March 1

Source: Time Out London via MaximumCrowe.com

March 1 - 8, 2000

Insider Dealing
by Trevor Johnson

At 33, Antipodean actor Russell Crowe was hardly an obvious choice to play a paunchy, 52-year-old research scientist in 'The Insider.' But director Michael Mann was convinced he was right for this real-life story of corporate cover-up, and his gamble paid off with a Best Actor nomination.

It took Michael Mann to look at Russell Crowe and see Jeffrey Wigand. Crowe was 33 at the time, the very definition of hale and hearty, and the New Zealander was fresh from making a Hollywood stir as Bud White, the bruiser of a cop in 'LA Confidential.' Mann wanted him for Wigand, the 52-year-old, overweight, bespectacled research scientist who paid a heavy personal price for blowing the whistle on the methods used by US tobacco manufacturers Brown & Williamson to make their cigarettes more addictive.

No wonder Crowe's first reaction was a characteristically straight-talking refusal: "I didn't think it was smart. Film is a very hard medium in that respect, because you can only pull a certain amount of tricks. I told him he should be talking to any number of fifty-something American actors who would do a better job for him."

Two years later, and Crowe's astonishing transformation in the role has garnered him a well-deserved Best Actor Oscar nomination. He put on 48 pounds for 'The Insider' thanks to a steady diet of bourbon and cheeseburgers, and dyed his hair seven times to get Wigand's stressed-out grey, so Crowe's physical immersion in the role is startling enough. Yet the way he's captured the essence of a complex individual -- not only the shambling diffidence of white-collar middle-aged spread, but also the steely determination to stick to his principles and not let the buggers grind him down -- is just one more milestone in a screen career of such confident diversity it seems as if there's very little Crowe can't do. So you're looking to cast a ferocious skinhead in full Nazi regalia? Crowe's your man ('Romper Stomper,' 1992). A gay plumber ('The Sum Of Us,' 1994), a Western gunslinger-turned-preacher ('The Quick And The Dead,' 1995, his American debut), or even a computer-generated psycho-droid ('Virtuosity,' the same year)? No worries, mate. Oh, and he's just done a second-century Roman general in Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator,' epic mayhem promised for later in the year.

Today, though, he's given up his Sunday to be in London for international press interviews for 'The Insider' and, to be honest, he looks about as happy as a grizzly bear to be prodded from suite to suite in The Dorchester. Back to his fighting weight now, in person he exudes the kind of simmering volatility he showed the camera in 'LA Confidential' and 'Romper Stomper.' There's no doubt this guy could look after himself in the clinches, but when he so much as scowls at you, it leaves a dent.

For all his bristling irascibility, he gives considered answers. It was Mann who persuaded him to take on Wigand with one simple gesture. "He said, 'I'm not talking to you because of your age,' reached over and put his hand on my chest, and told me 'I'm talking to you because of what's in here.' It took a heck of a lot of intellectual certainty to say that, and I really have to be thankful for the opportunity he gave me."

Weight training

Mann didn't insist that Crowe had to look like Wigand, but the actor reckons you don't play Napoleon at 6'7". "I began to think that if I put on weight it would help me with the age, then if I added a couple of inches on my collar, it would help the make-up people. I'll tell ya, I'm more comfortable in a fictional world because you make your own decisions about the part. It's certainly easier without the responsibility of honouring that person and what he went through. He was followed, they put together a 500-page dossier of misinformation to destroy his credibility, his wife and children left him, the whole basis of his life changed completely, and it's all down to a tobacco company called Brown & Williamson."

Having spent a couple of days with Wigand during pre-production, Crowe confesses that he was very reluctant to watch the results of his own labours. "I didn't want to sit there for three hours and not see Jeffrey Wigand. If that had happened, how could I ever do my job again?"

So have you seen it now?

"Yeah, Michael Mann's idea of democracy: 'Get in the fucking cinema and watch it!' "

And . . .?

"I saw the reality of that man on the screen, totally divorced from myself."

This is probably as close as Russell Crowe gets to self-congratulation. Everything about him, not least his impatience to get his afternoon's promotional chores done with, suggests a get-on-with-it attitude, and then some.

