Kurt Russell: ”James Gunn is not afraid to experiment”
On-set interviews are usually crumpled and formal. The actor is tired or immersed in the role, the break between work sets is only eight minutes - you can't really talk. With Kurt Russell this time it turned out completely different. Included in the cast of the film " Guardians of the Galaxy. Part 2 ”the honored actor appeared relaxed, open and inclined to a casual conversation. Even though under the terms of the contract he could not reveal the details of the plot and share the secrets of his character, the confidential tone of this conversation more than compensates for the forced silence.In the interview below, Kurt talks about getting to know the world of Guardians , about the filming process, his acting credo and recalls the deeds of days gone by.  How did you end up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? You know, when you have been in this business for as long as I have, you can not afford such things: there are a lot of opportunities, all roads are open. And everything ultimately boils down to the simple truth that fluttering the tongue and doing the job are completely different things. You start working with a new team and every time you hope that these people are really creative, smart and funny, and that the director has everything under control, and he knows exactly what he wants. Sometimes hopes are justified, sometimes not. Here's what amused me: I didn't know anything about this universe - the universe of "Guardians" . I was still advertising The Hateful Eight, and suddenly questions like: “Is it true? Will you play the father of Peter Quill ?! ”. And I'm like, "I have no idea what you're talking about." But I felt that people were very positive, and they really wanted me to play this someone I had no idea about. At the first opportunity, I watched Guardians of the Galaxy, got an idea, so to speak, understood why there was so much noise, and already fully armed, which is much nicer, I decided to talk with James Gunn, Chris and the rest of the gang. And, imagine, it turned out that Chris Pratt is not an ordinary nice guy, but an absolutely cute guy, and James is just a storehouse of fun, and, most importantly, he knows one hundred percent what he wants. This gave me hope that I had a real opportunity to play a memorable, interesting character.  What can you tell us about your character? Not much, unfortunately. [Laughs.] Before the interview, I was reminded of this. It's not easy to bite your tongue and keep quiet, but most of the details regarding this character, we want to keep secret for the time being. I can say that he will not disappoint you. Like his son, he is characterized by adventurism and fortitude. And the general idea is to find the strength in yourself to find someone with whom you have always longed to meet, even though you have never seen before. I think that basically we will understand this through the prism of perception of Peter Quill , but after all, everyone should understand the desire to meet dad, even if you have no idea who he is, but only heard incredible stories from mom and others. It is common for everyone to glorify missing parents, and Peter is no exception. Finally, he has the opportunity to meet with him and compare his ideas with reality. This often happens in real life.  When you and Chris were building the father-son line, did you develop an appropriate understanding? He says interesting things. Once we were rehearsing, and he suddenly said: “I want you to be my father. No, really, I wish you really were. " It's great. They are all so friendly, nice. And the thrill is that when I watched the first film and read the script, I saw that my contribution would be right: those notes, that filling, that experience that I will bring - this will be what I need. I read the text and saw clear parallels with some of my past works. How great it is to live now, when the younger generation understands what I did then. You guys really get it. My peers didn’t understand a damn thing what the hell I was doing then. It felt like I was reading a story about my old self. Oh, never mind. It's just my life's work, and it's great to be here now, not just as a dude who is respected for past merits, although for many of your generation this is how it is, which is already there, but to be able to re-grow in such a character, create him and make him alive. Because he is very similar to me in his outlook, attitude to life, and so on. In short, I'm better today than thirty years ago.  You said you caught a connection with some characters from the past ... Link to my vision of those characters. They could be played in different ways. It's about the fact that I played them the way I played them. Jack Burton could be anything, a thousand options, but I decided that he would be like this. This is how I saw it. And that in a sense explains why you are here? This explains why they wanted to see me here - it would be more correct. We come up with all sorts of tricks here, we work all day long, ignoring the director's: “Okay, that's all for today, we are folding!”. [Laughs.] It seems to me that this is how things are done, when it’s fun, and something touching, and a sense of the present, and blah blah blah, and all this together. All these great guys - Quentin Tarantino, John Carpenter, Ron Howard, Bob Zemeckis, Mike Nichols - made me believe I was fit for the job I do. But there are others, especially critics, who watch the film and do not understand why this is cool, but this, for example, is funny. They don't know at all. It was sometimes very difficult for me to keep my course under a barrage of criticism. And it happens that you observe people who work with you, for agents and the like, and they have one thing on their mind: “You know, we can go further along this corridor and to the left, there you will portray the same character five times "six, then the studio will understand how to sell you." Yeah, I get it. I do not want. I'll just suffocate.  Now what? High! The time has come when I can play really cool heroes. And, of course, I can partly use the images I created in the past, the very ones that are very much in tune with your generation, as it turned out. And earlier, I remember, I was sitting near the studio bosses after the delivery of the tape and I heard: “Something I did not understand. He's not that good, your Kurt . " And I look at John [ Carpenter ] and I think, "Yeah ... Well, you wanted it yourself." But there was no anger in me. This is all about, I suppose, it sometimes takes time to get a good look at something. It's okay. What's the most exciting part of working on this role? My character is the embodiment of human nature. Various emotional manifestations, thoughts, actions, abilities and skills, reactions - this is what we all possess, and they can rapidly replace each other. Today we react to something like this, and tomorrow - completely differently. In our case, we have a director who knows exactly what he needs in terms of storytelling, but is not afraid to experiment. He encourages me, all of us, as we improvise - and see how the characters come out alive. We liberate ourselves, he launches everyone into this sandbox, and - go ahead, let's play, so much so that the guys in the editing room also have something to play with.  