December 5

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

December 5, 2005

From Russ Le Roq to 30 Odd Foot of Grunts to Russell Crowe and the Ordinary Fear of God, the actor is devoting himself to music, Christine Sams writes.

For Russell Crowe, one or two words is never enough. When it comes to band names, he prefers a phrase: from previous band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts (TOFOG) to his new group, the Ordinary Fear of God (also TOFOG).

Actually, the full title of his current act is Russell Crowe and the Ordinary Fear of God. The Oscar-winning actor is keen to put his own name firmly in the spotlight when it comes to his music career.

What Crowe lacks in music sales, he makes up for in enthusiasm. He can command more than $US25 million ($33 million) per Hollywood film, but until the end of this month he will perform a once-a-week musical residency at the Vanguard in Sydney - a venue that holds an audience of 160. Crowe is not paid for the performances but, like any other artist at the venue, receives the door takings, says John Cass, owner of the Vanguard.

"It's quite surreal really, seeing this international movie star on the stage - but I guess he's just another musician expressing himself," he said.

This is not a short-lived attempt at a musical hobby over the Christmas period: Crowe has been working seriously on his music career for at least half a decade - with aspirations that stretch back to his teenage years in New Zealand, when he performed as Russ Le Roq.

"Probably the closest to me, and how I am with my family, is how I am when I stand in front of a band," said Crowe, in the same year he won his Oscar for Gladiator. Friends close to the singer say his passion for music has only grown since then, despite the fact Crowe has not yet gained the industry credibility he yearns for.

When he released his first solo album, My Hand, My Heart, earlier this year Crowe signalled his intention to perform a handful of gigs to showcase the new tunes. He has now opted for a full-blown tour - something he has done in the past with TOFOG - which will take in NSW towns including Coffs Harbour (close to home for Crowe), Byron Bay, Yamba, Newcastle and Katoomba.

It's hard to imagine Nicole Kidman strolling on stage at the Yamba Bowling Club to play a couple of tunes, but if there's one thing to be said for Crowe, he's not afraid to do the hard yards to take his music to a diverse audience.

He's the Oscar winner who will happily perform to crowds in Campbelltown or Newtown, as long as he can get people to sing along to his tunes. But radio exposure and sales seem to be the elusive factor in his singing career. (Although it's worth noting My Hand, My Heart is available only as a digital download and has attracted interest from web customers all over the world.)

Crowe's series of gigs at the Vanguard this month stemmed from a successful showcase by the actor earlier this year, when he played a "one-off" concert inside the intimate Newtown venue. For those who attended, the first surprise was getting a printed handbook of Crowe's lyrics before the show (this happens before each gig); the second surprise was how enthusiastically the audience was singing along to those words about half an hour later.

There's no doubting Crowe has a loyal audience at gigs, but it's hard to discern whether its because of his music or celebrity status (most would assume it's the latter). There are fans who regularly fly in from the US and UK for his Australian shows: "It's definitely good for the tourist appeal," said Cass. "But there is definitely the local element there. It's surprising to see people actually arranging their holidays around the Russell Crowe residency."

Although Crowe's gigs can be generally described as straight-out rock performances with a dose of musical swagger, there are moments of introspection.

Crowe's lyrics are often surprisingly candid. In the song Raewyn (co-written with Alan Doyle) which is dedicated to his aunt Raewyn Wemyss, who died in 1971, Crowe talks of his mother's grief at losing her younger sister: "How little do I know of the pain of my mother/If I'm now just thinking, what if I'd lost a brother?/How many nights has she lain awake shaking/ When I could of held her, shared the pain she had taken."

One gets the sense Crowe uses songwriting as an intensely personal means of expression, while in films he is expert at delivering the words (and tapping into the emotions) written by others.

In that sense, he seems eager to strip down the walls created by celebrity.

Who knows if he'll ever prove himself in the eyes of the public - and music critics. But Crowe will carry on regardless, because he loves what he's doing. He might have an Oscar and a mind-boggling personal fortune because of his skill at playing other characters, but with a guitar and microphone, Crowe seems happy being himself.

Russell Crowe performs at the Vanguard on Tuesday and December 13, 20 and 27.

Source: The New York Times | Arts

December 5, 2007

Russell Crowe Takes Role Brad Pitt Left

Exit Brad Pitt. Enter Russell Crowe. Mr. Crowe, below, has agreed to star for Universal Studios as an investigative journalist looking into the murder of a lawmaker's mistress in the film "State of Play," Variety reported. Mr. Pitt abruptly bowed out of the production before Thanksgiving, when his representatives indicated that he was not happy with the script, a situation complicated by the writers' strike. The decision by Mr. Crowe left "State of Play" on course to go before the cameras this year.

Source: Sally Wiggin's Blog

December 5, 2009

When you work in broadcast journalism, be it local or network, you get to interview some fascinating people. You even get to interview some famous people. And, sometimes, you get to interview famous people who are fascinating. Russell Crowe is one of those. Dynamic, brilliant, gifted, versatile, observant, funny, and so devoted to his family. Am I gushing? You bet. He has always been my favorite actor, along with Viggo Mortensen of LOTR fame. According to bios about Mr. Crowe, he was offered the part of Aragorn, but had to turn it down because of "A Beautiful Mind," for which he received an Oscar nomination. Coincidentally, Mr. Mortensen was here a little less than two years ago, making "The Road," which is in theatres now.

