Friday night, Kurt Russell did something that he almost never does. He sat down in front of an audience and answered questions about one of his films. This auspicious event happened at the Q&A screening for Escape from New York that was a part of Entertainment Weekly’s ongoing CapeTown Film Fest. Russell talked about what it was like to work with director John Carpenter and gave fans some great behind-the-scenes info about the shoot, such as details about Snake’s wardrobe and what scene was cut from the film and why. Russell also gave his opinion about a possible remake of the film. Hit the jump for all that info and much more.

Last night the Arclight Hollywood hosted AFI’s Night at the Movies, a celebration of 13 great American films hosted by the stars that helped make them famous.  As a part of the event Kurt Russell was on hand to introduce a screening of John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing.  Having been born a few years too late for The Thing’s theatrical run, I take every opportunity I can to watch it on the big screen and my favorite part is always the audience.  You can’t beat an audience that’s just as excited to be there as you are; an audience that screams, cheers and applauds at all the right moments – that is, I used to think you couldn’t beat it until last night’s screening.  Turns out a little reminiscing from Russell beforehand make the whole thing just that much more fantastic.  Hit the jump to check out the highlights of what he had to say.

Entertainment Weekly has announced the complete lineup for the upcoming EW CapeTown Film Festival, and it’s chock-full of great films and exciting guests.  Screenings include Shaun of the Dead, The Thing, Escape from New York, The Goonies, Twelve Monkeys, and Star Trek (2009), with a special “May the 4th Be With You” all-day marathon of Return of the Jedi.  More excitingly, though, is the fact that Edgar Wright, John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, Richard Donner, Neil Gaiman, Terry Gilliam, Leonard Nemoy, and more will be onhand to introduce and discuss the various films.

Hit the jump to check out the full lineup, which also includes a special announcement that’s coming soon.  EW CapeTown Film Festival will run in Los Angeles from April 30th – May 6th.

Some interesting casting has shaped up for debut director S. Craig Zahler’s horror Western, Bone Tomahawk.  It looks like Kurt Russell (The Thing), Peter Sarsgaard (Green Lantern), Richard Jenkins (The Cabin in the Woods) and Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter) are all on board.  Bone Tomahawk “follows a sheriff (Russell), a gunslinger, a befuddled oldster (Jenkins) and a cowboy (Sarsgaard) as they attempt to rescue a group of captives (including Carpenter) from a band of cannibalistic troglodytes.”  If you ask me, there just aren’t enough movies with troglodytes these days.  Hit the jump for more.

Director Quentin Tarantino must have written a doozie of a role for a certain Django Unchained character; not only has Kevin Costner left the picture, but now Kurt Russell has exited as well.  Both veterans were slated to play the role of Ace Woody, a villainous character who trains slaves to fight each other for public amusement.  Granted, the role isn’t feel-good like Man of Steel’s Pa Kent or Miracle’s Herb Brooks, but it’s a Tarantino flick; no one gets out unscathed.  Costner had previously cited scheduling difficulties for his departure from Django Unchained, but Russell’s camp has yet to provide a reason.  Slightly concerning is the fact that with a December 25th release date, there hasn’t been a replacement announced just yet. 

Sacha Baron Cohen also let slip that his planned cameo won’t happen due to a scheduling conflict.  The rest of the Django Unchained cast, however, needs little support, boasting Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, M.C. Gainey, Garrett Dillahunt, Dennis Christopher, Gerald McRaney, Laura Cayouette, Don Johnson, and Tom Savini. Hit the jump for more. [Update: We've added new information regarding Russell's role]

While Samuel L. Jackson’s role in the upcoming superhero epic The Avengers certainly won’t hurt his status as “highest grossing actor ever,” that doesn’t mean the veteran will neglect his acting roots.  Jackson once again teams with  director Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained later this year, a movie which draws inspiration from some of the ugliest events in American history.  While we’ve brought you some good looking images of Christoph Waltz in character and of the first teaser poster, the plot itself is a bit on the ugly side. It revolves around Django, a freed slave (Jamie Foxx) and Dr. King Schultz, a German-born bounty hunter (Waltz) who are out to rescue Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington).  Jackson plays a “house slave” of plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).   The outstanding cast also includes Kurt Russell, Garrett Dillahunt, Walton Goggins, RZA, M.C. Gainey, Dennis Christopher, Gerald McRaney, Laura Cayouette, Don Johnson, Tom Savini, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Django Unchained opens December 25th.  Hit the jump to see what Jackson had to say about how Tarantino aims to handle the sensitive subject matter.

Following the release of the excellent teaser poster for Quentin Tarantino‘s Django Unchained, The Weinstein Company has now released the film’s official synopsis.  Briefly, the movie takes place before the Civil War, and follows Django (Jamie Foxx), an escaped slave who teams up with a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) in order to rescue Django’s wife (Kerry Washington) from a cruel plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio).  The outstanding cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Garrett Dillahunt, Walton Goggins, RZA, M.C. Gainey, Dennis Christopher, Gerald McRaney, Laura Cayouette, Don Johnson, Tom Savini, and Sacha Baron Cohen.

