shouldn’t ever not feel like that.”
Lonely Planet is now streaming on Netflix.
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