Kurt Russell picks his cult classic movies that were “misunderstood”
Some actors get into the business to become massive stars and earn millions, and others want nothing other than to perfect their craft and give the best performance possible every time they appear on screen or stage. That’s not to say Kurt Russell hasn’t done both, but he’s nonetheless evolved into the king of the cult classic.
He’s collaborated with some of the biggest names in the business on either side of the camera, and he’s been working solidly for over 60 years, so it’s not as if he hasn’t masterfully navigated his way around a ruthless industry for virtually his entire life. He’s been in some great movies, a couple of stone-cold classics, and an awful lot of cult favourites.
A cult film is something impossible to manufacture; it’s entirely up to the audience whether or not any given picture is worthy of such a status, and there are no set rules on how it can be achieved. And yet, for whatever reason, Russell has notched more than most of his contemporaries, hinting that he has a nose for a role destined to stand the test of time and whip up multi-generational appeal.
It’s something he’s fully aware of, too, which he acknowledged in an interview with Esquire when the label was slapped on the grisly western Bone Tomahawk before it had even been released. “They said it was destined to be a cult classic,” he reflected. “Now, with some of the movies I make, they say it up front!”
Underselling it a little bit, Russell admitted that he’s “made quite a few movies that fall into that category,” pictures that “were made, they were misunderstood, or they were just so different that they didn’t follow the norm.” Taking a trip down memory lane, the actor pointed to the ultimate examples in his back catalogue.
“I can give you Escape from New York to Big Trouble in Little China to Used Cars to Overboard to Tombstone,” he offered. “I’ve done ten of them! I look at that and think, that’s OK. I think Death Proof is going to fall into that category.”
Those are just Russell’s personal picks, too, and don’t include several of his other credits that a lot of his supporters would place into a similar bracket. Jonathan Mostow’s high-speed thriller Breakdown fits the criteria, as does John Carpenter’s Snake Plissken sequel Escape from LA, never mind the superhero comedy Sky High, Paul WS Anderson’s sci-fi actioner Soldier, Roland Emmerich’s Stargate, his team-up with Sylvester Stallone in Tango & Cash, or the street-level crime thriller Dark Blue.
Few performers have ever racked up as many cult classics as Russell, and who’s to say there won’t be at least a couple more to come when the actor shows no signs of slowing down, even into his 70s.
