'Stone Cold' Looks To Future

Steve Austin’s hands are meaty, with stubby fingers not much longer than his thumbs, but his handshake is what a pasta chef might call al dente—tender, but firm. His nails are well-trimmed, but not manicured—you get the feeling that he cuts them himself. He mostly keeps his palms at rest. And when he’s excited, he folds his fingers together over and over again.

While talking about his debut as an action hero in “The Condemned,” he usually keeps his hands still. But every few minutes, he can’t help but fold his fingers together.

“I found a satisfaction from within. When I really thought I nailed a scene, and I went back to my camper and was only by myself, I was just very happy about my performance,” the former professional wrestler told a crowd of reporters and lucky fans at a question-and-answer session held after a “Condemned” screening.

“Nobody was telling me about it, no one was clapping and going crazy, and I wasn’t guzzling beers, but it was just really satisfying to know you did your best.”

In that Q&A session and in a small roundtable discussion with reporters, the man better known as “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was not wild, not combative—nothing like his on-screen personae. Instead, he talked at length about the peace and happiness he’s found in his post-wrestling life, and spoke humbly about his hopes to begin a career in film.

NO LONGER BULLETPROOF

Of course, none of that should make you think that Austin didn’t love his days on World Wrestling Federation (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment) programming, drawing millions of viewers to weekly shows like “Raw is War.”

“When you see Stone Cold Steve Austin on TV, on Monday night ‘Raw,’ he’s loud, he’s over-the-top, he’s abrasive, he’s gonna cuss at you, he’s gonna drink beer, he’s gonna be pretty violent,” he said at the Q&A session, drawing cheers from the crowd. “And I had fun doing that! I mean, that was a great job.”

But he said he’s done with that stage of his life.

“I wrestled as hard as I could, I think for about as long as I wanted to. But sometimes, you’ve gotta move on,” he said.

“I’ve got a lot of fond memories, but I gotta look to the future, and look down the road, and to my health. And I feel really good right now, so I just want to keep that intact.”

He recounted tales of physical hardship in the ring that would make any stuntman wince, backing up his assertion about needing to get out before his body gave out first.

“I stopped thinking I was bulletproof a few years back,” he said.

“I got a piledriver given to me by Owen Hart in Meadowlands, New Jersey, in front of about 20,000 people on a pay-per-view in 1996,” he recalled. “I was thinking to myself, ‘I’m Christopher Reeve,’ because I couldn’t move for about a minute and a half.”

But still, he got back in the ring, year after year, until he retired in 2003.

He said he’s seen a lot of changes in the industry since he began wrestling in 1989. According to Austin, the most pronounced shift was the gradual abandonment of the conceit that wrestling is “real” in the sense of not having its matches predetermined.

“Back when I got in, it was still ‘professional wrestling,’” he said. “Back in those days, you thought it kinda might be fake, but if you believed anything, you thought it was more real than not real.” Hesoon learned the truth, but it took longer for the business to reveal itself to the fans.

“I mean, it’s flat-out now. We say it’s ‘sports entertainment’ so that we don’t insult the audience’s intelligence.”

‘A GREAT ACTION MOVIE’

As for his work on “The Condemned,” Austin had nothing but praise for the film’s performers and creators, especially co-star Vinnie Jones, best known as a soccer player and tough-guy supporting character in “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.”

“He’s just a monster,” Austin said. “He’s a really nice guy.”

The film chronicles an illegal battle to the death between ten women and men who have been given death sentences in countries around the world. Sent to a remote island by a cunning producer, the prisoners are ordered to kill one another until only one is left—and that winner will be allowed to go free. A pay-per-view Web site broadcasts the battle royale.

The film has something of a message about violence and Internet culture, but Austin says that’s not really what attracted him to the script.

“It’s nice to do a movie with some social commentary, or maybe a message,” he said. “But I didn’t sign on to this movie to change the world. I just wanted to make a great action movie.”

Austin says he has no illusions about the fact that it will be difficult for him to be taken seriously as an actor, so he’s waiting for whatever comes his way.

“Am I gonna be the next action-adventure guy?” he said, repeating a question from a fan. “If I could get those roles, I’d love that.”

With what Hollywood personality does he most want to work? Austin had a meandering story to answer that question.

“I was just watching a movie on the airplane, coming up here. I don’t remember the name of the movie, because I wasn’t paying attention. But there was Renee Zellwegger, and she’s absolutely incredible.”

“Ever since we finished this, we’ve been looking for the next script,” he said. “But I need a resume, a reel. I don’t have that.”

BOY AND MAN

Nevertheless, he said he’s learning as he goes along. In fact, he even said he picked up a few languages while working with the multinational cast.

“I learned three languages while shooting the movie—Spanish, Japanese, and German,” he said proudly, drawing a round of applause from his audience.

He paused for a moment, then spoke again.

“I didn’t, really. I just thought I’d say that,” he said with a chuckle and a smile. The crowd burst into laughter.

That moment of levity seemed representative of Austin’s outlook on life. He didn’t take himself too seriously, and showed no cynicism in his responses to questions.

Near the close of his Q&A, a young boy was given the microphone. “What was it like to win the Royal Rumble?” he asked, referencing a WWF pay-per-view event that Austin won many years ago.

Austin smiled. He folded his fingers together, and answered without a trace of sarcasm or condescension: “It was wonderful."

—Staff writer Abe J. Riesman can be reached at riesman@fas.harvard.edu.