Between Takes [The Morning Call/Sep 12/1981/US] By Dale Schneck


If you thought that Kurt Russell as hard-nosed convict Snake Plissken had problems with ruthless characters in Escape From New York, Russell told me he had a different sort of confrontation in St. Louis during the shooting of John Carpenter's film there last summer.

Because Russell was training with weights at a YMCA everyday to build up his body for the physical image of the role, he was approached in the showers by gay men who admired his newly pumped-up muscles.

"I had no previous knowledge of the YMCA and certain activities that can go on there," Kurt now says jokingly. "I'm glad I was in shape or I would never have made it out of there."

But Kurt's acting experience with director Carpenter was so positive that he immediately signed to star in Carpenter's current project The Thing. An 11-week shooting schedule includes filming in Stewart, British Columbia and on the Taku Glacier in Juneau, Alaska. Kurt will play a chopper pilot for a research team in the new thriller from the man who gave everyone chills with Halloween and The Fog.