"People accuse me of being arrogant all the time," he admitted to the LA Times last year. "But I'm not arrogant, I'm focused."

Indeed, you get the sense you're looking at someone who's bloody well into whatever he's into. Whether it's playing middle-aged scientists, tending cows on the 560-acre farm he owns seven hours north of Sydney (now home to his parents and older brother as well), or taking a three-week spin around Australia's coast with biker pals. He even finds time to gig and record with his rock band, Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, whose Billy Bragg-influenced storytelling songs (lyrics, vocals and guitar by Crowe) can be downloaded from www.gruntland.com.au. All four members have day jobs, but they still drew a celebrity crowd to The Viper Room, Johnny Depp's notorious LA club, at a showcase gig last year.

For all his travels, Crowe's never lost his broad Antipodean accent, while his downhome background has militated against too many airs and graces. His mum and dad ran pubs and did film-set catering, which got young Russell work as a child extra, though when he moved to Australia at the end of his teens he started again at the bottom of the entertainment industry, busking on the Sydney streets. Instead of drama school, he did his training in the theatrical trenches -- four years on the Australian touring 'Rocky Horror Show,' taking turns at the principal roles. 'The Crossing,' a 1990 drama of troubled youth, won him his first celluloid lead, and it was his scary yet subtly nuanced work as the Swastika-tattooed Haddo [sic] in 'Romper Stomper' which caught the attention of both director Curtis Hanson, who cast him in 'LA Confidential,' and Sharon Stone, who fought hard for him to join herself, Gene Hackman and a certain Master DiCaprio on Sam Raimi's Western burlesque 'The Quick And The Dead.'

"I've been doing this job since I was a little kid, and when I was a kid I lost my fear for it," is Crowe's no-nonsense reflection on his craft. Having made a few seemingly wayward choices since his arrival in Hollywood -- the sci-fi tosh of 'Virtuosity,' for instance -- he remains a firm believer in the work ethic. "It's confused some people in the business that I didn't want to live in America, didn't want a Green Card, and that I've always felt that work begets more work. You can't stand back saying [affects plummy English accent] 'I can't possibly do that.' You've got to be realistic. You're not offered everything, but as long as you're good at what you do, people will want to work with you."

With his publicist looking at her watch, and a cold beer at the bar now within hailing distance, he even lightens up a little. "I mean, if you even look at just my last three parts, and not the 18 films before then, there's a sheriff who plays ice hockey, a guy with a bachelor's in endocrinology, and Maximus Decimus Meridius from the Roman army. You've got to think I've surely got some sort of mental disorder, and I'm just very lucky to have found gainful employment."

Source: Roheryn via the Crowe Crossing Message Board

March 1, 2002

Interview with Russell Crowe on TVNZ with Paul Holmes
transcription thanks to KSheila

Transcript of Interview given by Russell Crowe to TVNZ Interviewer, Paul Holmes broadcast on T V 1 on the Holmes Show on 1.3.02. Russell is wearing red shirt over white t-shirt, looking relaxed but remains fairly serious throughout interview.

Interview begins with a clip of Russell receiving BAFTA Award.

Paul Holmes: Youre getting some bad press in Britain about an incident which is said to have happened at the BAFTAS. What happened? Did it happen?

Russell: Oh Yeah, I certainly had a conversation with the fellow.

Holmes: Did you bail him up in a broom closet sort of thing.

Russell: (Totally straight-faced). I think the Press there have been seeing too many British gangster films of late (glimmer of smile in his eyes) you know.

I mean gentlemen don't have this kind of conversation in front of 3,000 other people. So, uhm, you know, when the producer came to my table and I told him I was a little bit upset and he said Do you want to talk about it? I said Yeah, can we go somewhere else? and he said Fine and we went off to have a conversation. There was no ... you know this is not a moment of violence, it is a moment of clarity.

Holmes: The impression is though that you put him up against a wall

Russell: I did poke him in the shoulder once (gives small laugh), when he wasn't being empathetic to what I had to say.

Holmes: Did you use bad words to him?

Russell: Many variations of available gutter language yes I did, Paul. I was very passionate about what my point was.

