Kurt Russell: Hollywood’s changing screen tough guy

“I’m old, but I’m not obsolete.” Borrowing the line of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie “Terminator Genisys” to evaluate the Hollywood actor Kurt Russell, it couldn’t be more appropriate.

He is the father of Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and the father of the new “Captain America” ​​Wyatt Russell in the American TV series “Falcon and the Winter Soldier“.

As a former screen tough guy, Kurt Russell, who celebrated his 70th birthday on March 17 this year, is still active on the screen in recent years.

Play the stunt coordinator in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and become Santa Claus in “The Christmas Chronicles“…

Related Post: “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood”: A Love Letter with Blood.

Even if he plays a supporting role, the characters he portrays still have a halo and are not concealed by the protagonist.

In the middle of the year, “Fast and Furious 9“, a drag racing in space, exploded the movie market, with a global box office of over 600 million U.S. dollars.

Related Post: Why did “Fast and Furious 9” set the lowest score in the series?

Although Kurt Russell, who plays Mr. Anonymous in the film, does not have many roles, since “Fast and Furious 7” joined the “Fast and Furious Family”, the mysterious and humorous image has enriched the series a lot.

Looking back at this ever-changing screen tough guy, some people say that when he was young, Kurt Russell was just a second-line action star and a representative of B-level action movies.

But audiences who are really familiar with him know that his acting skills, fame, and even figure and bulk are no worse than Schwarzenegger and Stallone of the same period and the same style.

Many of his roles such as the one-eyed snake Snake in “Escape from New York“, the truck driver in “Big Trouble in Little China“, and the top soldiers in “Soldier” are enough to be recorded in movie history.

Walt Disney’s last words are related to Kurt Russell

Kurt Russell, born in 1951, appeared in “It Happened at the World’s Fair” starring Elvis Presley at the age of 12.

He played a small role in the film, which became his first film.

16 years later, in 1979, he played the childhood idol Elvis Presley in the biographical TV movie “Elvis“.

His father Bill Russell played the role of Elvis Presley’s father, Vernon Presley.

In 1994, in “Forrest Gump” starring Tom Hanks, Kurt Russell voiced Elvis Presley.

The indissoluble bond with the role of “Elvis Presley” also contributed to another bond between Kurt Russell and director John Carpenter.

In 1979, the “Elvis” duo collaborated for the first time, after which the duo collaborated on many classic B-level action movies.

Kurt Russell is undoubtedly a genius actor of “God’s Appreciation of Food“. He was born as a child star and slowly came into the sight of animation giant Walt Disney.

It is reported that after 15-year-old Russell starred in the Disney movie “On My Honor” in 1966, Walt Disney was impressed by Kurt Russell’s performance.

So he personally signed Kurt Russell and signed a 10-year contract.

But in this year, the animation giant Walt Disney, suffering from lung cancer, was dying. Before he died, he scribbled the name “Kurt Russell” on a piece of paper, and died shortly after.

No one knows what Walt Disney means, including Russell himself.

But what is certain is that Walt Disney favored Kurt Russell at the time and deliberately focused on cultivation. He also predicted that Kurt Russell would show “great performance” in the future.

In the Disney Company, Kurt Russell starred in “The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes“, “Charley and the Angel“, “The Strongest Man in the World” and other sci-fi comedy works.

During this period, he also played professional baseball for a time and later became a member of several minor league teams.

The screen child star is also the pride of the baseball field

As early as the acting time, Kurt Russell, who came from a baseball family, started playing semi-professional baseball at the age of 15.

In 1971, the 20-year-old Kurt Russell was the second baseman for the Rainbow Baseball team. In the four seasons of the minor leagues, he played a total of 110 games.

If he keeps playing like this, with his talent, he is likely to play in the major leagues.

However, Kurt Russell’s baseball career ended in 1973 due to the unfortunate tear of the rotator cuff.

Had it not been for the injury, Kurt Russell might have spent more time on the court than in the spotlight and on set.

However, Kurt Russell’s short career in professional baseball gave Kurt Russell an amazing insight into his body and personal fitness, which is also an invaluable asset for actors.

The fate with sports, sports, and the arena has also been continued and presented in many subsequent films.

In the 1986 movie “The Best of Times“, Kurt Russell played a quarterback who was a former high school football team, helping the team to face the opponent again after many years.

In 2004 “Miracle“, Kurt Russell was transformed into Herb Brooks, coach of the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics. He led a group of newcomers to win the championship, and staged a scene of the ice myth of permanent pituitary.

In 2005, Kurt Russell partnered with Dakota Fanning and starred in the family inspirational film “Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story” surrounding horse racing, in which he played a jockey who was glorious and passionate.

In 2011, he co-starred in the sports film Touchback with Brian Presley and Melanie Lynskey, in which Kurt Russell played the coach of the football team.

Obviously, most of these sports films, biopics, and inspirational films appeared after 2000.

Unlike Bruce Willis, Schwarzenegger and other screen tough guys, Kurt Russell, who is more than half a hundred years old after the new century, rarely appears as a tough guy in action movies.

Some inspirational warmth or comedy science fiction films became his choice.

However, the most popular and established Kurt Russell’s Hollywood status and acting style are still a series of action movies in the 1980s and 1990s.

