December 28

Source: The Hartford Courant

December 28, 2001
by Ron dicker; Special to The Courant

A kinder, gentler Russell Crowe: "I think it's very easy to offend people with the truth"

Dateline: Beverly Hills, CA
Russell Crowe gained 30 pounds to play a tobacco executive in "The Insider." He took on tigers in nothing but a toga in "Gladiator." But recently at the Four Seasons Hotel, he faced a far greater obstacle: his reputation.

For some actors, a large news conference is a slam-dunk. Just smile, let the quips fly and then figure out what to wear on late-night talk shows. For Crowe, fielding queries for 30 minutes about his new movie, "A Beautiful Mind," probably ranked somewhere up there with slogging through the hundreds of scripts he says he reads. In the past, he has told reporters their questions were stupid or refused to answer them. He has given the finger to a fan. He has been accused of starting a barroom brawl. A recent Wall Street Journal article asserted that his surly behavior would cost him in salary (he made $15 million for "A Beautiful Mind" and that his handlers have begged him to clean up his act.

A friendlier Crowe showed up for this occasion. Neither pugnacious star nor ink-stained wretches seemed to emerge scarred. He stifled his contentiousness with a bite of the tongue and took heavy drags on cigarettes, which he lighted one after the other.

He was earnest in discussing the Academy Award-hyped "A Beautiful Mind," which has him playing the mathematics genius John Forbes Nash Jr., who won the Nobel prize in economics after decades of wrestling with paranoid schizophrenia. Crowe made clear that the movie was not a medical statement, and that he was attracted to it because it combined a man conquering his demons with a love story.

The 37-year-old actor dismissed a question about moments he felt insane, explaining that an answer would trivialize Nash's illness. "I know where you're going," the actor said. "Next!"

Asked if he was misunderstood, Crowe replied, "No, I don't think I'm misunderstood, but I think I'm misconstrued. I think it's very easy to offend people with the truth."

Crowe, born in Wellington, New Zealand, and raised in Sydney, Australia, gained attention in Hollywood for his smoldering but honorable cop in "L.A. Confidential" (1997). He received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the real-life Jeff Wigand, who blew the whistle on the cigarette industry in "The Insider" (1999). Last spring, Crowe won the best-actor Oscar for playing a fallen Roman general in the sword and sandal epic "Gladiator."

Has the award provided validation?

"People always put it in such dry, cynical terms, but I'm sure on a deeper psychological level there's a part of me that's kind of relaxed a bit more," he said. "Once you receive that sort of recognition from your peers, it does in its own way mean there's an audience for what you do."

For "A Beautiful Mind," Crowe immersed himself in Nash's character without imitating him. Nash was working on groundbreaking economic theory in the 1950s when he became delusional. He won the Nobel Prize in 1994. Crowe had little photo and film documentation of Nash to work with, and decades of medication had taken its toll on Nash's memory. The performance had to be interpretive, although Crowe did add a few lifelike touches. For instance, he grew his fingernails long to make his stubby hands move with the grace of Nash's along a blackboard.

The two had yet to meet when Nash, now in his 70s, showed up on the set in Princeton, N.J. "I asked him if he wanted coffee or tea and 15 minutes later I got somewhere near an answer," Crowe said. "Such is the level of examination he'll place on everything."

The subject of the press gathering turned to Crowe's youth. His mom and dad were caterers on movie sets and Crowe said he knew early on he wanted to explore performance. He made his television debut at age 6 but did not act in a feature film until age 25. "When a director offered me a lead in a feature, I didn't quite believe it," he said.

His first appearance in an American movie was a 1995 Western with Sharon Stone, "The Quick and the Dead." Since then, he has earned accolades for his intensity onscreen and brickbats for his boorishness off.

"He says what's on his mind, and he can be gruff," said Ron Howard, the director of "A Beautiful Mind."

Jennifer Connelly, who plays Nash's wife, had a different take on her co-star. "He's a little bit of a caretaker," she said. "I had a cold, and he brought me fresh fruit and vitamin drinks."

Crowe also has a reputation as a womanizer. Oscar host Steve Martin made a joke about it during the ceremony and Crowe glared at him. Nobody would broach that subject during the interview. Why ruin a good time?

His affair with actress Meg Ryan ended about a year ago. Before that, Ryan's husband, actor Dennis Quaid, had filed for divorce, citing Crowe as one of the reasons. "Proof of Life," the kidnap drama in which Crowe and Ryan met, later tanked at the box office, and some observers blamed the negative publicity surrounding their relationship.

Crowe's next role will be boxing champion Jim Braddock in "The Cinderella Man." He will make his debut as a documentary maker and subject at the Sundance Film Festival. He put together video of himself and his rock band, 30-Odd Foot of Grunts, playing and hanging out in Austin, Texas, and showed it to Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein and Talk editor Tina Brown. Both enjoyed it and Weinstein bought it. "Texas" will premiere Jan. 17.

"It's very raw, very rude and it puts me in an incredibly bad light," Crowe said.