One of Kurt Russell’s biggest films as a lead actor was the 1994 sci-fi epic “Stargate,” but when he was initially offered the part of Colonel Jack O’Neil, he turned it down multiple times for an especially funny reason. It seems the version of the script he received wasn’t the completed screenplay but an early draft, which was why he thought it was terrible. As the movie’s producer and co-writer Dean Devlin explained to Variety, “He was given a very early draft of the script that should never have gotten out. So, when he actually saw the shooting script he went, ‘Oh, this isn’t so bad.'”
Once Russell was given a revised version of the script, he suddenly saw the value in Jack O’Neil’s adventure to the other side of the Stargate and that — along with a solid salary — got him on board. Which is a good thing, because the movie’s production team wanted him for a specific reason. “He would be a really great name for foreign sales since we were doing the movie independently,” Devlin admitted.
Still, it took a while for the cast to realize that the cheesy tone of the film was intentional. Devlin recalled that James Spader, who starred as Egyptologist Daniel Jackson, sometimes held up shooting due to the script’s ripe dialogue, something Russell brought an end to by giving the actor a stern talking-to. While this was definitely a dumb thing they both had to ignore about “Stargate,” a worse project would lie ahead for Russell.
Stargate definitely isn’t Kurt Russell’s worst movie
Though it might be cheesy and may only hit a 54% on the critical side of the Rotten Tomatoes scale, “Stargate” is by no means the worst movie Kurt Russell has appeared in to date. “3000 Miles to Graceland” currently holds that honor, reviled by both critics at 15% and audiences at 46%. On top of that, the movie failed to make its budget back, grossing just under $19 million on a $62 million budget. There is in fact only one Kurt Russell movie with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes — and it’s a documentary he did a voiceover for, “The Battered Bastards of Baseball.”
“3000 Miles to Graceland,” meanwhile, sees a group of former convicts try to rob a Las Vegas hotel while dressed as Elvis Presley. Unfortunately, they run into nothing but trouble along the way, resulting in chaos and mayhem. Most of the team ends up dying, but those who survive are richly rewarded with a hefty cash prize. Since the cast includes Russell, Kevin Costner and Courteney Cox among others, the film’s failure was quite a surprise — but at least it’s hard to argue that “Stargate” is a worse movie as long as “3000 Miles” is around.