The local stations didn't get to interview Mr. Mortensen, which is often the case when big films and big stars are in the area. Frankly, it's understandable. The actors and directors are working killer hours, so who has time for a flurry of distractions?

That's why I was so surprised that Lionsgate, the production company for "The Next Three Days," got in touch with a couple of us who had requested an interview with Mr. Crowe. Blown away is a better description. When you spend decades in this business, you interview a lot of celebrities-in sports, politics and entertainment. This was the only time I can remember freaking out when I learned that a request had been granted. A huge "thank you" to publicist, Emma Cooper, who was just wonderful in setting this all up, and to Jessica Connor , from the Pittsburgh Film Office, for helping to facilitate it.

What made it even better was this guy, Lenni Todd, one of our veteran photojournalists. Mr. Crowe recognized Lenni, when he saw him on the Sharpsburg set Thursday. Lenni had met Mr. Crowe during the G20 Summit. Lenni and a BBC photographer had gone to one of Lenni's favorite taverns in Lawrenceville. (Lenni says it is a bar, but I liked the sound of tavern better). Who should walk in,
but Russell Crowe. Lenni talked to him for some time, and told us all what a great guy he was.

Mr. Crowe started popping up everywhere in Pittsburgh. Penguins games, Steelers games, local restaurants. He told us he had biked over 500 miles all around the area. I even had the chance to meet him in Regent Square. They had been filming at a house across the street from friends of mine, Dr. Geoff Kurland and his wife, Kristen, a CMU professor. Kristen had met some of the crew members, because of a family connection (Kristen is on the right, Skip is the crew member, and her sister Sueanne, next to me, is the "family connection"). So one night, Kristen invited me over, and Mr. Crowe was talking to all the neighbors watching the production. Someone brought him toward us, and Kristen was introduced to him. But she forgot to introduce her husband and me! We teased her that we were standing right in front of THE Russell Crowe, and never met him. Well, that changed!

Both director, Paul Haggis and Russell Crowe seem to have a genuine fondness for this region. Haggis, an Oscar winner for "Crash" and "Million Dollar Baby," specifically chose Pittsburgh as the setting for this thriller about a man-a teacher- whose wife (played by Elizabeth Banks) is convicted of murder. The man resolves to break her out of prison, with the advice of an expert, played by Liam Neeson. Mr. Haggis says one of the reasons he placed the story here was the unique character of the neighborhoods. Add to that, Mr. Crowe's description of Pittsburgh as one of the friendliest cities he had visited in America. And he was spot on when he extolled the beauty of the region's architecture. It is so true, but we locals often forget to point it out. He even orchestrated where we did the interview so two stunning church towers were behind him-and he joked about how he was arranging the interview.

And, yes, Pittsburgh, he loves sports. He was generous in his praise of the owners and managers of the Pens and Steelers (he says he didn't get to visit the Pirates), and the education he had gotten here about their organizations. He is so enthusiastic about the rugby team he owns in Australia-The South Sidney Rabbitohs-102 years old, who last one a championship when he was 7. He added,"When I was 7, I believed anything was possible, and it gave me confidence." He added that owning the team was more about the community service to the people of the district than winning football games.

And last, but not least, what was most touching was his expression of how deeply he misses his wife and two young boys. His oldest son turns 6 on December 21st, and Mr. Crowe was counting the days until he can go home to them in Australia. I know some people may point to his reputation in the media. But he has been a great and appreciative friend to Pittsburgh, and Lenni and I found him to be a stand-up guy, who could not have been more gracious.

Source: The Daily Telegraph

December 5, 2009

Tale of slings and arrows
By Andrew Fenton

A thinned-down Russell Crowe, dressed in tight leather pants and holding a battered steel-string guitar. Softly he begins to sing Bruce Springsteen's Highway Patrolman as 100 or so grotty, long-haired and bearded soldiers crowd around.

And then, as one, they join in to sing backing vocals.

At the end, everyone lets out a huge cheer.

The short interlude over, everyone resumes positions to shoot a comical fight scene between Robin Hood and Little John (Kevin Durand).

It involves Crowe swinging from the rafters and whacking Durand in the face with a dead chicken.

"Enjoy this fight," instructs an assistant director. "It's a good reward after a hard day's killing."

It's day 80 on the set of Ridley Scott's $155 million Robin Hood film (it's still officially known only as Untitled Robin Hood Adventure) at The Bourne, about 20 minutes from Heathrow.

We're standing on "Gladiator Hill", so named because it's the exact spot Maximus led the Roman Army to victory against Germanic barbarians in the opening scenes of Scott's and Crowe's first -- and most successful -- collaboration. It's far from the only similarity between this version of Robin Hood and the Academy Award-winning epic. At times, it seems like they're deliberately trying to recreate that Gladiator magic.

