BEVERLY HILLS -- Kurt Russell is still trying to deal with his Cro-Magnon heritage.
"I think that it's only in recent years that women have felt it necessary to watch their backs in public. These horrible urban muggings and rapes have imposed a new and essential paranoia on women," explains Russell.
"Historically men have expected to be challenged whenever they go into public.
"Men walk down a street prepared to be challenged and no man walks into a bar without the awareness that he could be defending his honor - if not his life - before he walks out."
Russell's thoughts on self-defence as an inbred male trait are inspired by his new film, Breakdown, opening Friday.
The 46-year-old actor plays a man on vacation with his wife. When their car breaks down, she agrees to ride a scant few kilometres into town with a kindly trucker to call for a tow truck. The wife vanishes and Russell's character is left to unravel the terrifying mystery of her disappearance.
"The reason the wife gets into the truck in the first place is that she is, by nature, more trusting,'' muses Russell. "When men's eyes meet, they invariably wonder if this is the time they are going to get attacked.
"This has certainly been the case in my worlds. I started out as an athlete and ended up as an actor. In both of these worlds, men are always aware and on guard."
Russell admits he has become a victim of urban angst.
"I feel more comfortable in the woods. I'm a real nature person."
It was for this reason that Russell was so distraught and disappointed with the reaction of neighbors, curiosity seekers and the press when he and his longtime lover, actress Goldie Hawn, moved into a beachfront property in the Muskokas in Ontario.
Hawn complained at a press junket that some of the tourists in the Muskokas were unforgivably rude because they kept invading her family's privacy. Her remarks touched off a wave of controversy in the area as the press reported her comments and the adverse reactions of the locals.
"Goldie never accused any of the locals of being rude. She was quite specific that it was tourists trying to get pictures of us who came right into our bay.
"No one would have tolerated that."
The numerous stories that appeared in the press only served to draw more attention to the location of Russell's get-away summer cottage.
"We will be returning to the lake this summer but we will not be as public as we were last year. We won't mingle. We'll keep to ourselves," says Russell.
"When we bought the property, we were really looking forward to being good neighbors. It's almost impossible to do that now. We're bound to be as hounded there as we are in Los Angeles."
Russell also points out that the area has probably lost the possibility of attracting other celebrities.
"Tom Hanks was considering a property near ours but because of what happened to us, he's rethinking that decision."
Breakdown is Russell's second urban horror tale in the past few years. In Unlawful Entry, he starred as a man whose home and life is invaded by a psychotic policeman, played by Ray Liotta.
"The entertainment appeal of movies like Breakdown and Unlawful Entry is that the viewer puts himself into the predicament of the characters.
"For that reason, you can't be too heroic. You can't be an Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone or Bruce Willis.
"The audience has to believe you could die. I think they see me as one of them. I'm a vulnerable kind of guy."
Although his character does perform some astonishing acts of courage, Russell defends him.
"It's the same thing that happens when you corner an animal. Timid as they may be by nature, they become dangerous because they're fighting for their lives."
Breakdown has already been compared to such Steven Spielberg suspense films as Jaws and Duel. Russell says that it isn't the suspense or terror of the chases and action sequences that create the shivers in Breakdown.
"It's the fact that so many people really do disappear each year with no trace. Our film provides one creepy possibility.
"If we can make people believe in the horror story for the duration of the movie, we've succeeded. It's a case of one, two, three, would somebody please stop this nightmare."
A great deal of the suspense in Breakdown relies on the car chases which ensue.
"I used to be a race car driver so I did quite a bit of the driving myself. The really spectacular stuff is all stunt drivers. It's because I know cars so well that I would never have attempted some of those stunts myself."
Russell says he is in the middle of an 18-month hiatus and his next project is the science-fiction thriller Soldier.
More Artists
