NEW WEBSITE!
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Austin Interview with Bullz-Eye.com + Audio
Sources
Interview: Bullz-Eye.com
Audio: RoundTableRadio.net & this link.
By Will Harris (wharris@bullz-eye.com)
Interview Date: 05/24/2010
Run Date: 06/01/2010
It still seems a bit weird to write Steve Austin’s name without prefacing it with the words “Stone Cold,” but let’s just pretend that it’s a silent “Stone Cold” these
days. After all, the man has done his time and endured plenty of damage to his body while in the ring. Doesn’t he deserve to be able to leave wrestling behind
and pursue a new career? And if he doesn’t…well, look, if you want to be the one who tells him that, then you go right ahead. Here at Bullz-Eye, we’re a little
intimidated by the guy, frankly, which is why we’ve gone ahead and thrown our support behind his acting endeavors by letting him promote his new film, “The
Stranger,” which is now available on DVD. In addition, we got a look into how he decided to channel his inner thespian in the first place, how he’s progressing
on that front, who’s been giving him acting advice, and where we can see him next. (Hint: it stars Sylvester Stallone and it comes out this summer.)
Steve Austin: Hey, Will, it’s Steve!
Bullz-Eye: Hey, how’s it going?
SA: Sorry, man, I was running a couple of minutes late.
BE: Not a problem. Good to talk to you.
SA: You, too. What’s happening?
BE: Well, I finished watching “The Stranger” this morning. Good fun. Not necessarily the most upbeat film, but good fun.
SA: Exactly. (Laughs)
BE: So what brought you to “The Stranger” in the first place? Did they come to you specifically, or were you actively trolling for film work?
SA: The script came to me, I read it, and…it was a very interesting script to read, but it was also very challenging. It was a script where I’d rely more on trying to become a better actor. More on cerebral qualities than physicality, not so much on fight choreography and fight sequences…although I love doing that stuff! (Laughs) So it was a way to push the envelope as far as trying to better myself as an actor, to take myself out of my comfort zone, and it was a learning experience.
BE: Your character suffers through a fugue state throughout much of the film. Was that something that you did some research on before you played the part?
SA: You know what? I just went back to the number of times I’d been hit on the head with a steel chair, and… (Laughs) I’m kidding you. You know, that was actually…yes, I did look into the fugue states, but one of the things that also came out of this movie was learning more and more about how to research and prepare for a role. In researching the fugue states and the sodium pentobarbital…if I’m saying that correctly…I’ve always listened to and heard other actors and actresses talk about the research that they’d done, and now having done what I did for this movie and listening to other actors talk, it’s finally really settling in for me. It’s a lot more apparent to me now how to prepare for a role, because if you don’t have your facts straight, you don’t have your facts straight.
BE: How was it working with Erica Serra? Did you guys have a pretty decent chemistry from the get-go?
SA: A real good chemistry. I loved working with her, and she’s a very talented actress. We hit off like…well, just like Frick and Frack! (Laughs) She was very easy to get along with and a lot of fun, and she’s a great actress. Along with her and Adam Beach, I asked them questions all the time and had fun cutting up with them on the set, too. But when I get to work with people as talented as they are, I ask them questions about some of the things and the processes that they use to get as good as they are.
BE: Yeah, actually, I was going to ask you about that. When it comes to acting, of the people that you’ve worked with, who have you gotten the most / best information from?
SA: You know, I just did a movie with Sylvester Stallone, “The Expendables,” and in that movie, my boss was Eric Roberts…and I love Eric Roberts. I didn’t know what kind of relationship we were going to have, but I introduced myself to him one morning at breakfast, and we just hit it off. The guy really took me under his wing, and we would sit there and talk all day about acting and everything else under the sun. So, really, just hanging out with Eric Roberts, watching him do what he does, being in almost all of the scenes with him, and watching him up close, I would say that he’s been a big influence. Am I as good an actor as Eric Roberts? No. (Laughs) But as far as someone who has taken me under their wing and shared so much information with me, it would be him.
BE: Since you brought up “The Expendables,” I was going to ask you about it, anyway, so…what was it like working with Stallone and that huge ensemble cast? It must’ve been a bit of a thrill.
SA: Oh, it was!
BE: How did you come into the mix?
SA: You know, I was actually down at my ranch in South Texas, and my guys called me and said, “Hey, we’re trying to get you a meeting with Sylvester Stallone. He’s casting a movie called ‘The Expendables.’” Several months went by, and he’d already cast “The Expendables,” but he still wanted to meet me for potentially playing the part of Dan Paine. So I went in to meet Sly, it was the first time I’d ever met him, and I’m a huge fan. I remember watching “Rocky” back in ’76 or whenever it was, then getting up the next morning, drinking eggs, and running down the street…and now here I am meeting with this guy! (Laughs) And, again, it was just two guys from two different backgrounds, but Sly has a big athletic background, with all of his college activities, his boxing, and all of his action movies, and he’s a big MMA pro wrestling fan as well. So we were still coming from two different worlds, but we met in his office one day, we hit it off like we’d known each other for ten years, and he offered me the part on the spot. I accepted on the spot, I was in “The Expendables,” and it was an absolute thrill of a lifetime to be in that movie with all those people.
BE: Can you tell me a little bit about your character, Dan Paine?
SA: Basically, Dan Paine is not a dialogue-heavy guy in “The Expendables.” He is there to provide intimidation and muscle for Eric Roberts, and I’m an evil person who does evil things.
BE: Which could be fun to play, I’d think.
SA: (Bursts out laughing) It actually was! I would like to do some comedy and humor along the way, though! In some of the movies I’ve done, I’ve been the good guy, but I’ve actually always enjoyed being the bad guy. To ramp it up and actually get a bit more dialogue in an evil role, that’d be fun for me.
BE: To speak of comedy, though, you did appear in “The Longest Yard.”
SA: Yeah, that was fun back in the day, and I’d love to work with Adam Sandler again. He’s a class act, and that was fun, but…that was five or six years ago now, right? Your first movie or two…or three or four!…you don’t know what the hell’s going on. You really don’t. It’s all about going through the process and learning. I didn’t know what the hell was going on in “The Longest Yard.” (Laughs) I would say that I was a wrestler doing that part. Now I’m trying to transition out of being considered a wrestler and turn into being an actor. So, yeah, I’d like to have the opportunity to do a movie like that again, with more dialogue and a bigger part. But it’s part of the education process. You certainly don’t want to bite off more than you can chew, because, man, when it all comes down to it, acting’s a pretty complicated process ‘til you’ve done it a few times.
BE: If you were feeling out of it during “The Longest Yard,” I can’t imagine how you must’ve felt way back when you were doing “Nash Bridges.”
“I’ve turned down 20 or 25 reality shows, because it’s not my cup of tea. I’m not running anybody down for doing what they do, but I just haven’t seen myself in that light. I’m a very private person, and I always have been. If I did something, it would be of my own accord. But at this stage of the game, I haven’t heard one yet that I’ve been interested in…and I’ve heard a lot!”
SA: You know what? In “Nash Bridges,” I just…well, of course, I was white-hot in the business at the time. They flew me to San Francisco, and I’d go out there and they’d shoot me out in three and a half days. It’s real interesting when you go in and remember your lines, but remembering your lines is the easy part. It’s the acting that you’ve got to put in there. It’s what you need to bring to a scene. It’s what you’re there for. There are a lot of things that I’m only just now starting to put together at part of my education process, but back then, I didn’t think twice about it.
BE: I’m curious how you enjoyed the experience of working on “Chuck.” It seemed like a lot of fun.
SA: I did have a lot of fun on that show, and I’d love to do more stuff like that. I’d never seen the show, because I don’t watch TV, but everybody on that cast is very, very talented, especially Zach Levi, and I had a lot of fun. It was very light-hearted, and it’s a really cool show.
BE: What’s your process when it comes to learning lines?
SA: Repetition. But also, now I’m kind of looking at the scene and seeing what’s really happening. Now I’m making a visual picture of the scene and reading the script a few times before I even attempt to learn it, so that I understand the story. I try to visualize every scene so that I’ve got a picture in my mind, so that it’s not just words that I need to put together. I try to live those moments, and as I try to put the words to those moments, they resonate more with me and become more a part of the story. Rather than just flat out doing the memorization process, the two kind of blend together, and I learn how everything comes together.
BE: So whose idea was it for you to transition into acting? Was it your management, or was it something that you’d always had a hankering to do?
SA: No, I just…I got out of wrestling just because my body had had enough of it, I retired for three or four years, and I didn’t do anything. I thought I was going to be retired, period. But after three or four years of not doing anything and living in San Antonio, Texas, I said, “You know what? I like to be productive, and I like to make money.” After having my career in pro wrestling, I didn’t want to go back to doing manual labor on a freight dock, which was what I was doing prior to wrestling: driving a fork lift. So I said, “You know, I enjoyed doing ‘Nash Bridges.’ I’ll move out to Los Angeles and try some acting.” So that’s what spurred me to take all my stuff out of Texas and move out here, and…that’s why I’m here. My goal in my life was to be a professional wrestler, and then when my body told me that I couldn’t do that anymore but I still wanted to work, I turned to acting. I’m just trying to be as good of an actor as I can be. I’ve got a ways to go, but that’s my mission: to be as good as I can be. I can’t look at Marlon Brando or all of these other cats. I’ve just got to be the best Steve Austin that I can be…and I’m still trying to put all that together.
BE: Do you think we’ll ever see you turn up on any reality shows like some of your fellow wrestlers?
SA: It’d have to be a real specific type of thing where I was on board or involved with creatively, because I’ve turned down 20 or 25 reality shows, because it’s not my cup of tea. I’m not running anybody down for doing what they do, but I just haven’t seen myself in that light. I’m a very private person, and I always have been. If I did something, it would be of my own accord, and it’d be something where I have strong creative input, probably something that’s my idea. But at this stage of the game, I haven’t heard one yet that I’ve been interested in…and I’ve heard a lot!
BE: To ask you a wrestling-themed question, a friend of mine wanted me to ask you this: do you think a union would be beneficial for pro wrestlers?
SA: Uh… (Starts to laugh) …I don’t think you’re ever going to see one! But do I think it would be beneficial for them? (Long pause) Man, on one hand, yes, on one hand, no.
BE: Do you, uh, want to elaborate on that?
SA: I don’t think you’ll ever see one. Do you? Do you follow wrestling?
BE: Not very much. My friend Joe, who does a podcast (Roundtable Wrestling Radio), said it’s a question that he asks of all grapplers.
SA: Yeah, it’s just that…I don’t think you’re ever going to have anybody ever making a stand together all as one. The top guys are taken care of so well already, and…I really think that, in today’s day and age, everybody’s taken care of pretty well. The money that those men and women are generating…? It’s the people who don’t save their money, who blow it all or whatever they did with their money, which usually are very bitter towards the end or at the end. Now, don’t get me wrong: there are some people with some health issues where maybe a union would be beneficial. But I really don’t think you’ll ever see one.
BE: Beyond the obvious “Stone Cold” nickname, do you have another favorite nickname that you were called over the years?
SA: (Long pause) Not that you could print. (Laughs) Nah, I’m kiddin’ ya. I’ve been called a lot of goofy things, though. My nickname down at my ranch is “Cap’n.” That’s the best one I can give you.
BE: Which – if any – of your signature moves did you have to phase out because your body was telling you that you couldn’t do them anymore?
SA: Oh, I didn’t have to phase out any of my signature moves. Basically, I didn’t have any. I just did the Stunner, and if it wasn’t for metal folding chairs and four letter words, I might not have even had a career! (Laughs) It was avoiding piledrivers and some of those types of things that I eliminated, because after that one, I didn’t need anything else like that to happen. I eliminated piledrivers and back drops…anything of a high-impact nature, any kind of crazy sidewalk slams and stuff like that.
BE: Lastly, I know you turned up as a guest host on “Raw” earlier this year, but can we hope to see an actual return to the ring for Stone Cold Steve Austin?
SA: No, I’m done with the ring. I mean, never say never, but I can probably say never. I have so many good memories of a business that I loved and still love, and Stone Cold Steve Austin is remembered now for who and what he was, and I don’t want to tarnish that. I don’t want to go back and make one more payoff. I saved my money, and thankfully so. I never lived outside my means. Could I go back and make a hell of a payoff? Yes. It’s not about that to me, though. I left that job, and I’m happy watching the young men and women do that job today; I wish them all the success in the world, and there’s no reason for me to go back and have another match.
Source: PWTorch.com
WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin called TNA’s attempt to oppose WWE on Monday nights “just brutal” in an interview with IGN.com. Austin is promoting the release of his new movie, “The Stranger,” out on DVD today.
Asked by Matt Fowler of IGN.com what he thought of TNA’s brief run on Mondays, Austin replied, “Oh, that was brutal. Just brutal. I’ve always wished TNA all the luck in the world. I mean, they’ll never be able to compete on a level platform with the WWE but I still just want the company to do well because I have a lot of friends over there.”
Austin added that he believes TNA needs to find their niche as a different type of wrestling product compared to what WWE is offering.
“I think they need to differentiate the product even more from what the WWE is because they’ll never be able to compete with that,” Austin said. “But, that being said, they’ve got some interesting storylines and some interesting talent over there. It’s an alternative.”
Austin also tried to define his current working relationship with WWE two months removed from guest-hosting Raw. He said he doesn’t catch the product as much as he would like to.
“Technically I’m still with the company. I’m totally independent but technically I’m still with the company and have a great relationship with them,” Austin said. “I’m trying to focus on the things that I’ve got going (so) I really don’t get to watch that much TV at all. … I don’t watch the WWE as much as I’d like to, but I don’t really watch TV in general.”
At the end of the interview, Austin is passionate and candid talking about wrestling from the 1980s that he grew up on, calling it “some good s—.” He said he watches that on tape more than current wrestling on TV.
“These days, in my garage I have two cardio machines and a flat screen TV. I still watch wrestling. I love it. I’ll always love it. I’m still hooked on it, I’m just not in it anymore,” Austin said.
You can read the interview with IGN.com in the post below!
IGN.com Interview With Steve Austin
Source: IGN.com
Stone Cold Is…The Stranger!
IGN talks to the WWE legend about his new thriller out on DVD, working with Stallone on The Expendables, TNA vs WWE and Twitter sharks!
by Matt Fowler
You know him.
WHAT?
You love him.
WHAT?
Well now you can own him on DVD!
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin, the “Texas Rattlesnake” himself, has a new thriller hitting DVD and Blu-Ray shelves today. In it, Austin plays a violent amnesiac on the run from the law who’s trying to piece together his tragic past. IGN had a chance to speak with the WWE Hall of Famer about The Stranger, working with Stallone on The Expendables, WWE vs. TNA, Twitter sharks and the good ol’ USWA!
IGN: So there’s a scene in The Stranger where your character wears a disguise. And part of that disguise was a long-haired wig. I haven’t seen you with hair since your “Stunning” Steve days. What was that like for you?
Steve Austin: [laughs] You know, that was one of my favorite scenes actually. To get a chance to feel what it was like to have hair again. You know I’ve always wanted, on a movie, to go to the hair department. Not the make-up department because I go there all the time, but the hair department. Most people are used to me being a bald guy, which I am. I kind of lost my hair at the age of 24, but that being said I enjoyed that part of the film. It was an interesting movie and an interesting script. It was little bit different of a vehicle than I’ve been in lately and it was a challenging role. That’s why I decided to take that movie on.
IGN: In your last film that came out on DVD, Damage, you were sort of part of a trio — with Walton Goggins and Laura Vandervoort. In The Stranger you were alone for a lot of the movie, off on amnesiac adventures. What was it like having to play out so many different scenarios?
Austin: Obviously it presented a lot of challenges they I hadn’t undertaken before. It was all a work in progress and you know you’re kind of flying by the seat of your pants any time you’re doing something that you’ve never done before. You try to prep as much as you can but I was in uncharted waters for a person such as myself. It was a lot of fun though. Then again when you’re playing a guy with amnesia and you’re getting into these different personalities, or fugue sates…I don’t know. It was a fun process, but wit this movie done now and out of the way I’m just looking forward to applying what I learned from this movie, and the last few movies that I’ve done, and becoming better at what I do. I just want to be the best actor that I can be.
IGN: And what was it like playing a man who had no idea who he was? Most of the time you can create a backstory for a character but in this case it wouldn’t work.
Austin: [laughs] That was the thing I was always talking to [director] Rob Lieberman about. You have to just go forward and rely on your instincts. What instincts did I have to draw from? I can’t really say. But it was just one of those things where you proceed accordingly and try to do the best you can do, man.
IGN: You had to speak a couple different languages in The Stranger. Spanish and Russian. Was that an easy thing to pick up?
Austin: [laughs] There was interesting an interview that Matt Damon did about achieving his accent for Invictus and he got to work with a dialect coach for several months and, you know, the guy’s an incredible actor and for this movie it was always kind of up in the air: are we going to have him speak Spanish and Russian or are we going to just have him do the English? Because everything got put on the front burner with this movie and so we decided, “Okay, he’s going to speak Spanish and Russian.” And there I was, cramming with a tape recorder and phonetics sheet three days before each scene to try to pull that off the best that we could with the time that we had. And when you’re trying to learn a language and you don’t know what the words mean you’re just imitating noises. That was another “learn as you go” procedure and if anything this movie taught me more about homework, research and prep than anything else I’ve done.
IGN: We’re going to get to see you this August in Sylvester Stallone’s Expendables. What was it like working with Stallone?
Austin: Man, I had a blast working with that guy. And, you know, I’m a huge Sly fan going back to … hell, when was it? … 1976 when Rocky came out. And of course I saw Paradise Alley and Lords of Flatbush and all that stuff. But I’ve followed his career forever. I got a meeting in Beverly Hills with him in his office and we hit it off like we’d known each other for ten years. He offered me the part and I accepted. I play a guy in The Expendables named Dan Payne and it’s not like I’m dialogue-heavy in the movie but that’s okay. Eric Roberts plays my boss and I’m just there to supply some muscle and intimidation under his direction. And me and that guy hit it off right away. He took me under his wing and I asked him a million questions about acting and we’d just sit there when we weren’t on camera, telling dirty jokes and I just picked his brain for three months. It was a blast.
IGN: You just did another film with Eric Roberts, didn’t you?
Austin: Yeah, I just finished another movie with him in Vancouver about five months ago called Hunt To Kill. There was a part in there that we could have used Eric for so I called him up out of the blue and I didn’t know if he’d do it or not and he said “Steve, I’ll do anything for you.” And he came up there and he did that movie with me and I’d love to work with him again. We turned out to be very good friends. It started on The Expendables and now we trade phone calls once every two weeks. That guy has been a total sweetheart to me.
IGN: What are some of your favorite action movies?
Austin: Probably a lot of the stuff that Stallone did. A lot of the stuff that Arnold did. I liked a lot of Seagal movies from back in the day. Old Van Damm movies. And I don’t know if they’d necessarily be called action movies, but a ot of Steve McQueen stuff. Paul Newman too. I wouldn’t called Cool Hand Luke an action movie but movies like that really influenced me. Another movie I like which again I wouldn’t call an action movie was The Shawshank Redemption.
IGN: Do you still keep up with the WWE? Do you watch RAW or Smackdown?
Austin: I watch every now and then when I can. I don’t follow it as much as I used to. Technically I’m still with the company. I’m totally independent but technically I’m still with the company and have a great relationship with them but I’m just because I’m trying to focus on the things that I’ve got going I really don’t get to watch that much TV at all. Which is interesting when I go to some meetings to discuss TV projects and they ask me “what do you like to watch on TV?” And I have to tell them that I don’t really watch a whole lot of TV. I don’t watch the WWE as much as I’d like to, but I don’t really watch TV in general.
IGN: Did you happen to catch any of TNA when they put themselves up against RAW?
Austin: Oh, that was brutal. Just brutal. I’ve always wished TNA all the luck in the world. I mean, they’ll never be able to compete on a level platform with the WWE but I still just want the company to do well because I have a lot of friends over there. It’s a good place for guys to work. It’s a little bit different of a product. I think they need to differentiate the product even more from what the WWE is because they’ll never be able to compete with that. But, that being said, they’ve got some interesting storylines and some interesting talent over there. It’s an alternative.
IGN: Is the WWE just too big to take on?
Austin: The WWE is like the NFL. It’s a powerhouse. It’s been around so long. Their history is so strong. Their intellectual property…everything about the WWE is strong. There’ll never be anything that’s able to top it. You never want to say “never” but there’s never going to be a wrestling company that tops WWE. Never.
IGN: You’re one of the celebrities who have taken to Twitter. What is it about Twitter that you enjoy the most?
