Kurt Russell can sum up his entire career in one song: “Not cruel at all, but kind of cool”
More than 60 years into his career, Kurt Russell still has no idea how to describe it. He was once told that his filmography “looks like it was handled by a drunk driver,” and he didn’t disagree.
He began as a Walt Disney-approved child star, became such a trusted confidant of the company supremo that he influenced Mary Poppins, and then tried desperately to give it all up in favour of a baseball career before an injury pushed him toward acting as his chosen vocation.
From there, he played Elvis Presley in his first film with John Carpenter before establishing himself as the genre maestro’s pre-eminent muse and the iconic face of multiple cult classics, including Escape from New York, The Thing, and Big Trouble in Little China, making him a bona fide B-movie legend.
Russell has been famous for longer than most, but he’s never been an A-lister in the strictest sense. His willingness to jump in with both feet has seen him tackle action, comedy, drama, sci-fi, fantasy, and horror with erratically mixed results, and the only thing about his career that’s been predictable is its unpredictability.
Boiling six decades of eclectic decision-making into a single song sounds like a nightmarish task, but Russell knows exactly what the soundtrack to his professional life would be. Fittingly, it was even sung to him in a movie once, although he was playing a godlike being who made it his mission to spread his seed as far across the cosmos as possible. It’s a weird connection, but that’s what makes it so fitting.
Who would have thought that being on the receiving end of a rendition of Looking Glass’ ‘Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) in James Gunn’s superhero sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 would catch Russell at his most reflective? Nobody apart from the man himself, who likened the number one single to his own experiences in Hollywood.
“A lot of the movies I did that were misunderstood at the time live in that world of ‘Brandy,'” he explained to the Los Angeles Times. “That level of humour. ‘Is this cruel but funny? Or not cruel at all, but kind of cool?’ No, they don’t seriously think ‘Brandy’ is the greatest song ever written, do they?”
In effect, he’s saying that, much like many of his films, nobody would really believe ‘Brandy’ is the pinnacle of music. And yet, enough people enjoy it that it’s gained appreciation for being a great example of the things that it does very well, finding Russell a kindred musical spirit that mirrors his performative arc.
“I’ve spent my whole career making movies that run that fine line,” he offered. “And sometimes they’re out of whack with what’s going on out in the world.” Using The Thing being blown out of the water by Steven Spielberg’s E.T. as the perfect example, he called himself the embodiment of the ‘Brandy’ effect.
“That’s ‘Brandy’. It all falls into the ‘Brandy’ world,” he pontificated. “Can you make them laugh but also have them say at the same time, ‘But I kind of love that song’. And not let the fact that it may not be the most successful commercial venture at the moment stop you from saying, ‘Do it’. Because eventually people will say, ‘Oh, there was a method to this guy’s madness.'”
An Elvis song would be too obvious, but if anyone wants to know the perfect track that encapsulates Kurt Russell’s singular career, it’s apparently ‘Brandy’.
