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| 'Cos Stone Cold Said So! |
Martin Mathers |
FSM talks exclusively to Steve 'Formely Stone Cold' Austin!
FSM: First off then, let’s talk about your new movie Damage; having seen it, we almost get the impression that the role was created specifically for you. Was that the case?
Steve Austin: You’re very observant! [Laughs] The role was written specifically for me – we had the idea for this movie and wrote it from start to finish. My management team put the pieces together and it happened, but it was by design… it wasn’t a big stretch for me to play this guy. Obviously, I’ve never killed anybody but that said, it wasn’t hard to put my mind in that thought process.
You were involved in the creative process of the movie too? How much involvement did you have?
The best way I can explain it is that they asked me questions and I gave them answers. I did a movie called The Condemned a few years ago and that was re-written about nine times, but it was brought from someone and then we finessed it before making it. With Damage, I was a part of it from start to finish; I’d chip in as much as I could, but all of my decisions in the film world were based on not too much experience. Now that I’ve done a couple of movies and have some under my belt, it’s easier for me to make decisions. When you have nothing to based decisions upon, it’s kinda hard so you listen a lot, ask questions and take advice. I still do that, but now I’m much more involved creatively. So, when I go do this next movie in Vancouver in November, I’ll be up there three weeks early helping to choreograph a lot of the fights. After doing Damage, The Stranger [Austin’s next movie] which we just finished and also working on The Expendables, now I’m starting to get an idea of what I want to sell as Steve Austin in action movies…
So, you’re moving away from Steve Austin, the wrestler and more towards Steve Austin, the actor…
Don’t get me wrong, it was Steve Austin that was Stone Cold Steve Austin, but we don’t roll credits at the end of Monday Night Raw and so some people think that’s me all the time. I’m very proud of my wrestling career and I love the company I was with, but I’m in the ‘Steve Austin’ business now; I want to make the Stone Cold Steve Austin fans happy but also grow Steve Austin fans from start too. I want to create a product people are excited about and make movies that I’m excited about making.
Not comparing you to The Rock then, but essentially you’re following in Dwayne Johnson’s footsteps instead of Hulk Hogan doing Mr Nanny…
Not necessarily. Dwayne was networking in Los Angeles many years before getting out of the business; I retired from wrestling and after three or four years doing nothing, I went out there and thought, “Well, I enjoyed doing Nash Bridges back in the day… let’s go out to LA and try acting!”. I was just looking at it as something to do and a way to make some money. Now, I want to stay as busy as I can but it’s not about the money, it’s about being the best actor that I can be. I’m running my own race; I figure with where I started and ended up in pro wrestling, if I can get a parallel of that in my acting career, I think I can do pretty well. But that’s a work in progress as we speak…
For the rest of this feature, check out issue 47 of FSM - available at WH Smith and all good retailers. (For US readers we are now carried at Borders and Barnes & Noble, so check for local availability or click here to subscribe.)
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