Holmes: And what was your point?

Russell: (very serious) My point is that this is an award ceremony. These sort of moments are very rare in one's life and I respect the situation and I'm humbled by the situation that I've put a lot of thought into what I might say, if my name is the one that's read out.

Clip of Russell's speech as broadcast.

Holmes: What were some of the things you didn't get to mention?

Russell: Well, I didn't get to thank ... well, in the room on the night I did right and you know but in what was televised I didn't.

I didn't get to thank John and Alicia Nash who were the subject matter of the film. I didn't get to acknowledge the country I've chosen to make my home. I didn't get to ... just make ... you know ... a simple statement about how (small laugh) how much I love my job and how I view that I'm still a student of the job.

I also acknowledged somebody who I've found you know has been a great mentor in my life as a performer particularly in the last few years since I worked with him on Gladiator. A fellow called Richard Harris ... who I'd had ... an evening with a couple of nights before and he introduced me to the verse of a fellow called Patrick Kavanaugh and one particular very short, four line poem. But you're actually not dealing with ... and this thing actually kind of illustrates it (holds up page with speech typed out on it). I mean ... in blue is what they had in the telecast and in red is what they cut out (runs finger down page). I mean it's a 1-minute, 50 speech. If you haven't organised yourself in terms of your time, when you're doing the show ....

Holmes: There is a report that says you were sipping the VB all the way through the awards.

Russell: (shaking head) You'll see the footage of that, you know ... you're sitting in a theatre ... I mean ... they did do supply you with a little half bottle of champagne, if you so desire. But, I tasted that last year and I wasn't going to put myself through that again (giggles).

So we just sat and watched the show. I mean, I left the auditorium twice. Once to go to the gentlemen's and once to have a cigarette at an appropriate time, you know. And, you know I was a little upset. Perhaps, if I felt at the beginning of the conversation that this fellow was more empathetic towards what I was trying to say, then it wouldn't have got as heated as it did.

Holmes: Was he an uppity sort of Pommy bloke?

Russell: Well, he was. He was calling me "fellow" a lot. (short laugh)

Holmes: Fellow?

Russell: Which kind of bothered me, you know (laughs).

Holmes: Still, what a beautiful thing you got that night. It's so heavy. Look at it. (Holds up BAFTA award).

Russell: You know, I'm very appreciative. I mean, this is the British Academy Award. This is the home of theatre and the English language. This is the birthplace of Shakespeare, you know. For my peers and contemporaries that work in the business in England to have acknowledged me in this manner, you know.

I have no problem with the British Academy. That's not what the situation is. I don't have any problem with the BBC, you know. There's a fellow (grins). Now I'm calling him his word (laughs).

Here's a bloke (giggle) from an independent production company who has the responsibility of televising this and, uhm (shakes head), doesn't deem the Best Actor Award to have, you know, a level of importance.

Holmes: Anyway, leave all that aside. Leave all that aside. Its aggravating you, ay. I mean its spoiling what should be a golden few weeks.

Russell: Yeah, but, however, I have absolutely no regrets for making my point be known, you know. (laughs).

Cut back to presenter in the Auckland studio who tells us that on Monday (our time) they will play the rest of the interview in which Russell discusses, ABM, his new girlfriend, the Kiwi cricket, and Lord of the Rings.

Holmes: "I mean, can you believe what's happened? The last time I spoke with you it was a couple of weeks before the Oscars. You won the Oscar for Gladiator. It's been a huge blockbuster. You're probably the most famous actor in the world now and you've done another film which has put you up for your possibly second consecutive Oscar. A Golden Globe - now the BAFTA. Can you believe what's happened to you?"

Russell: "Not really" (Slight shake of the head and laughs)

Holmes "No?"

Russell: "You know, but, ah, hey, I put a lot of effort into the job and I really love the job. When I say 'effort' , it's all a pleasure."

Holmes: "You work hard"

Russell: "Yes, it's been an incredible run, Paul, what can I say?"

Holmes: "You've also done some beautiful work, Russell."

Russell: "Thank you"

Holmes: "Yeah. Did you know when you chose. when you said 'Yes' to Ron Howard and A Beautiful Mind, that it was going to be such a big picture."

