The role that brought Wyatt Russell’s career full circle: “How hard is it?”
Nepo babies are all too common in Hollywood, but the double nepo baby is still something of a rarity, and one of them is Wyatt Russell.
As the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, he was uniquely placed to succeed in the world of Tinseltown and has translated his remarkable start in life into quite a career. At this rate, he might just eclipse his dear old ma and pa in terms of star power one day, and since he’s also married to Emmy winner Meredith Hanger, expect at least one of their kids to become president or something.
There is an alternative universe out there in which Russell was a star in an entirely different industry, as from a young age, he showed a great talent for ice hockey, playing goaltender for a number of school and college teams before going pro in 2009, but after a year or so playing in various European leagues, his career was cut short by injury.
Speaking to The Ringer, Russell cast his mind back to this pivotal time in his mid-20s, where the career he had spent years working towards was now out of reach. With his back against the wall, he decided to throw himself into the family business; after all, if his mum and dad could do it, why couldn’t he?
“The day I came back, May 10th, from Egypt on vacation with my teammates, I auditioned,” he recalled, “It wasn’t an audition as much as it was, ‘Are you any good?’ for Captain America, for some part that I’d never get in a million years. But I read it. I went in and I just, yeah, read the fucking lines. How hard is it?”
Even though Marvel wasn’t the cultural juggernaut it is today, going for one of the most famous comic book characters of all time as your very first audition is brazen to say the least, with Russell one of many, many famous faces who tried and failed to become Steve Rogers.
Future MCU stars John Krasinski, Channing Tatum, and Chris Pratt all gave it their best shot, and even fellow nep Ethan Peck chucked his hat into the ring, but as we all know, the part eventually went to Chris Evans.
Regardless, Russell’s story with Marvel was far from over, and in 2021, a full decade after Captain America: The First Avenger hit the big screen, a new series called The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiered on Disney+.
Alongside the titular heroes played by Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, respectively, the show introduced a new character called John Walker, who is chosen to take over the mantle of Captain America by the US government, as they believe he embodies ‘American values’. If you haven’t already figured it out, Walker was played by none other than Wyatt Russell.
From getting rejected by Marvel to replacing the character he was turned down for all those years ago, this is just one of the many remarkable moments in his unconventional career.