Rusty has been through a rigorous fitness regime with a trainer from the US National Basketball Association to shed the sweaty fat-man look from Body Of Pies -- sorry, Body Of Lies -- and shortly before filming, Scott instructed his newly buffed action star to crop his hair close and to grow a beard.

But Crowe says the two films differ sharply in emphasis.

"If Gladiator was in total a metaphor about death, then this is about rebirth," he says. "Every character in this film that you care about comes to a better place through the course of the narrative."

Apart from occasional flashes of annoyance whenever he thinks a question might have a hidden agenda, Crowe appears relaxed and amiable. And he has every reason to be in a good mood.

After more drafts than the Middle East road map for peace, two abandoned attempts to start production and an endless stream of "bad-boy Crowe" news stories, the film previously known as Nottingham is now just two weeks from wrapping and $8.3 million under budget.

It's been a massive undertaking. Tonight's epic battle between the French and the English involves 400 extras, dozens of horses and almost 500 crew members.

Director Scott is a crumpled-looking man wearing a hooded windcheater."This is the small bit, by the way," he says in his soft burr. "It's massive, what we've been doing."

The production has just finished a fortnight's filming at a beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, where Scott staged a huge sea-borne invasion of England. "It's like an action replay of the William the Conqueror landing in 1066," he says.

Scott's long-time costume designer, Janty Yates, says the sequence was the apex of the production."I was crying to see it -- it's the culmination of everything we've been working for," she says.

The film began life as a high-concept screenplay that reversed the famed legend by making the Sheriff of Nottingham the good guy. It sparked a bidding war and eventually sold to Universal for a seven-figure sum.

Ironically, neither Crowe nor Scott -- who were then collaborating on American Gangster -- liked the idea. "Some stories you can take and flip over but I just can't see the point of doing that with Robin Hood," Crowe says."I wasn't interested in doing a story where the main character was a well-meaning public servant."Without being rude, that script was CSI: Sherwood Forest. I mean, the sheriff was wandering around examining the trajectory of an arrow, shit like that."

But he liked the idea of doing justice to the legend.

"I said, `I'm really into making a Robin Hood, but I don't want to make it from this perspective'," he says.

Crowe told producer Brian Grazer he'd make a version of the tale if Scott was the director.

"Within 48 hours it was a done deal," he says.

The current version of the script -- probably about number 713 if the rumours are true -- exists because the production was postponed just weeks away from filming on two separate occasions. The writers' strike, and then a threatened actors' strike, were both major factors but there were constant concerns about the script.

Scott says it's always a battle to get a script in shape. "The hardest single thing to do is to actually write the screenplay," he says."Once I've got the screenplay, making movies is easy for me."

Crowe argues -- without being asked -- that this version of Robin Hood took no longer to develop than any other film, it's just it was done in public. Whenever the various writers completed a draft, they'd tell people their ideas. "Every time I saw one of those articles I was like, 'Oh boys, you're in for a little bit of disappointment'," Crowe says with a grin.

So, contrary to what you may have heard, Robin Hood will not be assuming the Sheriff's identity after seeing him killed in battle and Crowe will most certainly not be playing both Robin Hood and the Sheriff simultaneously.

Instead they've gone with a gritty, historically appropriate origins tale. Robin and the men who become his band of outlaws have spent a decade fighting the Crusades with King Richard the Lionheart's army. After Richard (Danny Huston) is killed, Robin returns to Nottingham, where he's appalled by what England has become.

He sets out to fight for the rights of men and sets in train events that lead to the Magna Carta. Along the way he falls for the strong-willed Lady Marian, played by Cate Blanchett.

Blanchett, of course, came on board to replace Sienna Miller, who was reportedly too young to be credible as Marian opposite Crowe. Scott appears happy to support this version.

"I think we kind of ended up more appropriately," he says. "Russell will kill me for saying this but [Miller's] so much younger. [Blanchett] is the equivalent of Russell in terms of strength on screen. As lovely as Sienna Miller is, it seems doubtful she would have been able to summon up as much strength in the part."

Crowe says he has been a fan of Blanchett's since watching her in her first major stage role opposite Geoffrey Rush in the 1993 David Mamet play Oleanna. "I saw her on a poster and I didn't even know what the play was," he says."Her face was just arresting and so I went and saw the play and she was magnificent. When she came on board [the film] it was just spectacular. Ridley and I could never have imagined just how fantastic she would be with us. And particularly as Ridley tends to be a very robust guy. She just flows with all of that."

The film is Crowe's fifth collaboration with Scott the "very robust" director -- and the production has been dogged by rumours they have been at loggerheads. Talk to each of them individually, however, and there's a sense it's this tension that produces results. Scott says he likes the fact he doesn't have to tiptoe around Crowe's feelings. "It's easier if you've waltzed before: you've got the arguments out of the way and fundamentally, it's down to you being able to say, `What? I hate that!"' he says. "And him saying, `Well, why are we doing that?' So you get straight to it as opposed to a polite waltz."

Crowe puts it more bluntly: "We don't agree on anything. But we talk through it."