Kurt Russell Shits On The Expendables: “It’s Like Looking Back”

First, some history.  Russell didn’t turn down The Expendables 3 (to be the best of my knowledge), but he did turn down the original movie.  Sly attempted to contact Russell, but Russell had his agent respond with:  “Kurt doesn’t do ensembles”.  Russell didn’t even respond personally, which Sly was understandably upset about.

Not doing ensembles is kinda odd because Kurt Russell is now appearing in Fast & Furious 7, which is funnily enough an action ensemble.

Anyway, yesterday IGN talked to Kurt Russell about that movie (Fast 7) but they also got around to asking him about The Expendables 3.  Russell first did the regular praising: “Yeah. I mean, I’m glad Sly’s done well with this. He’s a great person. The fellas all seem to have a good time.”  Before quickly shitting on the franchise… “I’ve never seen any of them. It’s not a beat I get. It’s like looking backwards to me.” 

Russell then tries to explain, weakly, why the ‘Fast’ series got his vote: “There’s something about Fast & Furious. It has that mystery to me — and it’s for a funny audience, you know? It’s for a 15 to… 30? I think now you can take that from 15 to 45, and I think that’s what’s interesting about that. I like the way Vin talks about it — it’s a saga. It’s not a series, it’s a saga. I think that Paul dying is a part of that saga.”

Yeah right.  Vin Diesel and his ‘Saga’.  Move over Don Corleone.  And using Paul Walker’s death as a reasoning.  Low, very low.  Especially since Russell made his choice before that happened.

This whole attitude reeks of hypocrisy.  I wrote something about this last year, which I urge you to read: Kurt Rusell Is A Hypocrite.  Does Kurt Russell think he’s in his 30s?  His career was made in the 1980s.  The 15 year olds don’t know who he is.  Yet Russell doesn’t have time for the audience who made him and the age group who does know him.  He pushes that age group (for Fast 7) right on up to 45 too.  Well, I’m only 29.  Just saying.

If Jason Statham can appear in both franchises, and he’s much younger than Kurt Russell, then I don’t know why Kurt Russell can’t. See also:  Why Jackie Chan is not in The Expendables 3, why Steven Seagal is not in The Expendables 3 and why Milla Jovovich turned down The Expendables 3.  Not that we care about that third one.  Egos, eh?