Hit the jump to check out the full synopsis.  Django Unchained opens December 25th.

The first trailer for the football drama Touchback has gone online. The trailer opens like Miracle 2: Football, but then we get into the slightly more complicated plot not concerning Kurt Russell: a former high school football star whose life was sidetracked after a game-related injury unexpectedly travels back to the past to relive his glory days. The premise could be interesting enough, but this trailer plays out like a Hallmark Movie of the Week, complete with groan-inducing voiceover narration and a ham-fisted score. It’s not necessarily the quality of film one expects to see in theaters.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also stars Brian Presley, Melanie Lynskey, Christine Lahti, Marc Blucas, Drew Powell, Sarah Wright, Sianoa Smit-McPhee and Kevin Covais.

Dimension Films has picked up the U.S. distribution rights to the Canadian production The Black Marks.  Kurt Russell, Matt Dillon and Jay Baruchel star in the heist comedy about “a third rate motorcycle daredevil (Russell) and semi-reformed art thief, [who] agrees to get back into the con game and pull off just one more lucrative art theft with his untrustworthy brother Nicky (Dillon).”  I love a good heist film, and Russell as an oddball at the center sounds delightful.

Jonathan Sobol will write and direct—this is the follow-up to his debut feature A Beginner’s Guide to Endings.  Nicholas Tabarrok and Jeff Sackman are producing.  Hit the jump for the full synopsis:

It looks like Quentin Tarantino may have lined up his replacement for Kevin Costner in Django Unchained. The Wrap reports that Kurt Russell is in talks to take over the role that Costner was forced to vacate due to schedule conflicts: the villainous Ace Woody. The character is in the business of training slaves to fight each other to the death for public amusement in Tarantino’s period pic. The film stars Jamie Foxx as a freed slave who sets out with a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to rescue his wife from an evil plantation owner played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Russell previously bared his bad side for Tarantino in the director’s grindhouse flick Death Proof. While it was disappointing to see Costner go, Russell is great casting in the part and I’m exciting to see him go all evil again. Django Unchained opens December 25^th, 2012.

A grizzled central performance from Kurt Russell as Coach Herb Brooks played a major role in keeping the inspirational hockey tale Miracle on the favorable end of the predictable sports movie spectrum.  With that in mind, director Don Handfield has wisely secured Russell’s services for the role of Coach Hand in his feature debut, Touchback.

Brian Presley stars as Murphy, a former high school football hero who unexpectedly travels back to the past to relive his glory days on the gridiron.  Melanie Lynskey, Christine Lahti, Marc Blucas, Drew Powell, Sarah Wright, Sianoa Smit-McPhee, and Kevin Covais also star in the film, set to shoot in Grand Rapids, Michigan this week.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

Kurt Russell has signed on to star in the neo-noir supernatural thriller Undying.  Written by Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli), the film is about a private investigator named Virgil Lone who falls into a surreal underworld after he’s hired by a mysterious woman named Delia.  According to THR, production is set to begin this fall.

Russell recently joined the cast of Rupert Wainwright’s historical drama Waco.  Whitta is also writing the MMORPG movie The Defenders for producers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek).

Catalog titles! Disney is unleashing two of their most beloved action films from the 90’s with Tombstone and Armageddon. The first follows Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) and his brothers (Sam Elliot, Bill Paxton) as they team with Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) to fight off the Clantons, Curly Bill Brocius (Powers Booth) and his gang of cowboys, while in Armageddon Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) leads a crew of his oil drilling team (including Will Patton, Ben Affleck, Owen Wilson, Michael Clarke Duncan and Steve Buscemi) with assistance from NASA to destroy a giant Meteor heading to kill everyone on Earth. These are manly movies, even if they have love interest subplots that detract from men doing men things – like getting in gunfights and drilling for oil. My reviews of the Blu-rays of Armageddon and Tombstone after the jump.

We have three quick pieces of casting news for you today.  First up, Deadline reports that Cameron Diaz and Benecio Del Toro have signed on to co-star in the romantic comedy An Ex to Grind.  Next, Production Weekly tweets that Billy Crudup and Toby Jones will join Zooey Deschanel in Bruce Beresford’s biopic Enchantress of Numbers.  Finally, PW also tweets that Kurt Russell, Adrien Brody, and Sharon Stone have come on board Rupert Wainwright’s historical drama Waco.

Hit the jump for details on all three projects.

I think that, despite its conceptual unpopularity, there is a case to be made for the remake.  But this news does not a case make.  THR reports that Jennifer Lopez is in talks to star in an Overboard remake in the works at Columbia.  The 1987 original starred couple Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn in the nautical farce, in which the narrative is kinda dubiously driven by amnesia and a fake marriage.  Lopez seems a good enough approximation for Hawn’s bubbly charm, though it’ll be difficult to come up with a 21st century Russell.  Dream casting off the top of my head: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.  Thoughts?

After the jump you’ll find the trailer and full plot synopsis for the original, where you are free to form your own moral judgements on deceiving amnesiacs for the purposes of romantic comedy.