"Stone Cold" Steve Austin in Lionsgate's "The Condemned."

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We had a chat with WWE Superstar turned actor "Stone Cold" Steve Austin about his film “The Condemned” on DVD in Widescreen, Full Screen and Blu-ray. Took place on September 17th, 2007 1-1:30 PM ET.

Question:

He’s asked about the black eye from Manu. Where did the decision come from to cover it up and not keep it in the movie.

Stone Cold Steve Austin:

“I don’t know. I just think keeping it in the movie and working with a black eye for two months, it didn’t take that long to heal, we just kept covering it up with makeup. When you see the movie, you’re gonna see my eye is definitely swollen. We just covered it up, tried to be efficient and just try to move on.”

Question:

What about your WWE conditioning and his preparation for acting experience and “The Condemned.”

Stone Cold Steve Austin:

“You know what, this is my first major part in a movie, you know I just tried to do as good a job as I possibly could. I had an acting coach, I tried to be as far away from Stone Cold Steve Austin as I could have been. I went out there and I think in everything you do, you get better with repetition and honestly, the same with wrestling, the same with acting. I have a long ways to go and hopefully I get more swings at the plate to get a chance to try to improve.”

Question:

I ask about working with Scott Wiper on this.

Stone Cold Steve Austin:

“I thought uh,, you know…he had a lot of flack about some of the fight scenes going a little busy, a little up close but other than that Scott was wonderful to work with. I mean he’s a highly organized, detailed guy, wide open to suggestions. Every idea didn’t have to be his idea for it to be in the movie. I just think the guy is going to have a great career as a director and I just know he brought a lot of calm to a storm, kept everything on an even kill and everything was just highly organized.”

Question:

He’s asked about the script.

Stone Cold Steve Austin:

“The script came to me in Los Angeles, an agent brought it to me, and at the time it was just a good concept and a cool idea. And Scott Wiper, going back to Scott Wiper, re-wrote the thing nine times to get it to its final stages and I gotta give him a lot of credit for that. We ended up taking a lot of my dialogue out, I didn’t think that Jack Conrad was an overly verbal guy, but you know, we ended up taking some of my dialogue out.” He talks about the changes and says “They started tailoring it to me towards the end. When the script originally came to me, they wanted me to play the part of McStarley which Vinnie Jones played but once Vince got behind that’s when I was…you know I play Jack Conrad and that’s pretty much how it came about.”

Question:

With regards to several wresters delving into acting lately - Did you ask any of your fellow wrestlers for advice?

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin in Lionsgate's "The Condemned."

Stone Cold Steve Austin:

“No, I just kind of wanted to go my own course. You know, try to learn through my mistakes and surround myself with good people. Some of the other guys have done things and that’s all fine and well but you know, in my professional wrestling career you ask a lot of questions from guys that are way ahead of you. If I could ask any questions, I mean if I get a chance to work with big name actors, then I certainly will ask them questions and I don’t mean to disrespect any of my co-workers. I think you learn by working with the best and if I get a chance to work with the best then I’ll ask a ton of questions.”

Question:

What about working with Vinnie Jones again in the future?

Stone Cold Steve Austin:

“Oh, Vinnie was a blast! You know I met him years ago and you know didn’t talk since then and when he came onto the movie I was excited about it because I thought he’d do an interesting thing with McStarley and I think he did. You know, he comes from a sport background as I do myself with my football days and going into pro wrestling. He’s a big hunter as I am. We had a lot in common. He’s got a great sense of humor, there was lots of practical jokes behind-the-scenes. We talk about that on the DVD. I’d love to work with Vinnie again, he’s a fun guy to be around.”

Question:

He asked whether acting is something he’d like to just dabble with or pursue full time.

Stone Cold Steve Austin:

“This is it, I’m pursuing full time. I mean, I’m through wrestling. Wrestling was one of the funnest jobs. Most fun I’ve ever had in my life and I had a good time doing it fifteen years in a row, it’s time to do something else. I have a three picture deal with WWE films and trying to find the number two movie right now and start shooting ASAP. I’m working on certain projects myself here in Los Angeles, just trying to find the script work and other people. So that’s what I have my sights on, that’s what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

Question:

I ask about the film in comparison to ‘Surviving the Game’ with ICE-T and ‘The Running Man’

Stone Cold Steve Austin:

“Running Man, long time ago, back in the day, I didn’t think it was very similar at all, The Running Man and you know, there’s people that will disagree with me. I thought this was a better movie than The Running Man and all due respect to Arnold Schwarzenegger who had a tremendous career. I heard a lot of people saying that it was like Battle Royale. I think certainly there are some elements of Battle Royale but then above and beyond that this was more about the survival and freedom than been broadcast on the internet. So basically it became a reality based program rather than students trying to kill each other on the Japanese version. I think that there’s…any movie that comes out these days, for the most part, borrows from other movies. I don’t think there’s anything original anymore. So people say ‘You borrowed from this, you borrowed from that.’ Yeah it did but it ended up being ‘The Condemned’ and it’s kind of a different animal all on its own.”