Russell: (Laughing) "Not at all"

Holmes: "No?"

Russell: (Laughing) "A movie about a schizophrenic mathematician that nobody's ever heard of."

Holmes: "Yeah, Yeah".

Russell: "It was a really good script. It was a script, you know, that gave me a great emotional rush when I read it, you know. And you say to people, this is the funny thing. you say to people it's a movie about a schizophrenic mathematician (gets very animated - smiling and moving hands about) and sort of like their reaction's not always that positive. It's a very hard movie to sell."

(Montage of clips from ABM)

Holmes: "You've spoken about Ron Howard with tremendous respect. You mention his attention to detail."

Russell: "Uhum" (agreeing)

Holmes: "He has said himself he loves directing actors. I mean describe working with him."

Russell: "Well, it's a very easy process with Ron, you know. There isn't argument. There isn't, you know, it doesn't ... it's discussion. He wants to find the best option, you know. That's why he's hired you in the first place. He wants you to become an expert in your character. He's not threatened by that, you know. I think that's the big difference. He's very well prepared."

Holmes: "One of the things that makes ABM such a gripping film is Nash's relationship with his wife."

Russell: "I think it's all about trust, you know. I think the key with me and Jennifer.. and this doesn't have to be a requirement.but, you know, we allowed each other to become, you know, very intimate. And by that I don't mean at all in any kind of sexual, you know, manner at all. But allowed each other to be, uhm, as close as these people need to be in order to truly fulfil the romance, the nurturing, you know, all of the things that have taken place in the true real lives of John and Alicia Nash." (Clip of the "How Big is the Universe" scene.)

Holmes: "Anyway. Some personal stuff ... tell me"

Russell: (With small wry grin) "Personal stuff?" (takes deep breath)

Holmes: "No, no, no. Some personal stuff. Do you know, I wonder..."

Russell: (Smiling and looking straight at the camera) "I think we might be running out of time, Folks"

Holmes: "Yeah, let me ask you... what is the hardest thing about being you at the moment... about being where you are at the moment?"

Russell: "You know, we went shopping in Rome the other day, me and Danielle. And we went into a jewelry store... not to buy an engagement ring as somebody put in the paper."

Holmes: "I saw the pictures"

Russell: "Yeah, right, but what you didn't see is the picture from our perspective. We walked out and there is literally, you know, immediately around the entrance to the jewelry store ... 500 people."

Holmes: "On the matter of Danielle ... did I read that you have a hunger to have children? You want to have children?"

Russell: (Softly) "I've been wanting to have kids for a long time, yeah."

Homes: (Who has two of his own and, by all accounts, enjoys being a Dad says softly) "Good"

Russell: "I, uhm, you know, it's just not something I can do by myself" (chuckles)

Holmes: (Grinning back at Russell) "No, no."

Russell: "With Dani, that's, you know, going to be up to her."

(Clips of Russell and Dani are shown at the GG and BAFTAS, as Russell speaks)

I mean she's got the beginning of what, I think, is going to be a really big career. She's a very clever songwriter. I've known Dani for a long time. We first worked together in '89.

And when we went out together for 4 or so years from like, you know, the end of 1990 onwards and, uhm, she's a great friend. She's a really good friend and we're just together at the moment. (shaking head) But, I'm not asking her any questions and I'm not putting her on any schedules."

Holmes: "In NZ we think you are ours. In Australia they think you are theirs. Is it hard being wanted by two countries?"

Russell: (In a breathy sort of voice) "Well, I'm a son of the Tasman Sea, Paul" (laughs)

Holmes: "Ah, very good. My little boy, though, he said to me he's very upset, he's upset with you, because."

Russell: "Why?"

Holmes: "and he loves Peter Jackson. He's very upset with you because he read that you think you might confirm officially that you're an Australian citizen."

Russell: "Ah yes, but that's only based on the fact that they are allowing me to retain my NZ Citizenship."