Especially the many B-level action movies that Kurt Russell and John Howard Carpenter collaborated with, many of which are still regarded as classics.

B-rated film tough guy almost became box office poison

Kurt Russell’s appearance was not particularly outstanding in the 1980s when screen tough guys were abounded.

But in the 1981 action science fiction film “Escape from New York“, Kurt Russell’s “Snake” image of Lieutenant Colonel Snake Plissken, who is also a good and evil, lonely hero, quickly captured a large number of fans.

The distinctive anti-hero temperament made Kurt Russell a Hollywood superstar overnight, and since then he also has the title of “Snake”.

This role was later selected as one of the “Top 100 Movie Roles in Film History” by the British “Empire” magazine.

With this film, Kurt Russell, who was born as a child star, has successfully transformed. This film co-operated with director John Carpenter has also become a classic representative of Carpenter’s B-level action film.

Fifteen years later, the two co-produced the sequel “Escape from L.A.”.

During the period, the two also collaborated on works such as “The Thing” and “Big Trouble in Little China“, continuing the style of Russell’s screen tough guys.

But “Big Trouble in Little China“, which is full of cults and has an oriental fantasy style, has encountered the reputation of Waterloo.

This action film, which cost as much as 20 million U.S. dollars, only received 11 million U.S. dollars at the North American box office when it was released in 1986, and Kurt Russell almost became a box office poison.

However, when the film was broadcast on cable TV, it was sought after by fans and caused a sensation.

In 2015, Dawn Johnson, another tough screen guy in Hollywood, announced the renewal of “Big Trouble in Little China”, which will regain this mixed-and-matched and curious B-rated action film IP.

In the mid to late 1980s, two romance films starring Kurt Russell also suffered box office losses: “Swing Shift” in 1984 and “Overboard” in 1987.

Although the former was not satisfactory at the box office, it contributed to the couple Kurt Russell and the heroine Goldie Hawn in the film, and the two became one of Hollywood’s most lasting couples.

In 2017, the couple, who had been in love for more than 30 years but never married, were named on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The latter film, “Overboard“, is the second film that the duo collaborated on. It was released in mainland China as a Hollywood blockbuster that year.

Helping Kurt Russell out of the declining showbiz also benefited from the action film “Tango & Cash” in the late 1980s.

In the film, Kurt Russell and Stallone, the tough guy combination, contributed hardcore action scenes and boosted the film’s box office sales.

In 2017’s “Guardians of the Galaxy 2“, the two tough guys meet again, but this time there is no direct intersection in the film.

The character setting of the double heroes and double tough guys in “Tango & Cash” also influenced some Hollywood blockbusters.

The screenwriter of “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” mentioned that the strong collision between Johnson and Statham was inspired by this film.

In the early 1990s, “Backdraft” starring Kurt Russell and directed by Ron Howard became the highest-grossing firefighting movie in Hollywood at that time.

Among the powerful stars, Kurt Russell’s performance is not inferior. The film’s good reputation and box office also helped Russell regain the confidence of the market.

In the mid to late 1990s, Kurt Russell starred in “Stargate“, “Breakdown“, “Soldier” and “Executive Decision” and other action films, continuing his screen tough guy style.

However, the heroic images and unruly characters in Kurt Russell’s action films are more popular with the audience, and they are the most deeply rooted in the hearts of the audience.

The golden supporting role of the two series of “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Fast and Furious”

In the 1980s and 1990s, Kurt Russell partnered with Carpenter to contribute a series of classic B-level action movies.

After 2000, Russell collaborated with Quentin Tarantino in a number of crime-type films, including starring roles and short guest appearances.

In the 2007 thriller “Death Proof“, Russell played “Stuntman Mike” who committed a serial murder.

In the 2015 western crime film “The Hateful Eight“, Russell played “John Ruth”, a bounty hunter who freed prisoners.

In the latest 2019 “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood“, Russell came out as Randy Miller.

I have to say that Russell’s consistently rebellious, rude and arrogant screen personality in previous B-level action movies fits well with the unique temperament of Quentin Tarantino’s movies, which is absurdly absurd and full of violence.

In addition to crime genre films, the above-mentioned warmth and inspirational films related to sports and family, and disaster films such as “Poseidon” in 2006.

In recent years, Russell has also made stunning appearances in MCU “Guardians of the Galaxy” series and “Fast and Furious” series.

Although only a supporting role, sometimes a cameo, the role of the role is not large.

But whether it is the father of the star in “Guardians of the Galaxy 2“, the self-conscious planet Ego, or the Mr. Anonymous who controls everything in the dark in “Fast and Furious 7, 8, 9“, Russell’s acting skills are sufficient. Impress the audience.

He and Vin Diesel have also become actors across these two major series.

The once tough guy on the screen is willing to be a green leaf and has become a golden supporting role in Hollywood blockbusters in recent years.

With the increase of age, Russell appeared in fewer and fewer films, especially action films, and his roles in the films became lighter and lighter. Now he is almost in a semi-retired state.

Russell, who is still strong in his ancient years, has no new film schedule yet to be screened.

However, it is also a pleasure to pay tribute to the old man to reminisce about his classics and appreciate those ever-changing screen roles in the desert.