If you haven’t heard by now, the director that everyone has heard of even though they don’t know who Fassbinder is (do your homework kids), Quentin Tarantino, has signed Kurt Russell to play a slasher in his half of Grindhouse. The film is going to be two separate films – one directed by Tarantino and the other by Robert Rodriguez. Also included with the film are fake movie trailers directed by Eli Roth of Hostel fame. Well, I guess somebody out there likes his work.
Tarantino has made a career reviving old time actors who were once great but somehow turned their own careers into garbage. With Pulp Fiction, he raised John Travolta back from the dead (only to have him once again kill himself with films like Basic and Battlefield Earth). Jackie Brown saw the resurrection of both Pam Grier and Robert Forster, though we haven’t seen too much of him either these days.
I’ve been excited about this film for a while. Two directors I am a fan of teaming up to make one dirty film like it’s the 70s. And with the summer I’ve had, I look forward to it even more.
Then he announces that Kurt Russell has just signed on to be the killer in his film (I didn’t spoil it for you, Tarantino did). I can see it now, Snake running around with a knife or something, stabbing girls and guys in the throat or something.
If you’ve been keeping up on my blog entries, you know how much of a Kurt Russell fan I am. Even when he does a movie like Dreamer, his performances are always top-notch. And he seems like the kind of guy who doesn’t really give a s**t about acting should the sad day come when the offers stop.
Oh, and this guy knows how to live life to. He has been with Goldie Hawn since forever. And they never got married. And they are happy. I never understood why people actually get married but apparently Russell doesn’t either (though I do think he has been divorced before). He knows how stupid marriage is and so does Goldie. You people so eager to “get married” can learn a thing or two from these people.
One of my favorite films in the entire world is John Carpenter’s The Thing. It’s the best remake I’ve ever seen and a film that continues to stand the test of time. It’s a visually haunting, magnificently scored, wonderfully paranoid work of art. Every time I watch it, I can’t help but get sucked into the story and root for various characters, even though I already know what is going to happen to them.
And lest we forget Big Trouble in Little China. I wrote a blog on that already so I’ll skip the theatrics. All I’m going to say is that why has there been no sequel to this. We can get another Clerks but not another Jack Burton adventure? There clearly isn’t any justice in this world.
Now Tarantino will show off his skill. Will there be a revival of Kurt Russell flicks (outside of the family genre of course)? I do hope so. I am real sad that Tarantino never got a chance to work with Charles Bronson but I smiled at the end of the Kill Bill films when he gave Bronson a dedication. I think Bronson would have worked well in Tarantino’s world and it’s a shame we’ll never know.
At least we’ll know about Kurt Russell.
Just wanted to re-visit this site after I saw Grindhouse. Kurt Russell was brilliant in his role as stuntman Mike. I loved the way he became a coward after being confronted by the stunt-chicks. It was great because he always plays such a bad-a*s, Snake Plisken? Funny because people are calling me the Quentin Tarantino of music videos.
Just wanted to say that you hit the whole Kurt Russell thing right on the head. A wonderful actor with superb movies under him like “The Thing” and Big Trouble” and oh Charles Bronson, would have killed in a Tarantino movie!
Grindhouse will be THE movie next year. Case closed.
I like Kurt Russell. I feel good about saying that. I. Like. Kurt Russell. I can’t understand when people I watch movies with get him mixed up with Jeff Bridges. How is that?