Holmes "Ahhhh"

Russell: "And so, I'll have a dual citizenship thing. So that's not choosing one over the other, that's just acknowledging the importance of Australia in my life. You know, I travel on a NZ passport. I'm very proud of the fact that I travel on a NZ passport and it wasn't until some inquisitive member of the press pushed the Immigration Department and found out that, as a New Zealander, you can still be an Australian citizen, while retaining your NZ citizenship. Therefore, being able to vote and take a full part in the community and that's what's beginning to worry me, you know. And, so. but I want to do it en masse with the family. If my brother, and my mother and my father, you know, don't agree. I want us to all be stepping forward as a family in that way."

Holmes: "Be nice if you could have a couple of kids too, Russell, because we desperately need a couple of openers."

Russell: (grins) "Yeah, and you know the bloodline's going to come back, don't you."

Holmes: (earnestly) "It's got to!"

Russell: "It skipped me."

Russell and Holmes laugh together.

(This exchange is a humorous reference to the Cricketing Crowe bloodline and the need for two good opening batsmen for the NZ Cricket Team. There follows a discussion about NZ cricket which I have not transcribed, as it really would only be of interest to Kiwis.)

Holmes: "Another cracker, of course, is Peter Jackson. What do you make of LOTR?"

Russell: "I think it's an incredible achievement. I think it's magnificent. I'm looking forward to seeing the next two, you know. And the great thing for me, you know, recently I've been able to spend some time with Peter, because we have, you know, we've been in the same room a few times and, you know, I mean we have had our 'This one's for Wellington' conversations, Mate, believe me. (Laughs).

Source: The Dallas Morning News

March 1, 2002

Reeling: Defending Russell
By Charles Ealy

No one seems to spawn more attacks and wild rumors than Russell Crowe , the Oscar-nominated star of A Beautiful Mind.

The tabloids routinely accuse him of making inappropriate advances toward younger women, with Thora Birch of Ghost World being the latest 'victim," according to an anonymously sourced article in the National Enquirer. In recent months, Russell has also been accused of hitting on Leelee Sobieski, Jennifer Connelly and Sarah Ferguson. Then there was the fling with Meg Ryan followed by rumors about Nicole Kidman. Occasionally, the tabloids take a moment to launch personal attacks, too, calling Russell rude and crude. A female student at Princeton got huffy and contended the Aussie made an obscene gesture in her direction. Others have suggested that Russell doesn't respect his Oscar and has planted it in his chicken run in Australia to promote fowl fertility.

The most ridiculous attack of all has to be a report that Jacqueline Stallone's psychic dogs turned up their noses after being asked to peer into Russell's future. (Dear Jackie Stallone: Your dogs aren't psychic.)

Why a target?

Success spawns jealousy; jealousy spawns criticism; and the whole notion of celebrity is rather silly. So it's easy to poke fun at the newest, biggest star on the horizon. Russell is definitely that.

But it's hard to find fault with his acting. Yes, he has starred in bad movies, just like the best actress favorite this year, Sissy Spacek.

But the Aussie actor mesmerizes when he's on screen. And no other actor in this generation can come close to matching his range of talent: the ability to be as sensitive as James Dean and as brawny as a young Marion Brando.

He was even good in his worst movie, Rough Magic, a 1997 flop that co-starred Bridget Fonda as a magician's assistant who flees an accidental killing and has the event on film.

Bridget's character has more psychic and magical powers than Jackie Stallone's dogs, and she ends up in Mexico, where she becomes part of a mystical circle of women. She also uses her powers to get out of scrapes. Enter Russell as the private eye hired to find Bridget. He and Bridget team up, and you know that sparks will fly. Bridget plays the kind of woman a guy like Russell can't resist: When a mean guy tries to beat up the duo, Bridget turns him into a sausage. And then a dog (owned by Jim Broadbent) eats the wiener.

Bridget can also lay an egg in her mouth. Why she wants to do this is a mystery, but you get the idea that Rough Magic has a few flaws.

Still, Russell carries on, pretending not to notice that the movie is falling apart. He doesn't even look too surprised when a dead person comes back to life and a dog starts to talk.

In other words, Magic makes Jackie Stallone look normal.

Still, Russell comes out of the messy movie smelling like a rose. And that requires talent.