March 3

Source: USA TODAY

March 3, 1995

RUSSELL CROWE; ACTOR; PROFILE

-- Impression of Sharon Stone while making Dead: "She was very gracious to me."

-- On the sex scene cut from Dead: "It wasn't the several-back-flips-off-the-high-platform thing that she's been involved in."

-- Biggest influences: "Growing up I was a major Marlon Brando fan. Steve McQueen as well."

-- Hidden talent: "I'm a prolific songwriter."

-- Personal life: Lives in Sydney; in a relationship "that flounders greatly with a particularly strong individual whose career is very important to her."

-- Upcoming project: Virtuosity with Denzel Washington, due in August.

Source: AAP

March 3, 2002

Hollywood Screenwriters' Awards

LOS ANGELES - Social satire Gosford Park and A Beautiful Mind - the story of a brilliant mathematician struck by schizophrenia - took top honours at the Writers Guild of America Awards at the start of the three-week run-up to the Oscars ceremony. British rookie screenwriter Julian Fellowes won the award yesterday for best original screenplay for Gosford Park and Akiva Goldsman won best adapted screenplay for A Beautiful Mind. Both movies have been nominated for several Oscars, including best screenplay and the coveted best picture category. Gosford Park used the classic whodunnit genre to poke fun at class-conscious Britain, while Akiva Goldman's adaptation of Sylvia Nasser's book A Beautiful Mind is the true-life story of schizophrenic Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash Jr. Goldsman beat hot favorite Lord of the Rings; The Fellowship of the Ring, which has 13 Oscar nominations, while Fellowes was competing with Australian Baz Luhrmann's screenplay for modern musical Moulin Rouge.

Goldsman paid tribute to the A Beautiful Mind cast, particularly star Russell Crowe, telling Saturday's award ceremony, "We actually got a genius to play a genius.'