By Matt Fowler
Updated: May 4, 2012 9:50 pm
Posted: Nov 8, 2010 9:05 pm
Austin stars as Border Patrol Agent/Hunter Jim Rhodes - a desperate man who must use his outdoorsman skills and cunning to rescue his daughter from villains Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal) and Brit-kickboxer extraordinaire Gary Daniels. Oh, and BSG's Michael Hogan and Donnelly Rhodes pop up as well! IGN had a chance to talk to Stone Cold about his new movie (think Cliffhanger meets Shoot to Kill), the prospect of Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker, and his encore engagement terrorizing Special Agent Carmichael on NBC's Chuck.
Steve Austin: Well, it was very cool. I got to chip in my two cents every so often as far as what we needed to do to make this a realistic hunt. When I read the script, we were actually already filming a movie in Vancouver and my manager had an idea for this movie and so it's kind of tailor-made for me. I love it because we're in the forest pretty much the whole movie and then in a really cool copper mine where we have the climax at the end. And then there's a great part of the film where I have to try and connect with my daughter and I can trace that back to my real life from my wrestling days and always being on the road. But I had a great time making this. I was a lot more comfortable in this role and I started to relax a little bit more in order to kind of get the feel for things.
Austin: It was just like that. Just thinking back and drawing back into my life. As I get more opportunities to make movies, I keep thinking that material gets better. Now as I've started to get more experienced at it I can draw from those times in my life. It sounds like a novel idea at first. You think "Oh, yeah. I'll just think about this or that and try to make the transition." But it doesn't happen that easy. So I had a real eye-opening experience when I got a chance to work with Sly [Stallone] on The Expendables. To watch the way that guy goes about his business. I'm not saying that in my next movie I'm going to be Marlon Brando or Daniel Day-Lewis, but I felt like I learned a lot from Sly and I look forward to using that on my next movie. But I don't think that this role in Hunt to Kill was too much of a stretch for me. Just from the relationship standpoint. And, again, it was written with me in mind. When I watched it about three weeks ago, I'm really hard on what I do, but as far as what I've done so far, this was my favorite movie that I've done.
IGN: You love being outdoors and a lot of this film takes place in the harsh wilderness. Were you more adept at dealing with the terrain than your co-stars?
Austin: I'll say this about shooting in the winter in a rain forest in Canada. It was cold and rainy and we were always damp and freezing. And the ground is very soft and sometimes you just step down and go a foot deep into the Earth. That was not the terrain I grew up in. I grew up in the hot South Texas brush country where everything sticks you, cuts you and hurts you. It's drier than hell and hotter than hell. I can't say that I was any more adept at moving through that forest than anybody else. But I love being outdoors and I think if you get a chance to shoot a movie outdoors then it's a good day at the office.
IGN: Well, if it was that harsh out there, it must have helped you guys act cold and miserable.
Austin: Yeah [laughs], it was easy to act cold and miserable because we were.
IGN: There are a bunch of hard-hitting fight scenes in this film. I saw a couple of wrestling maneuvers thrown in as well. A clothesline. An arm-bar. A Flying Chuck kick. Do they put those movies in there because you're you, or does it occur more naturally than that?
Austin: Really the clothesline worked because of the location and with what we were dealing with. And being elevated up there in the confines that we were in. And to get my opponent on his back. The arm-bar thing that Gary Daniels used was his idea because it is a legitimate hold. But no, I don't go out of my way to put wrestling holds in my movies. I stay away from them as much as possible. What we do in the movie has to make sense. Believe me, I'm well aware that most people know me as a pro-wrestler and I'm proud of that fact and I'm proud of my fans, but I'm not trying to mix those worlds. But at the end of the day, I don't know a million fight holds or punches so I gotta do what I know.
More with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin on page 2…
IGN: Speaking of mixing worlds, you're an MMA fan, right?
Austin: Absolutely.
IGN: I assume you saw Brock Lesnar lose to Cain Velasquez a few weeks back.
Austin: Man, that was a tough fight. A tough loss. I mean Cain was phenomenal.
IGN: Did you see what went down with Lesnar and the Undertaker after the fight?
Austin: Oh yeah.
IGN: Do you think people are making too big a deal out of it?
Austin: I don't know what everyone else is making out of it. I just know that when I saw it, I was kind of like "Eeeh, I don't see it happening." Just because one is UFC and one is WWE and I don't think those worlds mix. I think those two worlds are like oil and water. I think many UFC fighters love pro-wrestling and vice-versa. But I don't see the worlds crossing over at all. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But I just don't see it happening. Do you?
IGN: Being a wrestling fan most of my life, no I don't see it.
Austin: I have a hard time seeing it too. You know though, had the results of the fight went the other way people might have been talking about it a little bit more because it would have felt like better timing and a better opportunity. But be that as it may, just talking about the fight here, I think Brock is gonna go back home. I think he's gonna improve his game and I think he's gonna be back and be a better fighter than he is now due to this loss.
IGN: I think he is too. He's a learning machine.
Austin: Oh yeah he is. Man, that guy is an alpha male. He's a super competitor. And he's a proud guy. And he'll be back and he'll be better, but Cain Velasquez fought a hell of a fight too and it'll be interesting in a couple months when he and dos Santos go up.
Austin: I always have a blast on that show, but they always catch me off guard. Right when I'm in the middle of a break and I'm not ready to do anything and they call and say "Hey, wanna do Chuck?" And I say "when?" And they say "in five days." But I love the show. I don't watch a whole lot of TV but man, they've got such a talented cast and it's just a great show. It's fun, well-written and I knew the stunt coordinator, Merritt Yohnka, back from my "Nash Bridges days" in the late 90's. So it's kind of like a homecoming up there with him. I live only 25 minutes from Burbank, so it's a good gig. I can just drive in, do my thing, and go home. I love it.
IGN: You play a "heavy" role on the show. Would you like to see them give Hugo a bit more brains?
Austin: Yeah, I'd like to take Hugo a little bit farther than the role he's been given, but you know what? It's a great job and if they want me back, I'll do it again. But it was great to see Stacy. She looks spectacular. I hadn't seen her in years. And it was fun working with Nicole Richie too. I'd never worked with her in my life and she was an absolute sweetheart. So Stacy and I got to have a little reunion and Nicole was great too.
IGN: Eric Roberts just appeared on Chuck too, and he's in the first five minutes of Hunt to Kill with you. You guys seem to have a great chemistry.
Austin: I'll always be willing to work with Eric. When the camera's not rolling that guy is probably one of the funniest human beings I've ever met in my life. I remember how we had so much fun we had on the set of The Expendables because we had almost all of our scenes together. And so we needed a guy for this role, of my partner in the movie, and so I said "How about Eric?" So I called in a favor and called him up. And it was great to pick his brain for three months on The Expendables. He's an actor's actor and people could learn a lot from that guy and so I did. And I am starting to feel more relaxed in front of the camera. Just like I learned back in the day that you could relax in front of a wrestling camera.
Hunt to Kill is available on DVD and Blu-ray Tuesday, November 9th.
