Kurt Russell: Urgency Keys 'Poseidon'

Actor Says Disaster Flick Has Little Character Development But Lots Of Action

(CBS)  When it comes to disaster epics of the '70s, "The Poseidon Adventure" is widely considered among the best.

Three decades later, an update, simply called "Poseidon" once again has cruise passengers trying to escape a capsized ocean liner. Among them, a father played by Kurt Russell.

"In this one, I think the slimming down of the title applies to the slimming down of the style of the picture," Russell told The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen on Thursday. "It's a Wolfgang Petersen production, which means it's all about urgency, and there's really not a lot of time spent with characters talking about who they are or what they're going to hopefully do when they're done with this, if they get out alive. This is just the process of trying to get out of this enormous ship."

The film's producers have been reluctant to label it a remake, but Russell said, "I don't care what it's called. It's the same story with all different characters, and an entirely different look."

Russell said he thought "The Poseidon Adventure" was "really good and really well-done. And for the style that it was, I'm very happy that obviously Wolfgang didn't want to take that approach. He wanted to do something quite different."

Russell pointed out that, "Nobody in this picture can really be heroic. Nobody really knows what to do.