March 13

Source: Empire

March 2000

Getting inside The Insider
Whistle-blower Russell Crowe gets in character for Empire Online

Oscar Nominated this year for Best Actor for his role in Michael Mann's The Insider, Russell Crowe has finally come of age, landing his potential gong - in the great tradition of The Academy - for a role where he convincingly transforms himself into a truly different person. The 34 year-old Kiwi stars as Jeffrey Wigand, the fifty-something research scientist for Brown & Williamson tobacco company who blew the whistle on their illegal manufacturing processes, only to watch his family life crumble as a result. White-haired and overweight, Crowe's transformation is the most complete seen this year in the cinema, thanks to Crowe's Raging Bull-style weight gain - 80lbs - and lumbering gait. Fielding press interviews at London's Dorchester hotel, a slimmed-down Crowe, back to his healthy tanned self and sporting a brown/blonde beard, talks to talk to Empire Online.

What were your initial reactions upon receiving the script for The Insider?

I thought somebody had made a mistake when they sent me this. I thought somebody from Michael Mann's office had wasted my time and sent me the wrong piece, because I couldn't find the character I was supposed to play. For one, everybody kept their clothes on...

Shooting the picture hasn't helped you give up smoking, though?

Yeah, but I know a lot about smoking, and I know a lot about the impact of the chemicals. I can't understand why you cannot just tell tobacco companies 'OK, boys and girls, you've got away with a lot of shit over the years. From tomorrow, there is no more of these chemicals in your product.' When tobacco was first smoked, it wasn't processed at that level, and people still got satisfaction, impact and enjoyment. Just take [the process] out, and then you'll find all the figures about the relationship to heart disease will change. Yes, nicotine is an addictive drug, but so is caffeine, and to some people, so is the smell of unleaded petrol. Some people like the smell of roses. But what we're dealing with here is something that is not good for you but has been taken and made into a poison. That is a gross irresponsibility.

You gained 80lbs for the role. Was that Michael's suggestion?

Michael didn't see the point of me putting on any weight. The way he saw it, there was a Wigand in the movie and a Wigand in real life. To me, that's like playing Napoleon Boneparte at six foot seven, or Abraham Lincoln with a monocle, or Adolf Hitler with long, blond hair. It's not reality. This is not a fictional world. This is a fictionalisation, but this is a real man, a real series of events. You have a different level of responsibility.

What did you have to do to gain all that weight?

I went on a medically controlled diet of bourbon and cheeseburgers to put the weight on. I had a ball, mate. Eat whatever you want, drink whatever you want, at whatever time you want. Three O'clock in the morning? Ah, cheeseburger time! I thought, in my naivete, six weeks on, six weeks off...no, no, no. I also adopted a sedentary lifestyle. I stopped walking to places. I stopped any kind of gym training, and I have a very active life. I live on a farm. I have a bunch of animals. For me, the normal course of the day, when I'm at home, is very physical. To not be physical, that was where the real damage kicked in. It took me five and a half months to get the weight off. You reverse those decisions. My diet was really shit-house.

You met Jeffrey Wigand. How did that feel, knowing you were to play him?

In my heart, when I got up from the table, I said 'I will honour this man.' [But] I don't like him that much. We don't get on. We're no mates or anything - he's twenty years older than I am. He doesn't like me either. I have respect for him, for what he did, and he understands how serious I am about my job, but...sometimes I read articles about actors and they talk about how they have to fall in love with their characters, and I think that's just a bunch of bollocks.

I can't think of anything more stupid: when you fall in love, you forgive a great deal and lose your objectivity. You have to be in love with the job, and acting is an immersive job. It involves a certain amount of discovery.

How would you describe working with Al Pacino?

He's a funny old chap, Al. When you think of him, you think of words like 'intense'. He's fulfilled, Al. He's simple, relaxed, very content with himself and who he is. He understands his talent and what he has achieved. He's got two or three jokes that he tells continuously. They're bloody good jokes, the first time.

Your next film is Ridley Scott's Gladiator. Tell us about it.

I start as a gladiator [called Maximus] and through a certain set of circumstances I become a slave and sold into a gladiator school, and then as a gladiator I work my way back to my nemesis.

You're also about to record another album with your band Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts this summer. What does making music do for you?

I principally work with the band because of the creative process of expressing through lyrics. I take the music quite seriously and I don't get any points for that. You've got to understand that there's no credibility for me for being in a band. People think it's a joke, until they hear the music. I played some songs to Rachel Griffiths, whose known me for a long time. I played her a song and she was blown away. I said 'What did you expect?' She said 'I thought you'd be yelling and screaming about what a bad life it is being famous.' What'd be the point of that?