“Without question”: Kurt Russell named two rappers as “the best actors of our time”
Making his screen debut opposite Elvis Presley was a sign of things to come for Kurt Russell, who’d spend the next six decades racking up an eclectic, idiosyncratic, and altogether unusual collection of co-stars.
There can’t be any other performer who can say they’ve co-starred alongside Presley, Vin Diesel, Sylvester Stallone, Charles Bronson, Rihanna, Lee Van Cleef, Meryl Streep, Cesar Romero, Michelle Pfeiffer, Martin Short, Ice-T, Mark Wahlberg, and Malcolm McDowell, but he can.
Having spent his entire life in the business, apart from a brief sabbatical to try his luck at baseball before that dream petered out, Russell has rubbed shoulders with icons, Oscar winners, character actors, and superstars of multiple generations, but he’s only got one favourite actor.
As far as he’s concerned, nobody comes close to Marlon Brando. Hardly a shocking pick, considering the method man’s influence has become so all-encompassing that he’s been the go-to option for decades. But Russell did have a curious moment when naming the best actors of the modern era.
Common sense would dictate that actors were the first thing to come to mind, but not for the king of the cult classic. Instead, after being gauged for his experience working with Master P and Kurupt on Ron Shelton’s underrated 2002 crime thriller, Dark Blue, John Carpenter’s muse showered them in praise that’s more baffling than anything else.
“In my opinion, these guys are, without question, simply the best actors of our time,” he told Black Film. “Why that is would make for a great book. I think it’s because in their own eyes, they are underdogs and they are free to fail. I am not sure if that is a theory that plays out or not. They have ability. They just get it and are not afraid to do it or be it. I appreciate them because they just feel it.”
Look, there’s nothing wrong with a veteran actor singing the praises of a co-star. However, this is Kurt fucking Russell, and he’s trying to state a case for the founder of No Limit Records and one-half of Tha Dogg Pound being the best actors of the early 2000s. There’s hyperbole, and then there’s whatever this is meant to be.
Master P and Kurupt were admittedly solid in Dark Blue, as was the rest of the sprawling ensemble cast, but their filmography hardly backs Russell’s endorsement. The former’s acting career has largely been restricted to straight-to-video dreck, although he did star in a Nickelodeon sitcom alongside his son, Romeo, while the latter hasn’t come close to justifying the seal of approval.
Coincidentally, they both appeared in Hollywood Homicide with Harrison Ford the year after Dark Blue was released, which was the last time either of them was in close proximity to Hollywood royalty, and the movie was shite. Needless to say, neither has lived up to their billing as “the best actors of our time”, which felt like a strange label to place on a pair of rappers from the second it left Russell’s mouth.
