BEVERLY HILLS, California 鈥� Tall and lanky Wyatt Russell displayed amazing athletic prowess when he was just a kid. He was so good at hockey that he moved from California to Vancouver when he was 15 to play. Two years later, his team won the provincial championship.
But at 24 his career was suddenly over. 鈥淢y whole right side, from my knee to my hip, is torn so I couldn鈥檛 play anymore,鈥� he says.
鈥淭hat was taken away from me, but I feel like it was fate, a godsend because I wasn鈥檛 going anywhere in hockey. I was playing minor professional hockey in Europe, which is like you鈥檙e not going anywhere.鈥�
That accident set Russell on a new path 鈥� one equally treacherous. He decided to try his hand at acting. His parents, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, are both actors, and their advice was short and simple: 鈥淟earn your lines. Show up on time. And don鈥檛 be a jerk.鈥�
But Russell, who shy by nature, had a tough time fitting into the 鈥渁ctor鈥檚鈥� persona. Luckily he鈥檚 overcome his timidity for his latest role in AMC鈥檚 Lodge 49. Russell plays a shiftless surfer dude who sleeps on his sister鈥檚 couch and owes everybody money. But when he joins a genial fraternal club, it might change his path.
鈥淚 read the script for Lodge 49 and the tone is so different from anything I鈥檝e seen, and it so reflected the way I feel about storytelling,鈥� he says.
鈥淚 like magical storytelling. I don鈥檛 necessarily mean a crazy magical world to appear, but I like looking at the world through the lens 鈥� like this glass on the table is magic. Someone made it from nothing, some guy, who made it special. And we take things for granted. But I like being able to look at the world through the lens of a character who looks at that and sees that as something magical. And my character, Dud, is that. He made me feel alive; I鈥檇 like to feel a little more like Dud.鈥�
A mere five months after he quit hockey, Russell landed his first acting role. 鈥淚 thought I was going to get fired from the job because they called and said, 鈥楧on鈥檛 get on the airplane.鈥� I thought, 鈥極h, no. I got fired and haven鈥檛 even started the job.鈥� 鈥�
It turned out the filming took place on Native American ground and one of the elders had died, so the company had to shoot elsewhere. 鈥淚 did that job, then another job, and I thought this is great! This is awesome! Then a year and a half 鈥� nothing. It was a desert,鈥� he shrugs his shoulders.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I realized maybe this is not for me. I didn鈥檛 feel rejected or anything like that, I just thought maybe I鈥檓 not understanding aspects of the auditioning process. I get acting, but don鈥檛 quite get the audition.鈥�
Russell was fortunate when he auditioned for director Jim Mickle. 鈥淚 came to him and said, 鈥業鈥檓 going to be honest with you, I don鈥檛 think I鈥檓 good at auditioning, don鈥檛 think I鈥檓 good at certain aspects of getting a job, but I think I can do the job well.鈥� It was a different animal. We had a great conversation, I was able to tell the truth to this person because he would listen, like a friend,鈥� he says.
Mickle gave him the role, the main character in We Are What We Are. 鈥淗e and his partner, Linda Moran, gave me the experience of what it was to make movies the right way,鈥� recalls Russell.
鈥淭hank God, because otherwise I don鈥檛 know if I would鈥檝e kept doing it. And I鈥檓 thankful to them and love them very much, they鈥檙e like my movie family. They鈥檙e just great people, too. They made it like a team. It was about having fun, celebrating film, and set a precedent for me to carry with me the rest of my life.鈥�
Four years ago Russell, 32, was filming another movie in Georgia when a tragic train accident killed one crew member and injured seven others. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 usually talk about this,鈥� he says.
鈥淚t changed my life. I was there when it happened, and it was a true catastrophic event. 鈥� A girl lost her life and everybody鈥檚 life changed on that track. It gave me an appreciation for life that I never had. It鈥檚 hard to put into words,鈥� he says.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know her well, but the way that her friends and family talked about her, she was obviously a special person and wanted to do what we were doing. And she died because of mistakes, and it did a lot of things for me.鈥�
He says the tragedy reinforced the idea that one should take time and care whatever the endeavour. 鈥淒on鈥檛 skip over steps for the sake of speed because it doesn鈥檛 end up better. On a personal level [I know] life is just fragile,鈥� he says.
鈥淚t can be over like that, and you catch yourself every day taking life for granted. And I try to not.鈥�
