Kurt & Wyatt Russell (Extended) | Peace Out

Summary

The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert

Episode: Kurt & Wyatt Russell (Extended) | Peace Out
Date: February 27, 2026
Guests: Kurt Russell & Wyatt Russell

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Episode Overview

This lively and heartfelt episode features Stephen Colbert in conversation with father-son acting duo Kurt and Wyatt Russell. The Russells discuss their unique family dynamic, their collaboration on the Apple TV series Legacy of Monsters, family history in film and sports, and Wyatt’s unusual hobby. The tone throughout is warm, teasing, and deeply personal—a blend of Colbert’s sharp wit and the Russells’ open, humorous candor.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening Monologue and Satire (00:35–12:07)

• Stephen Colbert recaps recent news, blending political satire, pop-culture references, and personal humor.

  • Jokes about Trump's lengthy State of the Union and sinking TV ratings.
  • Highlights a bizarre “camel beauty contest” scandal in the Middle East.
  • Lampoons U.S. military maneuvers and political figures with his trademark irreverence.

  “People may not like watching Trump, but they do like watching me not like watching Trump.”
  —Stephen Colbert (01:22)

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2. The Russell Family: Hollywood Royalty (13:07–14:21)

• Family Connections & Support:
  Kurt and Wyatt discuss just how sprawling and talented their family is (including Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson, Oliver Hudson, Meredith Hagner) and the challenges of keeping up with each other’s work.

  • Wyatt jokes: “Every second of everything.” (13:29)

  • Kurt admits: “We should take some time… probably take three weeks, a month or something to see what everybody's done, because we've seen very little of what we've done.” (13:36)

  • Both laugh about the reality—they’d probably tire of it after a day and a half! (13:43)

  • On watching “adult movies” as a kid:

    • Wyatt: “Not really. They made adult movies, so I was a kid and didn’t really, you know…” (13:56)
    • Colbert quips about “movies for adults” to comic effect.

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3. Kurt Russell’s Landmark Film “The Thing” (14:25–17:41)

• Colbert shares that John Carpenter’s The Thing is his “happy place,” and how he and his brother associate the film with brotherly love.
• The Thing’s ambiguous ending is debated:
  • Colbert: “Do you, Kurt Russell, believe that there is a definitive answer?” (16:47)
  • Kurt: “When John Carpenter tells me what it is, I’ll know.” (16:47)
  • Colbert presses about rumors of multiple endings.
  • Kurt: “No, we shot… We talked about it for weeks… He throws things back and forth, and we finally just ended up with that one.” (17:08)
  • Kurt reveals he improvised the film’s final line. (17:25-17:30)

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4. Wyatt’s Early On-Set Appearances (17:41–19:06)

• Escape from L.A. & Early Acting: Wyatt remembers visiting sets and being drafted into scene work (“look at your dad and do this thing”), though the memories are vague.
• Father-son Dynamic: Kurt describes instructing Wyatt on how to play a scene (“you're not scared of Snake Plissken, you just see him and you just, if I eyeball you, you eyeball me back”). (18:42-18:53)
• Wyatt: “I was so afraid of my dad that I just do whatever he said.” (19:01)

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5. Legacy of Monsters: Acting Together as the Same Character (20:06–21:54)

• Preparation and Process:

  • Wyatt plays the younger version of the main character; Kurt the older.
  • Both were hesitant at first, not sure if Godzilla’s “Monsterverse” was their style, but were drawn in by the grounded approach of the show.
  • Preparation involved zoom script readings across continents (Wyatt in the U.S., Kurt in Europe).

  Wyatt: “We would read it together… As we read through them, it was very apparent that we saw things the same way. We don’t talk about movies like people think we would… So this was the first time we were really talking about something that we were going to do together… but we saw it the same way and it was great.”
  (20:29–21:15)

• Previous Collaborations:

  • Wyatt played the younger version of Kurt’s character in Soldier at age twelve.

  Kurt: “…the joke in our family used to be, well, we have all these people who act and everything, but the best actor in the family is a hockey player.”
  (21:54)

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6. Wyatt’s Hockey Career and Return to Acting (22:06–23:29)

• Sports Heritage: Wyatt explains he gravitated toward hockey (“the first thing I fell in love with that was not my parents”) and strived for a blue-collar work ethic, distancing himself from his Hollywood background.
• An injury ended his hockey career, but it reignited his love for movies, leading him back to acting.
• Teeth check:
  • Colbert notes Wyatt still has all his teeth.
  • Wyatt: “I have caps on a few…”
    Stephen jokes about it being a sign of being a goalie (23:29–23:42).

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7. Family Casting Confusion and Monster Roles (23:53–24:38)

• Wyatt describes a mix-up as his baby’s doula believed he was playing Godzilla due to a family misunderstanding.
  • Wyatt: “She was like, that is perfect. He looks just like him… [with] his jawline.”
    (23:53–24:22)
  • Colbert: “His tail breathes lightning. Yes.” (24:26)

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8. Monster Movies: Then and Now (24:45–25:04)

• Discussion about whether Kurt or Wyatt had been in “big rubber suit” monster movies before.
  • Kurt links The Thing to Legacy of Monsters in the sense of reacting to “something that we didn’t quite understand.” (24:45)

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9. Unique Hobbies and Heartfelt Family Anecdote (25:47–29:22)

• Kurt’s Interests: Flying planes, making wine, hunting, and driving race cars.

• Wyatt’s Unique Hobby: Violin making. He learned from Vancouver luthiers during hockey downtime, then took up violin construction during COVID with teacher Jim Brown.

  • Wyatt: “Making guitars is like construction. Violin is like sculpting.” (26:37)
  • He modestly claims, “I am a horrible violin player.” (27:18)

• Touching family story: Kurt shares a bittersweet and humorous memory of Wyatt playing violin for Goldie Hawn’s mother in the hospital. The story transitions from moving to awkward as Kurt confesses laughter overtook him during Wyatt’s earnest (and tuneless) performance on video.

  Kurt: “When you see the videotape, you can’t really watch it because I’m laughing so hard because it’s literally—” (28:54)
  Wyatt: “It was one of the greatest things you want to hear… It was awful.” (29:13, 29:22)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Stephen Colbert on ratings:
  “People may not like watching Trump, but they do like watching me not like watching Trump.” (01:22)

• Wyatt Russell on family marathons:
  “Every second of everything.” (13:29)

• Kurt Russell on “The Thing” ending:
  “When John Carpenter tells me what it is, I’ll know.” (16:47)

• Wyatt Russell on preparation for Legacy of Monsters:
  “We don’t talk about movies like people think we would… This was the first time we were really talking about something we were going to do together.” (20:29–21:15)

• Kurt Russell, joking about family acting skills:
  “…the best actor in the family is a hockey player.” (21:54)

• Wyatt on his sports roots:
  “It was the first thing I fell in love with that was not my parents.” (22:06)

• Colbert on teeth & hockey:
  “You have caps on a few. Okay. Does that mean you’re a great hockey player or not great hockey player?” (23:32)

• Kurt Russell on monster movies:
  “The thing… doing those [films], you know, we’re kind of looking at something that we didn’t quite understand what it is. Exactly.” (24:45)

• Wyatt on violin-making:
  “Making guitars is like construction. Violin is like sculpting.” (26:37)

• Family violin anecdote:
  “When you see the videotape, you can’t really watch it because I’m laughing so hard…” (28:54)
  “It was one of the greatest things... It was awful.” (29:13, 29:22)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:35–12:07: Monologue, news satire, intro to guests
• 13:07–14:21: Russell family dynamics, watching each other's work
• 14:25–17:41: The Thing, Carpenter collaborations, ending debates
• 17:41–19:06: Wyatt's first Hollywood experiences, father-son acting
• 20:06–21:54: Collaborating on Legacy of Monsters, process
• 22:06–23:29: Wyatt’s hockey career, sports-family heritage
• 23:53–24:38: Role confusion in the family re: Godzilla
• 25:47–29:22: Hobbies: violin making, heartfelt hospital story

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Final Thoughts

Colbert’s conversation with Kurt and Wyatt Russell offers listeners a rare, authentic look into the personal and professional lives of a Hollywood dynasty. The episode is rich in warmth and humor, balancing industry insights, personal anecdotes, and playful banter. It’s a must-listen for movie fans, “monsterverse” enthusiasts, and those curious about the unique dynamic between a famous father and son.

Transcript

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[Stephen Colbert]

Welcome one and all, ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, Romans and countrymen, to the late show. I'm your host, Stephen Colbert. I want to thank you. I gotta tell you, I need it. I gotta thank you. I thank you for your boundless energy, everybody. I just. Allow me to take a moment here to just jam a Capri sun straw into your spinal fluid and suck out some your life force because I am still dragging ass and spitting out teeth after Trump's record breaking 108 minute long state of the Union on Tuesday. I mean, I could barely get through it. How did he stay awake that long? I took prescription drugs. The Nielsen ratings. Refreshing honesty is what that is. The Nielsen ratings for his speech are in. And Trump's Talkathon saw an 11% decrease from last year. Donald Trump is really dragging down broadcast television. I mean, if I were cbs, I'd cancel him, but you know, Congrats. But you know, linear television is doomed and everyone's ratings are going down. Right. I'm sorry, what's that? Our ratings were up 7% both of the same speaks last year. So last year's ratings and this year's I'm up 7%. Wow. Holy cow. You know what? You know what? You know what? I think what's going on? People may not like watching Trump, but they do like watching me not like watching Trump. Now, preliminary viewership for Trump's speech is coming in around 32.6 million. Compare that to the super bowl, which got over four times as much.

[Wyatt Russell]

Okay?

[Stephen Colbert]

I think Trump could have saved the whole thing with a blockbuster halftime show featuring bad Bernie the Bee. Tiyarama soup. Come se dice navy bean. Of course, right now there's a huge story out in the Middle east where storm clouds are gathering and the entire region is on a knife's edge because another camel beauty contest has been hit by a Botox cheating scandal. I am sick of this. Every day I wake up and I think maybe, just maybe, today is the day that another camel beauty contest won't be hit by a Botox cheating scandal. But I guess that's just too much to ask for. Dream smaller, Steve. The controversy erupted at a contest in no Surprise, Oman, where 20 camels were disqualified after veterinary inspectors discovered that they had been enhanced with hyaluronic acid injections, dermal fillers, and silicone and Botox. That is a lot of procedures for one camel. What would that even look like? Okay. Yes. Wow. Wow. She looks good. That's a beautiful camel. That is a beautiful camel. All of these enhancements were an effort to give the camels a toe up in the competition, because judges look for shiny hair, a long and elegantly wide neck, a large head, and long dark eyelashes. Shiny hair, wide neck, large head, dark eyelashes. Can we see a photo of the winning camel? There you go.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

Good.

[Stephen Colbert]

She does look good. Like I said, this wasn't the first time the camel beauty world has been mired in controversy. See, back in 2018, a dozen contestants were kicked out of Saudi Arabia's Ms. Camel contest. Of course, the best part of Ms. Camel is the interview portion. Camel number one, your question is, as a global role model, what's your hope for the next generation? So beautiful. See you back here in a bikini. In a smaller. Okay, sure. That's pretty. That's pretty. In a smaller Middle east story, it looks like Trump's going to invade Iran. This week, the Pentagon shifted more than 150 military aircraft to bases in Europe and the Middle East. And on top of that, the Navy has sent roughly a third of all active US Ships to the region, including the USS Gerald Ford, the USS Abraham Lincoln, and the USS Carnival Vista. Just wait till the Ayatollah gets a load of the unlimited shrimp. Yeah, he looks so. Can we put that back up? Can we put that back up? I've never seen him. When I asked, When I asked for this graphic, when I asked for this graphic, I said, I mean, if possible, could you find a happy picture of the Ayatollah? And they said, stephen, there's going to be no happy pictures of the Ayatollah. Happy Ayatollah. Now, the closest we've gotten. The closest we've gotten to any kind of justification has come from special media envoy Steve Witkoff, seen here after winning Fight Club at Men's Warehouse over the weekend. This is just over the weekend. Saturday, right? On Saturday, Witkoff said this about Iran. They're probably a week away from having industrial grade bomb Making material. And that's really dangerous. That's a startling claim, only slightly undercut by the fact that after bombing Iran's nuclear sites eight months ago, Trump said this. They also obliterated Iran's nuclear hopes. Obliterated Iran's nuclear enrichment capability. Totally obliterated the nuclear potential. Totally. As I say, obliterated. We obliterated it. Which can only mean that somehow Iran's nuclear program has been rebliterated. Rebliterated. Is it rebliterated? Disbliterated. But regardless, Trump seems poised to attack again. Or as Politico put it, America prepares for war. Mm.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

Mm.

[Stephen Colbert]

No, America is not preparing for war. America just found out about all this. America preparing for weekend America is going with some friends to see Scream 7. So America not gonna be available for war right now. Can we put a P in war for now and maybe give America more of a heads up next time? That's okay. That's what America would like. Cuz Trump might be poised to launch a war against a nation of 93 million people. But as far as I can tell, this administration has done exactly squat to make a case for it. Senator Mark Kelly was asked, what does the US really want and why now? He replied, I don't think we know. Yeah, none of us have an answer to that question. In fact, we have footage of the press trying to get a justification out of the Trump administration. What do you want?

[Wyatt Russell]

It's not that simple.

[Stephen Colbert]

What do you want? Now you might be asking, is there any way to stop this thing that no one knew was starting? They did hold negotiations today, right? And no deal so far. And according to Trump, Iran needs to say the secret words that it will never have a nuclear weapon. It's not secret if you tell them what to say out loud. Okay. It's like the doorman in Eyes Wide Shut going, please say the password, which is Fidelio. Damn it, Bob. Damn it. Every time. You did it again. What a screw up. Gotta time to go tell Helen you lost another good sex cult job. Stupid Bob. Stupid. You can go it. You can go in. Now. It's a good movie. It's a very good movie. Watch for tigers. In the background, another heavyweight intellect is about to be added to the Trump cabinet brain trust. I'm talking about Trump's Surgeon General nominee and mom who substitutes butter with applesauce because she's a freaking nightmare. Casey means the Surgeon General is America's top doctor after Pepper and Scholz, and they communicate health policy to the general public, which is why it's Disappointing, but not surprising that Means is most famous for being a wellness influencer, or as it's also known, White lady on the Internet who owns a blender. Yesterday. Just add some protein. Just some protein. Flaxseeds. Yesterday, Dr. Means appeared before the Senate for her confirmation hearing, and she laid out her wellness philosophy in her opening statement. There is another way. A path that unites rigorous science with reverence for our miraculous bodies. It's true. Our bodies are miraculous. I mean, if they weren't, how else could we do this? Means went to medical school, but dropped out of her medical residency and does not have an active license to treat patients. Come on, if we're going to pick a surgeon General who isn't licensed, why not go with Noel Wiley? Come on. He's been practicing fake medicine for 30 years, but he does have a PhD in DILF. Casey Means is a vaccine skeptic and has said that she believes taking Advil two or three times a month is ultimately toxic. Hold on one second.

[Kurt Russell]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Hey, honey. Yeah, yeah, it's me. Turns out I'm dead. Yeah, yeah, it was the Advil. It was the Advil so far. A lot like being alive. Yeah, we talk about when I get home. Okay, thank you. Buy Tylenol. Buy Tylenol. Okay. It gets weirder. Gets weirder. In one of her books, Dr. Means wrote that she took psychedelic mushrooms for the first time after she was inspired by an internal voice that whispered to her, look, I'm no doctor, but if you're already hearing voices, I don't think you need the shrooms. We got a great show for you tonight

[Narrator/Promotional Voice]

coming up. Kurt and Wyatt Russell,

[Stephen Colbert]

Ladies and gentlemen, my guests tonight are actors who share more than just a last name and good genes. They also share a role in Apple TV's Legacy of Monsters.

[Wyatt Russell]

And now we're here to prove that sea serpents exist.

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, in the records I've found in

[Kurt Russell]

the Maritime archives in Santiago, there are reports of violent whirlpools and sightings of massive sea creatures just off the coast

[Stephen Colbert]

here, going back 200 years.

[Wyatt Russell]

So here be monsters

[Stephen Colbert]

if we're lucky. Please welcome kurt and wyatt russell. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you for coming on and coming on together.

[Wyatt Russell]

Thanks for having us.

[Stephen Colbert]

This is a powerhouse panel. You have a powerhouse acting family. There's you two, Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson, Oliver Hudson. Wyatt, your wife, actress Meredith Hagner.

[Wyatt Russell]

Yes.

[Stephen Colbert]

Do you. Do you all see all of each other's work?

[Kurt Russell]

Oh, yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

All of it. Is there. Is there time for that?

[Wyatt Russell]

Every second of everything.

[Kurt Russell]

The Dirty little secret is, is we. We just recently we were saying, you

[Stephen Colbert]

know, we should take.

[Kurt Russell]

We should take some time. Like, you know, probably take three weeks, a month or something to see what everybody's done, because we've seen very little of what we've done.

[Stephen Colbert]

Wow.

[Kurt Russell]

And we.

[Wyatt Russell]

And Wyatt said, I'm like, we'd get tired of each other about a day and a half.

[School Spirits Promo Voice]

That's it.

[Stephen Colbert]

You watch it. You tell me if it was good. Did you grow up watching your parents films? I.

[Wyatt Russell]

Not really. They made adult movies, so I was a kid and didn't really, you know,

[Stephen Colbert]

I believe, watch them. We let in movies for adults.

[Kurt Russell]

Our version of Debbie Does.

[Stephen Colbert]

Adult, not adult movies. Unless there's something you'd like to tell us right now, Kurt. Debbie Does Dallas. And that's it.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

Yes.

[Wyatt Russell]

No more cache of films, just not right.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, yeah. Benjamin's Privates, I think, would be Private Benjamin.

[Kurt Russell]

Wait a minute. I like the Thing. I thought that was pretty good. I thought that was good.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

Yeah.

[Wyatt Russell]

But I would spend like hours in Muskoka, about two hours north of Toronto, in our cottage, and the only videos we had were, like, Used Cars and Wildcats. We didn't have cable. It was just vhs.

[Stephen Colbert]

Used Cars is a fine movie.

[Wyatt Russell]

It's my favorite. One of my favorite movies. It's Bob's magazine's second movie. It's like my funniest my dad's ever been.

[Stephen Colbert]

It's the movie that made every single person go, wait a second. Kurt Russell's great. He's not just a Disney kid. That was a turning point movie for this guy. Okay, Kurt, I. I buttonholed you about this once in Los Angeles, and the audience may not even understand this, but I told you that the Thing, John Carpenter's the Thing, where you play MacCready, Bronze Giant of a man. That. That is. That movie is my happy place. Like, if I'm feeling down or the world's too much with me, or I just, like, I just need to relax and feel good, I go straight to Antarctica, into that. You know, those bunkers with those guys. And watch you guys get devoured by this inhuman creature. And I get all warm and fuzzy all over John Carpenter. Have you seen the Thing?

[Wyatt Russell]

I've seen the Thing.

[Stephen Colbert]

You enjoy the Thing.

[Wyatt Russell]

The Thing. Look, part of what's cool about the show that we're doing now, from my perspective, I'll speak for my dad, you know, maybe you don't want me to speak for you now on, but it's an ode to the Thing in a lot of Ways a lot of those filmmakers that grew up watching that movie now do Marvel movies, and they do these Godzilla movies and monster movies. And so he was a part of starting that in the way that we see it now. And it's very cool.

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, it's one of the. Thing is one of the. It might be the greatest science fiction adaptation of all time. It's up there.

[Kurt Russell]

It's right up there. I love that you loved that when we ran into each other and you said you and your brother were.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, yeah, my brother Ed is one who first introduced it to me. So I associate the movie with brotherly love. I had John Carpenter right here sitting right there a while back, and I asked him, I said, I don't want to know the answer, but I want to know, is there an answer to the final question of the movie that people may not know? Is you're there with another. Your character, Macready's. With another. Keith David's character, Childs. And the question is, is Childs. The thing is, the question which we don't know, and it's left open, I said, is there an answer? And he said, there is an answer. Do you, Kurt Russell, believe that there is a definitive answer?

[Kurt Russell]

When John Carpenter tells me what it is, I'll know.

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, there's a rumor. There's rumors all over the Internet of, like, what the clues might be. There's rumors that you shot multiple endings. Is that true?

[Kurt Russell]

No, we shot. We. No, we. We. We talked about it for weeks. Yeah. Coming up to it, is it true

[Stephen Colbert]

that, like, you would write an ending and then he would write an ending?

[Kurt Russell]

Yeah, we went back and forth. It's like, you know, we. That's the way movies are made. You just, you know, especially with the guys that you really are in cahoots with and. Yep. You know, he throws things back and forth, and we finally just ended up with that one.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay, and who wrote that one, you or him?

[Kurt Russell]

The last line was worked out, too.

[Narrator/Promotional Voice]

Was.

[Kurt Russell]

Was where I just sort of said, let's just do one and we'll see where it goes. And that was what I decided to say.

[Stephen Colbert]

And that was. So you rewrote the end of the movie? Yeah, just trying to draw on that one. I mean, you know, wrote the final line of my favorite movie. I'm just trying to get that out. That's fantastic.

[Wyatt Russell]

Yeah.

[Kurt Russell]

Anyway.

[Stephen Colbert]

All right. You were in a Carpenter film, too.

[Wyatt Russell]

I love this.

[Stephen Colbert]

So we all know Escape from New York and Escape from la. Here's Snake Plissken, perjury character, right? There, but there was another magnetic presence on there. There you are, wyatt, right there. 10 years old.

[Wyatt Russell]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Do you remember being on that set?

[Wyatt Russell]

Kind of. I would visit set, and then sometimes they'd need somebody to, you know, give a look or something, and they needed a kid, so they just dragged me out and were like, will you just, like, look at your dad and do this thing? And I was probably like, yeah, sure, you know, o. But I don't remember. You remember it better.

[Kurt Russell]

I do. I remember because White was There was where Snake was, I think, kind of being reintroduced, as it were. And so he was coming in, and he's. He's just. Just a very famous character even then to the people. Very, you know, a scary guy to a lot of people. So I said to Wyatt, I said, when I look at you, I said, you don't. You're not scared of Snake Fiskin.

[Narrator/Promotional Voice]

Okay.

[Kurt Russell]

You're just. You just see him and you just. If I eyeball you, you eyeball me back. Okay? So when I did, I was. See how good he is here? I looked. I really, you know, I came by and I.

[Wyatt Russell]

Right.

[Kurt Russell]

And looked at him, and he just. Whatever, dude. You don't get to me. You know, I remember I was so

[Wyatt Russell]

afraid of my dad that I just do whatever he said. I was like,

[Stephen Colbert]

he's a great actor. We have to take a quick break.

[Narrator/Promotional Voice]

Life can feel overwhelming, but you don't have to go through it alone. On my podcast, from the Heart with Rachel Braethan, I share openly and vulnerably about everything life brings us and what we can learn by living with our hearts a little bit more open. Every Friday, a new episode brings you a new story with topics on self care, motherhood, healing, and more. You are enough just the way you are. This podcast is a reminder of that. Follow and listen to from the Heart with Rachel Brathan, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Stephen Colbert]

Hey, everybody. We're back with Kirk and Wyatt Russell. Hello, gentlemen. Now, you both now star in Legacy of Monsters as the same character at different ages. Wyatt, you play the younger.

[Wyatt Russell]

Yes.

[Stephen Colbert]

Version in the flashbacks.

[Wyatt Russell]

That would be amazing.

[Kurt Russell]

That gives me an idea.

[Stephen Colbert]

And Kurt, you play the slightly older version. Slightly. So how is it sharing a role? Do you have to agree on, like, what the guy's going to be like ahead of time?

[Kurt Russell]

Well, we talked about it a lot. We sort of saw it the same way from the get.

[Wyatt Russell]

Well, at first, we were both trepidatious about, like, it's. It's Godzilla. It's the monsterverse. You're like, I don't know, what is this something that we want to do? And then the way they described it to, they wanted it to be a grounded version of this show. And I was like, okay, I think we can do that. And then we would read it together. He was in Europe, I was at home. And it was like 11:30 at night. And I'd like sit in my weird little office and get on Zoom. And we'd read through the scripts. And as we read through them, it was very apparent that we saw things the same way. We don't talk about movies like people think we would talk about movies, right? We come home, we talk about sports and talk about life. So this was the first time we were really talking about something that we were going to, like, do together. We'd never done it and I didn't know, maybe it was like, I hate working with my dad. I have no idea. But we saw it the same way and it was great.

[Kurt Russell]

He'd also done. I did a movie called Soldier where I played this. They took kids that showed aggression. This was in the future showed aggression. And then they turned those kids into warriors. And so Wyatt played the same character I played at 12. He was 12. And then we go, that was a really cool shot, actually. We go from when he's 12 to me later on when I'm like close to 50. And he's an old, worn out soldier. So he was actually that's a part and he played it and he really did a good job in that one. And we could see that he. The joke in our family used to be, well, we have all these people who act and everything, but the best actor in the family is a hockey player.

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, that's just it. You're 10 years old for escape from LA, a soldier, you're 12. Was it gonna be. It wasn't gonna be acting for you. You walked away.

[Wyatt Russell]

Well, I never walked towards was just something that, look, I always chose to do things that I thought, you know, weren't the path of least resistance. It was wired into me. And so hockey was something that when I was introduced to it, it was the first thing I fell in love with that was not my parents. And I. I knew that this was gonna be my path in life. And so that's the way things were from the time I was 5 years old. My father played professional baseball, my grandfather played professional baseball. That was like more of what our lineage sort of pointed in terms of things that I understood at the time. And so that was what I pursued. And, you know, hockey's a Canadian blue collar sport. Not this year, but they don't celebrate like Hollywood actor kids coming in. So I had to sort of disseminate that part of my personality and put it aside and just be the kind of hard working nose of the grindstone person that they expected. And so it was just like, put that over there. And then when I got hurt, I really did realize I do love movies and I do love watching films. And I watched the AFI 100 and I did all that stuff that I. And I loved it. And I realized, like, I do like this and let me try.

[Stephen Colbert]

I can't help but notice that you have all your teeth.

[Wyatt Russell]

I have caps. I have caps on a few.

[Stephen Colbert]

You have caps on a few. Okay. I wasn't wondering.

[Narrator/Promotional Voice]

I'm.

[Wyatt Russell]

Leave them out.

[Stephen Colbert]

I was wondering, does that mean you're a great hockey player or not great hockey player?

[Wyatt Russell]

It means I was a goalie.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, it means you're a goalie.

[Wyatt Russell]

I wore a mask.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay.

[Kurt Russell]

This is gonna be calling him for a dentist.

[Stephen Colbert]

He knows what's going on. So I heard there was some confusion when you got cast in your family about the part you were playing.

[Wyatt Russell]

Yeah, there was a little confusion. And so my wife and I had our first child. We had a doula. Hi, Carmen. And my wife was like, yeah, Wyatt's gotta go off and do a show and it's gonna take five months. And he's like, oh, that's great. What's it gonna be? And she's like, he's gonna be in Godzilla. And she was like, that is perfect. He looks just like him. I was like, she was like, his jawline. Meredith was like, no. Like, he's not.

[Stephen Colbert]

His tiny arms.

[Wyatt Russell]

Yeah. Playing God.

[Stephen Colbert]

His tail breathes lightning. Yes.

[Wyatt Russell]

The nuclear energy riding off of him. I could just tell. I'm like, no, God. Heard it.

[Stephen Colbert]

You've been in a monster movie before. Like, had you been men in, like, big rubber suits and stuff like that? Had you been in.

[Kurt Russell]

Not really. Just, you know, doing those, like the thing, you know, we're kind of looking at something that we didn't quite understand what it is. Exactly. We'd seen drawings of it and stuff. And that's kind of like what this show does, too.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

It's.

[Kurt Russell]

You've got a general idea.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

But then what you're looking at, you

[Kurt Russell]

know, but then when you see what they did, you're realizing you probably could have gone bigger on your reaction.

[Stephen Colbert]

We are taking another break here, gentlemen. We'll be right back with more Kurt and Wyatt.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

Russell,

[Stephen Colbert]

You can't leave.

[Kurt Russell]

Not true.

[Stephen Colbert]

You can't leave.

[Wyatt Russell]

Thank you.

[Stephen Colbert]

I'm glad you understand.

[Wyatt Russell]

Wow.

[Stephen Colbert]

You guys. He told a bit of an off color story while the commercial was going to. We're back with the stars of Legacy of Monsters, Kurt and Wyatt Russell. You are. You are men of many talents. That's no surprise to anybody. Kurt, you fly planes, you make wine, you hunt, you drive race cars. What'd you say?

[Kurt Russell]

I used to. I got to drive the pace car, the 500. That was the attention.

[Stephen Colbert]

That was fun. Wyatt, you have one of the more unique hobbies that I've ever had a guest tell us about. You enjoy making violins?

[Wyatt Russell]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay.

[Wyatt Russell]

It's funny. There's some people laughing in the crowd,

[Stephen Colbert]

like, what the hell? How did you get into the luthier game?

[Wyatt Russell]

Nice. Yes. When I was playing hockey in Vancouver, there's a lot of time I had off when I was playing junior hockey, and there was a guitar maker named Daniel Stickle who had a luthier shop on Granville Island. And I went down and I was like, would you teach me how to build guitars? And he was like, absolutely. So I spent a lot of time doing that. And then he said, if you really want to learn how to make great guitars, learn how to build violins.

[Stephen Colbert]

Cause that's like the hardest thing to do.

[Wyatt Russell]

It's a different. Yes, it is harder, but making guitars is like construction. Violin is like sculpting.

[Stephen Colbert]

Is this one of yours?

[Wyatt Russell]

No, that is not one of mine. So what's very cool in the case that not everybody's sleeping already, that I'm holding a Guari violin and a Stradivari violin with Dr. Bob. And that's my violin making teacher, Jim Brown.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

Wow.

[Wyatt Russell]

And we made it. He's one of the most lovely people on planet Earth. And we made a great relationship over Covid. And neither one of us gave each other Covid, but he taught me how to build violins and is continuing to teach me how to violins. I haven't seen him in a long time, and I miss him a lot.

[Stephen Colbert]

Do you play the violins you make?

[Wyatt Russell]

I am a horrible violin player. Kurt.

[Stephen Colbert]

Kurt, you must have been there when he was learning. Is he being modest?

[Wyatt Russell]

Should I?

[Kurt Russell]

Yeah. This is rough.

[Wyatt Russell]

Maybe it's too rough. I don't know.

[Kurt Russell]

I don't know if it's funny because you had to be there, but I think you'll get it. I'll do my best, but we'll edit it. Goldie had a wonderful mother, and she was in the process of dying, and so she was in the hospital and his grandfather on both sides, they were great violinists. And Rut, my grandfather, was a violinist, but Rut was a professional. That's what he did for a living. And so he was married to Laura Laurie, Goldie's mom. And now he decided to take up the violin on his own. And now we're, you know, we're dealing with Laura, and she's on her way out, and. And so Goldie wanted to take. Buy it in and just plab the violin. This is rough to get through.

[Stephen Colbert]

Is it like at the hospital?

[Kurt Russell]

Yeah, it's at the hospital.

[Stephen Colbert]

And it's going to go.

[Kurt Russell]

And it's very. Here comes Wyatt to play the violin for Laura. And he knew Twinkle, twinkle, Little Star. And, you know, and so, you know, and so now Laura's watching, you know, her grandson play the violin like she had for so many years with her husband. And I had a video camera, and so I started videotaping it. And when you see the videotape, you can't really watch it because I'm laughing so hard because it's literally.

[Wyatt Russell]

And every time he hit one really

[Kurt Russell]

bad note, I swim over to Laura, and Laura was like, in her. You know, she's dying. She's going,

[Wyatt Russell]

I got.

[Stephen Colbert]

I got Goldie on there.

[Kurt Russell]

I got Goldie going, oh, that's so sweet.

[Stephen Colbert]

And Wyatt's really going hard.

[Wyatt Russell]

I mean, it was one of the greatest things you want to hear, like, possibly was. It was awful.

[Kurt Russell]

He went all the way to his bomb.

[Stephen Colbert]

Gentlemen, I think that's a good one to stop on. Wyatt, thank you so much. Kurt, such a pleasure. Thank you so much. Season two of Legacy of Monsters premieres tomorrow on Apple tv. Kurt and Wyatt hustle, everybody. Thank you for listening to the Late Show POD show with Stephen Colbert. Just one more thing. If you want to see more of me, come to The Late Show YouTube channel for more clips and exclusives. I'm back. I'm really back.

[School Spirits Promo Voice]

School Spirits returned.

[Stephen Colbert]

Why am I here?

[Kurt Russell]

Not dead, right?

[Stephen Colbert]

Disruption on this campus will not be tolerated.

[Narrator/Promotional Voice]

If I look crazy, it's because that's how I feel. I don't know how to live in two worlds.

[School Spirits Promo Voice]

Secrets lurk.

[Stephen Colbert]

There are others beneath the surface. They're not like us. We need to get out of here now.

[School Spirits Promo Voice]

School Spirits new season now streaming only on Paramount. Plus at Pluto tv. We're celebrating Black History Month with our free curated collection of black entertainment. No ifs, ands or buts about catch. Award winning films like Dreamgirls, Monster's Ball and Selma.

[Stephen Colbert]

We must make a massive demonstration.

[School Spirits Promo Voice]

Iconic hits like School Days and Set It Off. Plus full seasons of shows like Tyler Perry's Sisters and Power.

[Stephen Colbert]

I got you it.

[School Spirits Promo Voice]

Star studded brilliant Black entertainment. And it's all free. It's getting good this month and always on Pluto TV stream. Now pay never.