February 16, 2004
Like fathter like son
By LOUIS B. HOBSON
HOLLYWOOD -- Kurt Russell really does believe in miracles.

He's living a series of them right now.

His hockey movie Miracle has given him one of his best and most popular roles in years, and he's become a grandfather.

Though he has never married his longtime companion Goldie Hawn or adopted her children, Kate Hudson considers Kurt her real father.

She and hubby, rocker Chris Robinson, have named their son Russell in her stepdad's honour.

"That obviously meant a tremendous amount to me because it says I am an important person in Katie and Chris' lives.

"I've always loved acting and I'm lucky to have a career that has lasted this long, but my real game has always been my family.

"With them naming their son after me is a way of saying Katie feels I've done something very right for her."

Russell is doing as much right as he can for Wyatt Russell, his biological son with Hawn. Wyatt wanted to pursue a hockey career so his parents moved to Vancouver.

"Wyatt is a really interesting guy and a very focused guy.

"He's a really great looking kid and he's probably the best actor of the lot of us, but hockey is his passion.

"Every time Warren Beatty comes over and sees Wyatt, he asks what someone who looks like a genuine movie star is doing wasting his time playing hockey.

"It's really true, but that's Wyatt, and right now all that matters to him is playing hockey."

The producers of Miracle even offered Wyatt a chance to play a young version of Herb Brooks, Russell's character.

"There was a good little scene of Herb as a young hockey player, and Wyatt is so obviously a young version of me.

"He fit the bill because he can also act and is a dynamite hockey player.

"He simply wouldn't do it because he felt it would take him away from his game."

Russell refused to take the movie Miracle unless the producers promised him his scenes would be filmed entirely in B.C.

"I said I wouldn't go to Toronto or Lake Placid because Wyatt's playoffs were scheduled to happen at the same time, and I was not about to miss them for any movie."