As one of the few stars of the new thriller "Poseidon" who was around when the original opened in 1972, Kurt Russell doesn't see why anyone would be upset about a remake.

"I must say I don't look at 'The Poseidon Adventure' as 'Gone with the Wind' or 'Casablanca,'" Russell says. "I look at it ... as the first of its genre. But that doesn't make it a classic, untouchable movie in my estimation."

And Russell admits his interest in the disaster flick came down to one person's involvement.

"I wasn't knocked out by the script," Russell admits. "It was just Wolfgang -- Wolfgang Petersen and drowning. That was it."

The "Escape from New York" star didn't have to worry about the dialogue anyway, because much of it was cut because of Petersen's deft directorial touch. Still, Russell thinks they could have gone even further. He says that, "If it were my movie, I'd make it a silent movie. I think it'd be one of the greatest silent movies ever. I would implore you to watch 'Troy' with the sound turned off."

Russell's comment gets a big laugh from the small group of journalists speaking to him, because "Troy," Petersen's previous flick, wasn't exactly critically acclaimed.

"I'm not saying that as a joke," Russell says. "You know what? With the sound down, it's a very different movie. That's why it did so well in Europe, I think. They can't understand what they're saying."

Make no mistake, Russell is very proud of his work on "Poseidon," although he notes for all the tough stunt sequences it had, "nobody will ever do a harder movie than 'Backdraft.'" That being said, Russell became incredibly ill during the production (he wasn't the only one). It turns out that he caught a rare strain of H. influenza from the dirty, water-filled sets. To make matters worse, he then got pneumonia. After 10 days off to recuperate, Russell was back on the set ready to shoot his difficult underwater sequences.

"I was fortunate in that regard," Russell says. "During all of the stuff underwater, I was healthy. Everything else, I was sick. It's just one of those movies. I'd never had that happen, but it was a tough set -- smoke, fire, old stuff in the air being kicked up and around, water...."

Did you expect the man who played Snake Plissken to complain about some pesky little pneumonia? Please.