Austin: Back in the day, I enjoyed writing. In English class. Me of all people. A lot of people wouldn’t think that. Man, I just get on there though and come up with the most ridiculous stories I can think of and, you know, I’ll talk about my movies when they come out too. I have a website in the works, which will be up shortly. But Twitter is just a grass-roots way to stay in touch with my fanbase and I just enjoy it. I’m able to interact with them. I answer questions. And I just make up the most ridiculous tales I can come up with an post them. I have a lot of fun with it. I try not to use it to talk about any political things that are going on although I have dropped a few here and there. It’s just a way to stay in touch with my fans. And actually, I just jumped on the Twitter ship long after it was created, but it’s something I’ve really enjoyed. I use it as a creative outlet. It might have been a month or two ago but I posted a work out where I wrote that I was swimming in the pacific ocean and after the 16th mile a shark bit my leg off I just continued from there. Every 140 characters I just would continue the story. From that one story about a bulls*** workout I turned it into this whole epic story with sharks. Me fighting sharks. Sharks stealing my TV. And then it turned into a genetic experiment where I was trying to create a bigger chicken. Because I eat a lot of chicken on my diet. It all wound up with me crossing DNA together and coming up with a Chickensaurus I just make this stuff up on the fly. Half the people think I’m drunk and half the people think I’m f***ed up. Of which I am neither.
IGN: Yo do realize now that you’re going to have to do a move where you battle sharks. And probably a Chickensaurus.
Austin: Hey, man. I’d love to do that. It would be an action-movie with some comedy in it. Which would be great because I’ve been wanting to do some comedy stuff anyway. I was really successful being a touch guy in the WWE and beating people up for a living and I had a damn good time doing it. But most of the time, even though I do take the things that I do and the movies that I make seriously, I like to laugh with people and at myself. I’m more of a comedian than I am a tough guy.
IGN: Well, we certainly enjoyed you on Chuck earlier this year.
Austin: I’d like to do more stuff like that. I had a great time doing that show and going back to what I was saying earlier: I don’t watch a lot of TV. I’d never seen Chuck before. And then all of a sudden I’m on the set. That thing happened overnight. The script fell into my hands and then there I was working with Zach Levi and that dude is super-talented. And I enjoyed the experience. I would love to do more stuff like that.
IGN: I have to tell you…I started watching you way back in the USWA. They’d show it on ESPN.
Austin: You’re kidding. Where did you grow up?
IGN: I grew up in New York City. So I would go to Madison Square Garden to watch the WWF, but if I wanted to see something different I’d have to watch cable. And ESPN had the USWA with you and Bill Dundee and Bull Pain.
Austin: You know, some of my favorite stuff growing up – I grew up a hundred miles south of Houston, Texas in a little town called Edna – and I was changing channels on TV one day and I found wrestling and it was Paul Boesch’s Houston Wrestling over at the Houston Coliseum. And you know, back then wrestling a as real, right? And it was a smoke-filled arena and there was one light bulb over the ring and you could barely see the front row in the crowd. It was a badass atmosphere and I fell in love with it. And then we started getting Mid-South and Power Pro wrestling from Bills Watts? Did you ever see any of that?
IGN: I saw Mid-South. Oh yeah
Austin: Man, that was some good s***, with Jim Ross calling the action and Michael “PS” Hayes was doing a lot of the color commentary and Missy Hyatt and Dark Journey were feuding. Missy Hyatt had the loaded gucci bag – one of the most devastating weapons, or foreign objects, in all of wrestling. That was some good s***. These days, in my garage I have two cardio machines and a flat screen TV. I still watch wrestling. I love it. I’ll always love it. I’m still hooked on it, I’m just not in it anymore. If want to watch really badass wrestling – I don’t have a lot of Mid-South or Power Pro stuff – but I do have a lot of mid 80s NWA. So when I really want to watch something good I’ll crank up my metal, or I’ll have it at a low volume when Jim Ross is calling the action, and I’ll just have a ball. That’s when you had the best talent. The best hands. Everyone on the card could work their ass off. And you could tell that the guys were calling it in the ring. It wasn’t like today. They had time. No one was rushing. And not every match had “carte blanche” to use the stairs, the ringpost, you had to learn how to work.
And that was one of the things I enjoyed the most when I first started off in the USWA – if you remember back then, Fritz Von Erich had just sold the territory, World Class which was badass, to Jerry Jarrett and it was turned into USWA and Eric Embry was the head booker and head babyface. I broke in there and after two months of them beating the hell out of me I asked Jerry when he thought I could start working full time and he said “Hell, Steve I think you’re ready now. I’ll send you to Tennessee in two weeks.” Man, I quit my job and two weeks later I was driving my 1988 Hyundai Excel to Memphis to the Mid-South Coliseum. And long story short, I start working there and the good thing about the USWA was that we worked the same exact towns every single week over and over. Man, you talk about having to learn to work your ass off because you’ve always got to be thinking. You’ve always got to change it up in the ring. It’s not like it is nowadays when you’re working with the same guy and you can work town after town and not have the same fans there. You can do the same match every night. Use the same pops. Rely on yesterday’s match and you lose your chops.