Is there a character in the movie that you don't interact with, but would like to? I work with everyone, but it would be nice to have more scenes in common with someone. We talked to Chris once, and I say to him: "It's great that we are actually doing this film together." It often happens that you are waiting for an opportunity to work with an actor or actress, but you wait - bam, but there are no common scenes. And you seem to find yourself in the shoes of a spectator who, I think, can think like this: “Oh, these two are in the same movie. This will be a duet, I want to see it! " And they are not shown together at all. This can be frustrating. But here Chris and I have a completely different story. We did a lot of great scenes together. Moreover, we could try to beat them in different ways. Since both of us are well oriented in this universe, it was just interesting for me to enter the frame with a setting like: "Well, I'll try this." And in the next take, turn everything completely differently. And there was no such thing: "Stop, stop, stop, what is this all about?" Because it was always clear what James meant. He is a very good writer, demanding viewer and director. Therefore, he does not try to bypass difficult emotional scenes, he will first allow the situation to heat up to the limit, and only then defuse it. And we often worked according to this scheme. I hope it will be just as interesting to watch.  When we meet your hero, what is he doing? Fighting? I'm looking for Peter . Is Peter his only son? I can't answer. Maybe Marvel in the comics has the answer, but I don't. You must understand - I am not particularly in the subject and have never been. I like the films and the stories themselves, but I'm not a fan. You appear in the film with Pom, with Mantis . Tell us about the relationship of your characters, if, of course, you can ... What does she mean to me? No, it will not be entirely correct. It's very difficult, very strange, and it's damn fun to talk about. This is the difficulty. I don't think I should. I mean, she's an important player, and her relationship with me and with the universe of the film is very important ... We will only get to that in the third act, so unfortunately I cannot answer your question.  Did James tell you that Peter Quill is Jack Burton's successor? Well, when I was about to watch the first movie, Goldie [ Hawn ] and I sat down and I said, “I need to understand what they're all talking about. A lot of people are pressing me with a question, will I play one guy, and they all just really want it. " And she asks: "So what is it about?" And me: "I have no idea." And she: "So you have not read the script?" I answer: “I don’t want to read until I see the film. First I want to watch a movie. " But still, first I got acquainted with the script, because I thought: "If I figure out the text, I will have to look what kind of music in the first film, and everything will fall into place." In short, Goldie and I sat down to watch, and three minutes later, when Chris was playing these lemmings [laughs], I understood everything. “Cool,” I say, “I recognize this dude!”  Then we look further, and I see three or four more references to different sources, and I understand: "Yes, I read the script as it should, and between the lines I tracked everything correctly." And I think: "But this is really interesting." In general, when you read the script, the acting component is clear, but how it will all look is often incomprehensible. And I like that you come to the set, and James has storyboards on the wall, and you look like this: “Oh, so we are coming here, and here, and here ... Oh, so this is what it is such. Yeah, truncated. Oh, here we are, it turns out where. Here is a starship, here is this crap, and here is a planet. Everything is clear now. ” And it helped me a lot ... Because the moment will come when you just have to go to the site, throwing all this rubbish, tinsel, decorations, and your character out of your head. Remain yourself. Just you and your partner in this scene. The character is gone, you are - the way you are, the real one. It's your identity now.  The viewer will never see how I play the character, and, accordingly, will not be able to introduce him to others. The viewer will not see rejected takes, not to mention the actors who have not passed the casting for the role. He sees only what he sees, and the actor knows this. And therefore, it seems to me, it is important to give the hero as wide a choice as possible, what he can be. Because you create someone, release someone, and then he must do something with it, be able to use it. It is imperative that he has enough opportunities so that he does not come out inferior. To do this, the actor needs to give all his best, and the necessary condition for this is trust. The concept art and storyboards you talked about go without saying; Was the model of the starship, the working decoration built? Yes, there was, and something else besides him. Definitely more fun than working only among blue or green screens dotted with orange dots. This is familiar, familiar. When we did, for example, "Something", we had a lot of dolls and a lot of live interaction, there was something to lean on, to catch our eyes. Although, basically, we still have screens here. I used to ask James : "Is he really scary now?" “Yes, absolutely. Let's do it again. Ooh, he has big teeth and ... ". Okay, I get it, he's really scary. Where is he now? About here. It's about his mouth. Where are the eyes? Well, here is the mouth, and the eyes are higher ... That is, you interact with emptiness, but these drawings help a lot. At least you know where you are.  Is this your first cosmo opera? Ha. It's funny, now it seems to me that something very similar has already happened. I just don't remember where. Wait ... Oh, I remembered I did one really groundbreaking movie, Stargate. There was a long vacuum in sci-fi cinema back then, and Stargate was a pleasant surprise for the public. It really felt like science fiction. Is your character a warrior? Does he have a weapon? He's probably using every weapon you can imagine. Another warrior. Source: Slashfilm The Topic of Article: Kurt Russell: ”James Gunn is not afraid to experiment”. |
