Oct 1, 2026 · 47 min · 12 segments
We asked a literature lecturer to pick a film to recast and she chose John Carpenter's BTILC. Find out which role was earmarked for Jackie Chan and more. Study under Deirdre at Mary Immaculate…
Deirdre FlynnGuestJohn O'DonnellHostWell, we should start our recasting with the main man himself, and that's Jack Burton, as played by Kurt Russell.
Now, there were two things, I didn't give you any of this criteria, but for myself, I was like, I watched the movie, and I went, when you said this is what you wanted to do, I watched it, and I was like, well, there's one guy who's obvious for that, and I went, but it's too obvious, so I don't want to pick him.
But when they were, you know, getting funding for this movie, um, Fox fast-tracked the movie because Golden Child was about to come out in the same summer, and so they were like, "Right, go get Kurt Russell.
We'll get him in." So I was like, okay, you do need someone with some star power and gravitas, somebody who can open a movie, which is, which there's not a lot of actors who are that these days.
So I picked my guy, and I took him out so many times 'cause like, no, he's too obvious, and I tried to put other people in, and put other people in.
And then the other important thing about the character of Jack Burton is this movie kind of flips tropes.
It's like usually what you would have is white American guy is the hero, and little Chinese guy is his sidekick through all the action.
But what they, they set the movie up that way, but they kind of flip it, where his sidekick is actually driving everything, and he is the real hero, and Kurt Russell's character is kind of a bumbling sidekick for a lot of it.
So I thought this weekend, I was like, oh, do you know I could really, really, really play into that and go really big, and get someone like, um, the guy Alan Ritchson, if you know him.
... he's like human growth hormone if in a, in a leather jacket is who this guy is.
But he's just this huge guy, and I thought that would be really funny to do that.
But then I went back to my original criteria of it has to be someone who can open a movie, and he's just, he's not that.
So I went for, this is a long way of saying it, I went for Glen Powell in the end.
Well, we should start our recasting with the main man himself, and that's Jack Burton, as played by Kurt Russell.
Now, there were two things, I didn't give you any of this criteria, but for myself, I was like, I watched the movie, and I went, when you said this is what you wanted to do, I watched it, and I was like, well, there's one guy who's obvious for that, and I went, but it's too obvious, so I don't want to pick him.
But when they were, you know, getting funding for this movie, um, Fox fast-tracked the movie because Golden Child was about to come out in the same summer, and so they were like, "Right, go get Kurt Russell.
We'll get him in." So I was like, okay, you do need someone with some star power and gravitas, somebody who can open a movie, which is, which there's not a lot of actors who are that these days.
So I picked my guy, and I took him out so many times 'cause like, no, he's too obvious, and I tried to put other people in, and put other people in.
And then the other important thing about the character of Jack Burton is this movie kind of flips tropes.
It's like usually what you would have is white American guy is the hero, and little Chinese guy is his sidekick through all the action.
But what they, they set the movie up that way, but they kind of flip it, where his sidekick is actually driving everything, and he is the real hero, and Kurt Russell's character is kind of a bumbling sidekick for a lot of it.
So I thought this weekend, I was like, oh, do you know I could really, really, really play into that and go really big, and get someone like, um, the guy Alan Ritchson, if you know him.
... he's like human growth hormone if in a, in a leather jacket is who this guy is.
But he's just this huge guy, and I thought that would be really funny to do that.
But then I went back to my original criteria of it has to be someone who can open a movie, and he's just, he's not that.
So I went for, this is a long way of saying it, I went for Glen Powell in the end.
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