Kurt Russell is looking relaxed, stress-free, without a care in the world. But there is something strangely absent about him. It takes a couple of moments to realise what it is: the facial hair. Or rather the complete lack of it. This is a man whose personal topiary has seemingly defined his acting career, yet here he is without a hint of five o’clock shadow.
‘It’s funny,’ says Russell, ‘for 25 years after The Thing, I only had clean-shaven parts. Then I got on a roll where every part had this ridiculous facial hair thing going on. On The Hateful Eight I had to grow that crazy moustache. Goldie [Hawn, his long-term partner] hated it. And it’s only gotten bigger. For Santa [in the new Netflix production The Christmas Chronicles] it’s all out. But me? No. Don’t have one.’
You suspect Russell rather relishes the fact people might struggle to recognise the actor clean-shaven, because he has long enjoyed off-screen anonymity. He regards movies as nothing more than a job from which to earn money for the important things in life.
Kurt Russell as Santa in The Christmas Chronicles. ‘When the grandkids see some of the stuff that we do in this movie, they are going to flip. It will be great night out’
‘Very early on I decided the only place you could find me was on screen,’ he says. ‘In Hollywood, if you do the right things with the right people, it means a lot in terms of awards, recognition. I do the publicity that is commensurate to the release of the movie. I never did publicity about me. There’s a whole world outside the work of creating a brand. But I made my choice: I didn’t want to play the game. And I’m telling you, it cost me a lot of money.’
Russell has always taken such an approach. The son of an actor, he has been in movies since he was a boy. Almost from the start, he says, he would do his best to avoid outside attention.
‘When the unit publicist came on set, I’d run. I got into a lot of trouble for that. People told me I wasn’t professional, I wasn’t serious, I was lazy. It translated as he’s not one of us – he doesn’t kneel at the altar. The thing was, I didn’t want that because really what I wanted was to be something else.’
Even as he became one of the highest-paid actors of his generation, Russell craved to be a baseball player. He had, he believes, sufficient talent to make it in the game. But when, in his early 20s, injury put paid to such ambition, he decided to continue with acting. And as he did so, he recalled his father’s advice.
‘When I was ten, in 1961, Dad made this declaration: “You’re making a man’s salary now, so do a man’s job.” What he meant was: be prepared, be there on time, always do as good a job as you can. And if you don’t like something, be a man and walk away. Here I am, 57 years later, doing things in the same way.’
Never being that bothered by the business, he adds, has not just helped him retain his sanity. It has allowed him to indulge his many other passions, from wine-making (he runs a boutique winery called GoGi) through flying (he is a qualified commercial pilot) to golf (he captained the US celebrities team that played against their European counterparts ahead of the recent Ryder Cup). He also enjoys hunting, though when the subject of his attitude to gun control is raised, he is quick to close down the enquiry.
‘The thing is, whenever I talk about it, that becomes what the interview’s about. What I’m talking to you about is this movie. Also, I have a real problem reading celebrities’ take on this stuff. To be honest, I’m not sure the world gives a damn about what Kurt Russell thinks.’
He pauses before letting out a rasping cackle: ‘I’m not sure I do.’
Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn have been together for 35 years. ‘Everyone has their marker on what is really important and where you draw the line. For Goldie and me, that core value was this: the kids come first’
Russell believes keeping the business at arm’s length may well be the reason why he and partner Goldie Hawn have defied Hollywood precedent to remain together for more than 35 years.
‘We were very aware of what would happen had we both pursued our careers full-on,’ he says. ‘I very rarely worked when I knew Goldie was going to be working. And vice-versa. Which meant we could be together. I never thought that what the business could provide would ever take precedence over us. Money is great, but you’ve got to say no. You really do.’
Indeed, he claims there was at least one occasion when he turned down the chance to star in a major Hollywood production.
‘There was a movie I was going to be paid a lot of money for. I’d rather not say what it was, but it came when I’d just done two pictures in a row and Goldie was about to go to work, so I had to turn it down.’
So he stayed at home to look after their children, at weekends taking them to visit their mother on set. He had come into Hawn’s life when her two offspring, Kate and Oliver Hudson, were tiny. The couple had a child together – Wyatt – and brought Boston, his son from a previous relationship, under their wing. From the moment they got together, family took priority.
‘Everyone has their marker on what is really important and where you draw the line. For Goldie and me, that core value was this: the kids come first. That big movie I turned down came at an age when they really needed one of us around. Kate was a very sparky personality, a fun girl, great. But when you’re a teenager you need Dad to be there, to say you’re going to be home at 11.30. I think as a parent you have to be an obstacle at times, so they can learn to get around you. If they learn to get around you, they can get around most troubles.’
Despite his own equivocal relationship with the movie business, he had no worries about his children following in their parents’ footsteps. Wyatt starred in 22 Jump Street; Oliver co-stars with his stepfather in The Christmas Chronicles; while Kate has long been on Hollywood’s A-list. ‘I had no reason to steer them away,’ he says. ‘My experience has been great. I’ve been well paid doing a job that has allowed me to be with my family. From the kids’ point of view, what’s not to love about that? My folks are having a ball, I want some.’
Plus he had no fears of what Kate might encounter as she made her way up a business now shamed by its previous tolerance of sexual predation.
‘I know some of those guys who have found themselves in the clutches of payback and I know what they got up to,’ he says of those exposed by the #MeToo movement. ‘They deserve it, bring it on. But if any of those guys made that mistake with Kate – or Goldie for that matter – wow, I’d feel sorry for them. This was a girl who didn’t give a s***. That doesn’t mean she – like her mum – hasn’t faced some of that c***. But if anyone tried it on, she just got the hell out of there, and if the guy didn’t get out of the way quickly he was going to regret it.’
Hawn and daughter Kate Hudson. When asked about whether he has ever had concerns about sexual harassment of the women in his family, Russell says, ‘No, I never worried about them’
After a pause, he adds: ‘Listen, that’s not to say this s*** isn’t real, or that any girl should put up with it. I’m just talking about Kate and Goldie’s experience. No, I never worried about them.’
These days, Russell and Hawn devote themselves to the next generation of their extended family – and there will be a sizeable family gathering at the premiere of The Christmas Chronicles.
‘Generally I’m not interested in all that red-carpet stuff,’ says Russell. ‘But this time I’m inviting everybody. When the grandkids see some of the stuff that we do in this movie, they are going to flip. It will be great night out.’
Though nobody should be surprised if the star of the show turns up in fake Santa plumage. After all, Kurt Russell is a man who likes to hide behind a beard.
‘The Christmas Chronicles’ starts on Netflix on Thursday. ‘Escape From New York’ is in cinemas on the same day. johncarpenter4k.co.uk