1966’s “Follow Me, Boys” was the first of many movies Kurt Russell would eventually make for Disney. It’s a zany Fred McMurray vehicle about the Boy Scouts and their aw-shucks, down-home heroism. It’s corny, but that’s sort of Disney’s métier. At the time, though, it was just the latest in a long line of acting jobs for the young Russell. The actor had already been working for four years, first appearing in a 1962 episode of “Dennis the Menace” when he was only 11. From 1962 to 1966, Russell appeared in 39 episodes of TV (including playing the title character in all 26 episodes of “The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters), as well as three feature films.
Even as a child, the actor had a capable screen presence. Then, when he was only 15, Walt Disney signed Russell to a 10-year (!) contract. The actor would go on to become the Mouse House’s most bankable star throughout the 1970s, appearing in multiple high-profile, family-friendly releases throughout the decade.
Throughout all of this, Russell — like many actors — hated talking to publicists. He also hated giving interviews and hated attending press events, a feeling that’s all too mutual among his fellow performers. Speaking to GQ in 2016, he even admitted that he was only doing that specific interview as part of the strange Hollywood dance. He’s aware that publicity leads to more acting gigs and that more acting gigs lead to more money. Then, once he has the money, he can relax and go boating and purchase the rich lifestyle he prefers.
As a kid, he admitted that he would even go so far as to hide in the rafters of buildings to escape publicists.
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Kurt Russell would hide in the rafters to avoid publicists
Dexter Riley with half-invisble glasses and a bust of an ancient man in Now You See Him, Now You Don’t – Walt Disney Studios
Russell laid it out plainly to GQ: he didn’t want to be there. He seemingly hated doing interviews, even in 2016, when he was 65. He understood that there was a lot of money at stake, especially in large-scale studio pictures, and he was perfectly willing to play the game … but for him, it was a chore. As he put it:
“The reason I’m doing the interview is because I feel obligated in some regard to do something that says something about the movies that I’m coming out in, because people put money into them, and they want people to know it’s open for business. And so do I because I want to continue to work again and get paid. I mean, both of those things separately. I want to continue to work again because it’s fun to do, and I want to get paid because I like to live my life. But if there was no need for this? Ho! Sign me up for that team!”
That’s when Russell recalled hiding in building rafters, like Tom Sawyer, to avoid publicists and interviews as a kid. Luckily, Disney’s blue-collar workers had his back and helped him:
“When I was a 12-year-old kid, […] I’d see the publicity guy come on set, I’d run up to the rafters. All the electricians up there knew when I was coming up. They go ‘Get up here!’ And I’d go hide.”
Sadly, Russell, now 74, can’t merely hide in the rafters anymore. If he’s in a high-profile studio release, he has to do the interviews. It’s the reality of his gig. He’s even continued to work with Disney, appearing as the villainous Ego in Marvel Studios’ “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.”
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
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