Sometimes, an actor has to draw a line in the sand, andif it were an up-and-coming young performer or someone trying to get his foot in the door,so to speak, then it would be a completely unique situation. But when you’reKurt Russell, and you’ve already risen to the top level of Hollywood stardom in a variety of rolesranging from westerns to tough guy thrillers,then it is something else. So when directorRichard Donnercame to the celebrated leading man to star in his 1985 fantasy dramaLadyhawke, Russell said no. It’s not that he said no to Donner that is unusual. Actors turn down roles all the time for a variety of reasons.But Russell’s reason for passing on Donner is hilarious.
Why Did Kurt Russell Say No to ‘Ladyhawke’ and Richard Donner?
By the time Richard Donner came calling for Russell to play the role of Captain Etienne of Navarre,he had already established his bona fides as a rough-and-tumble, rugged protagonistin hardcore thrillers like Snake Plissken with his tank top and eye patch inEscape From New YorkandR.J. MacReady with his floppy hat and flamethrowerinJohn Carpenter’s The Thing.Audiences had grown accustomed to seeing Russell kicking assand taking names on the big screen, as the success of both of these films would indicate. When he read the script forLadyhawkeandsaw that his character would be wearing tights, he flat-out refused to do the film. And keep in mind, it is not as if Donner was an inexperienced first-time director, either. He had crafted huge hit movies likeThe Omenand was coming off of great success with the first twoSupermanentries.
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In an interview with Whitney Scott Bainof Starburst Magazine,Russell plainly stated,“When I got there, I saw the wardrobe, and the character has to wear tights. I don’t wear tights. That’s not for me.” There were someother contributing factors, but this aspect of the character was something Russell just wasn’t willing to do.You have to admit, it’s difficult to see an actor of Russell’s stature and the trajectory his career was on at that timerunning around like a grown-up Peter Panorsomeone out ofRobin Hood: Men in Tights.Playing a French captain/wolf in a cursed love affair with a beautiful damsel/hawk separated by sunset and sunrise was also a bit far-fetched for a guy like Russell. Sure, he has done his fair share of light-hearted roles, comedies, and rom-coms during his career, likeOverboard,Used Cars,and even in the bombCaptain Ron, but sometimes you have to decide which hill you’re willing to die on, and for Kurt, it was on Mount Wearing Tights.We’ll get into other issues,but this reason for not doing a feature film is by far the funniest.
Kurt Russell Was in Love With Goldie Hawn, Too
Love will also make a person make rash decisions. And when Russell discovered that the shoot would have him in Italy for close to a year and away from his burgeoning relationship with Goldie Hawn, it was simply a bridge too far. Richard Donner told Tom Mankiewicz, “She was in L.A., and he was about to spend eight months in Italy. He thought he would lose her forever.“Seeing how he had found the woman who would become his lifelong soulmate, it seems that Russell would have said no and made the right decision no matter what the project had been.
Combining these two factors withongoing SAG AFTRA and a writer’s guild strikethat was ongoing back in the United States in the early 1980s, it seems thatLadyhawke, starring Kurt Russell, was never going to happen.Instead, Russell suggestedRutger Hauerfor the part opposite a post-ScarfaceMichelle Pfeifferand a pre-Ferris BuellerMatthew Broderick.The film turned out justfine, but for Snake Plissken, it was never in the cards to lead it, and Hauer was probably always better suited to being in a medieval fantasy romp.
