As the son of Hollywood royalty, Wyatt Russell has lived his entire life in the spotlight.
But the 38-year-old actor progeny of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell — and Kate Hudson’s brother (“we were half-siblings, but we were full,” he says) — is used to not being recognized, or at least not being identified as the single person behind an impressively varied and critically acclaimed body of work.
“I get a lot of people who are like, ‘Wait — you were the surfer dude from Lodge 49 and also the Mormon baby killer from Under the Banner of Heaven?’ Or, ‘Shit — the guy who was in the Black Mirror episode is also John Walker?’” Russell says.
But since the April release of Thunderbolts*, all of that appears to be changing, and quickly. The Disney/Marvel release has earned $372 million worldwide and credit for spicing up the moribund superhero genre.
Russell’s John Walker — a Captain America hopeful turned mercenary who debuted in Disney+’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier — is a breakout, stealing scenes with sardonic line readings and elegant athleticism in the action sequences. (Russell was a pro hockey player, playing goaltender in European leagues until injuries sidelined his career and he pivoted to acting.)
Russell’s next two films are Steven Spielberg’s secretive sci-fi project and Avengers: Doomsday. He caught up with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about graduating to the A-list.
Hi there, Wyatt. What’s going on in your world these days?
I’ve been traveling like an insane person. I was in London for a month. Before that I was doing all the press for Thunderbolts* and I just rolled right into Avengers: Doomsday stuff. My wife and I are trying to juggle the career thing with also being present parents, which at times feels impossible, but we’re making it work.
But it must be nice to be busy, too. Especially with the state of the entertainment business.
It’s very nice to be busy. I know the business is in a very odd place, it seems. I was with my friend Glen Powell the other night in London and we were both like, “God, we’re so lucky to be just working and to be on these jobs at the same time.” The business is in a really funky spot.
Well, congrats on Thunderbolts*. I really enjoyed it. It looked different and I was very entertained. And particularly by you — not even really knowing that was you under the mask.
That’s nice to hear. We worked hard on that. The director, Jake Schreier, probably directed more episodes than anyone else of Lodge 49, a very little interesting show that I did many years ago on AMC. We had become really great friends. He called me: “So I’m interviewing for this job, Thunderbolts*, that you’re in.” If you’ve ever seen an episode of Lodge 49, you’d think I was high out of my mind thinking that these two guys were going to be making a Marvel movie together. Then he was getting closer and closer and I was like, “Oh my God, is this actually going to happen?” And then he called me and he said, “I got the job.” I couldn’t believe it. I was like, “Oh my God — they made the right choice.”
When I told my colleague I was going to interview you, he mentioned Lodge 49 to me. I had not even heard of it. So I started watching it. I’ve seen the first two now and I’m hooked.
I’ve always looked to do something completely different than I did on the last thing, which maybe isn’t the greatest way to get people to, in this day and age, understand somebody. I mean literally right before I was auditioning, it was like, “Well, can he be vulnerable? His dad is Snake Plissken.” Hollywood isn’t filled with the most creative people, for the most part. They kind of just go off of what they saw you last in. But in Lodge 49, the writing [by creator Jim Gavin] was fantastic. It was an existential show and way more than meets the eye. I loved it and critics loved it. But it was on at an odd time and wasn’t promoted effectively.
It’s hard to even describe what it is.
Those are the things that I gravitate towards, mostly. That’s why when Marvel came around, I was like, “This isn’t what I do.” But I’ve always said, “Don’t get married to the things that you think you are. You have to listen to the universe a little bit.” I’m glad I did, because hopefully I’m able to bring more to that character than just be a traditional superhero who stands like they’re holding suitcases.
So what is the name of your Marvel hero?
His name is John Walker, and his superhero name is US Agent.
He doesn’t get a flashier name than that.
I don’t get a cooler name.
I was reading the Wikipedia of the Disney+ series Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where you debuted as John Walker. There was something there about Kevin Feige saying that Marvel purposely chose a white actor to play John Walker — that it was meant to convey a political choice by the U.S. government to make a white man Captain America. Is that all how it went down?
No, I don’t think so. I mean, that’s, like, Wikipedia bullshit. He’s a white guy in the comics and he’s an overzealous war hero turned superhero by the government in the void left by Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans). And Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) didn’t want the shield and so they needed somebody to take it. And they hired this guy who is a decorated war veteran, and all of his insecurities when he takes the superhero serum come to the surface. That was what I found interesting about the character — you can play an insecure superhero who’s still good at his job, but needs to learn things about himself to become fully realized.
So there’s an arc I can play over however many series or movies and still make the character interesting. And that’s what I enjoyed about it. The John Walker I played in Falcon and the Winter Soldier in 2020 is completely different version than the guy in Thunderbolts* and I think will be a completely different again in Avengers: Doomsday.
And how far into filming that are you?
We started about a month and a half ago.
Is there a difference between making the TV show and going to feature films? Is it more tense, bigger budgets, bigger sets?
It was just more of a focused story. The TV show era was an interesting one, but the movies are more of an event. These Marvel movies are event movies and they feel like they mean something. And you go out and you do the premieres and the press and it’s a bigger thing. It just feels bigger. I don’t know how else to put it, other than “an event.”
The shows kind of came out on Disney+ without much fanfare and they either were good or not. And you saw how that kind of panned out. It wasn’t the greatest. It didn’t work out amazing for them, but it was an interesting swing. And I think that Bob Iger has said in his comments that they’re getting back to equality over quantity. I think that’s obviously smart.
Are you sensing that laymen like me have suddenly noticed and paid attention to the character through Thunderbolts*? Have you felt a change?
Definitely. My career has just been weird. I’m the Mormon baby killer from Under the Banner of Heaven. Then I’m playing John Walker. People are putting pieces together more now.
And I only recently realized you were the secretly-30-year-old guy from Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!. I love that movie.
Yeah. So it’s like there’s 17 years of working and more people putting pieces together of, “Oh shit, wait, the guy who was in the Black Mirror episode is John Walker.” And so Thunderbolts* has oddly consolidated people’s idea of me as an actor. “Wait, you’re that guy?!” I’m like, “Yeah.”
It’s funny — your parents have such strong personas. Everyone knew exactly who they were very early on. It’s interesting that you’re this sort of chameleon.
I don’t know why that is. I was talking to Steven Spielberg the other day. I just finished doing his next movie and talking to him is always so interesting, obviously, on set. We were conversing about when I was playing ice hockey. And I realized while talking to him that, “Hey, you know what? The reason I like being these different characters and these different people is because when I was playing ice hockey, I gravitated towards goaltending — because I could put a mask on!” In hockey, the goalie wears a mask. You can’t see his face. It made sense to me as I was explaining it.
It seems like a slow, steady burn. And now it’s bearing the fruit that you probably had wanted earlier, but your dedication is starting to pay off.
I hope so. You do the best that you can, and then as you’re working towards things over years, the business changes. And now they’re not making movie stars. They’re not making the same amount of projects they were four years ago. And so you’re constantly always in this world where you’re adapting. That’s the only thing you can do. I’ve been lucky.
I wanted to ask about your mom Goldie Hawn because she loomed large in my childhood. Her movies were some of my favorites, especially Foul Play and Private Benjamin. Were you at the Oscars this year when Andrew Garfield delivered a tribute to her on stage?
No, I wasn’t. But I texted Andrew before, like, “Hey, have a great time.” And he was so sweet with my mom and I love him so much.
It was a really touching moment.
Really, it really was. It made me cry, of course.