The Stranger, starring Stone Cold Steve Austin, Adam Beach and Erica Cerra is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Austin on 106.7 The Fan DC Today
Source: 106.7 The Fan
Austin was on The LaVar Arrington Show with Chad Dukes today. Listen to the interview below:
If the file isn’t working, click here to listen.
“THE STRANGER” Out TODAY!!!
TV Update: Austin on WWE Classics
Source: WWE Classics
Monday Night War: The Beginning. On WCW Nitro, Sting and Lex Luger battle “Nature Boy” Ric Flair and the Giant. WWE Raw features Savio Vega vs Goldust for the Intercontinental Title. “Ringmaster” Steve Austin vs Bart Gunn. Much more.
To order WWE Classics, call 1 – (888) – WWE – CLASSICS!!!
Source: DVDSnapshot.com
From Stone Cold to “The Stranger”
Source: HomeMediaMagazine.com
By: John Latchem
Hoping to leave his “Stone Cold” nickname behind, Steve Austin has set off on the difficult transition from professional wrestling to movies. Anchor Bay Entertainment releases his latest thriller, The Stranger, June 1 on DVD ($26.97) and Blu-ray Disc ($34.98).
“My guys brought me the script, and I enjoyed reading it,” Austin said. “I thought it was a challenging role for me, especially trying to transition into acting. It wasn’t pushing my physicality, but my acting chops.”
In The Stranger, Austin plays a man trying to discover his past. Drifting through the streets with no memories, his mind periodically reprograms itself with a new personality, leading the stranger into dangerous situations where he leaves a trail of bodies in his wake. On his tail are an FBI agent (Adam Beach), who may be tied to the man’s former life, and a psychologist (Erica Cerra), who is trying to help him recover his memories.
“Someone asked me what it’s about, and I told them it’s a working man’s Bourne Identity,” Austin said.
With each clue, the stranger learns more about his true identity, keeping the audience guessing until the very end.
“You gotta stay on your toes,” Austin said. “It was an interesting experience to film a new personality every scene.”
Austin said director Robert Lieberman helped him keep track of the various personality changes required of the character. Austin’s favorite moments, he said, involved filming flashback scenes showing his character with his family.
“I enjoyed doing the scenes with the wife and daughter,” Austin said. “I liked that it showed a different side of me from the Stone Cold killer of my wrestling days — a much softer side.”
For WWE Hall of Famer Austin, acting in movies is a far cry from performing in the squared circle.
“Wrestling is like a violent form of Broadway,” Austin said. “You’re using the crowd to help you make your decisions. You play to what they want to see, and it’s a lot of ad libbing, which was one of my strong points — and it’s live. You shoot a movie out of order, and if something doesn’t work you call cut and do it again.”
Austin broke through to the big screen in 2005 with a small role in the Adam Sandler football comedy The Longest Yard, followed by a star turn in WWE Films’ The Condemned in 2007. It would be nearly three years before he got top billing in another movie, playing an underground cage fighter in the direct-to-video thriller Damage, released earlier this year by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
“It took a while to follow up The Condemned, so it’s nice to finally have product of mine out there,” Austin said.
Next up for Austin is a role in Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables, due in theaters in August, followed by a movie called Hunt to Kill, co-starring Eric Roberts.
At this point in his career, Austin said he doesn’t mind being associated with a particular kind of role.
“My physicality kind of points me in the direction of action,” Austin said. “So, I’ll do 20 action movies if I have to. I just want to work, and I want to be a good actor.”
New TV Spot & Poster for The Expendables!
Sources: ScreenRant.com & AintItCool.com
Additionally, a new TV spot for The Expendables is set to premiere during the broadcast of the UFC Fight in Vegas between Quinton Jackson (B.A. Baracus in The A-Team) and Rashad Evans this weekend. You can now view it below!!!
Click for a larger photo. 
The Expendables is out in US & Canadian theaters August 13th!
