The actor opens up about how his wife convinced him not to go to space and what they are doing now to support Ukrainian refugees.
Ashton Kutcher rocks a new look in Vengeance -- and wife Mila Kunis was here for it! The actor is opening up about his Texas-sized character in B.J. Novak's directorial debut, for which he rocks an impressive cowboy hat and mustache.
In an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live with guest host David Alan Grier, Kutcher raves about Novak's script while noting that he only takes on acting projects when he truly wants to. In the film, he plays Quentin Sellers, a rural Texas music producer.
"This character, when I first saw it, I was like, 'This is interesting.' He kinda had this Boss Hog vibe to him," Kutcher says, adding that he saw parallels to Burt Reynolds' Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit. "I was like, 'Alright, I think this guy has got, like, this air of sophistication.'"
Kunis, he adds with a laugh, "had to deal with it. And that was all fun."
"We've been together for seven years," he says. "She was like, 'Oh, it's like a different guy!'"
Kutcher calls it a win, after acknowledging that Kunis previously convinced him to bail on his ticket to space via Virgin Galactic. "I was supposed to be on the first flight," he recalls, "and then we had kids. And she was like, 'Do you want to be on the first flight or, like, the 50th flight? She had sound logic and -- yeah, she made me give it up."
On a more serious note, Kutcher also addresses the ongoing war in Ukraine -- Kunis' home country -- and what fans can do to help. To date, Kutcher and Kunis have raised over $30 million to help provide relief.
"The biggest thing I want people to realize is that it's not over," he says. "As it's fallen out of the news headlines it feels like, 'Oh it's quieting down.' It's still very much going."
Calling it the single "most important thing happening in the world today," Kutcher predicts "if this domino falls, it gets really ugly after this."
One way he says people can help is with a new platform called Welcome.US, where people can adopt or sponsor refugee families or communities, like churches or school groups.
"There are 5,000 families that are in the queue to come to the United States of America that just need the support and connections to school and work and all the various functions around it," he says. "So if you have a chance and you're so interested, check out Welcome.US and see about adopting a refugee family, because we've got to do all that we can to continue to support."
Kutcher does not address his shocking battle with Vasculitis in the interview, but discusses his prep in training to run his first marathon and the trauma of bloody nipples. Kutcher says he agreed to run the marathon in support of his nonprofit, Thorn.
"I went for a training run last weekend, I did like 17 miles, my nipples started to bleed, man," he exclaims. "What is happening right now? My legs were fine but my nipples were on fire."
Kutcher says while training on his treadmill, he came up with a show idea and pitched it to Peloton.
"What if we do a show in my basement where I invite friends to run with me, and we bring a Peloton instructor, and I interview people while we're running," he says, noting that they've shot 10 episodes so far with celebs like Natalie Portman, Kenny Chesney and more. "We're running and chit chatting, and it's making running fun."
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