October 18

Source: The Daily Record (UK)

October 18, 2003

Gladiator on the crest of a wave - Russell takes the helm in `role he was born to play'
By Rick Fulton

Russell Crowe sneers at authority in real life, but even he admits he found it hard to surrender his uniform in Master And Commander: Far Side Of The World.

The Oscar-winning star of Gladiator swaps his tunic for a Royal Navy uniform complete with epaulettes and blond pigtail in his new film.

And Peter Weir, who directs the movie, is already calling his part as Jack Aubrey "the role he was born to play''.

Kiwi-born Russell said: "He's the kind of man who just doesn't exist anymore. There's no template for Jack Aubrey. If you are talking about the Royal Navy as his employer, then he is a very unruly employee. However, in the broader sense of the mission with which he is charged as captain, he might not do it the way you want him to, but his results, at the end of the day, will be far more than you intended.''

Russell adds: "Every day between my trailer and the set, I would hear `Good morning, Captain' about 70 or 80 times. It was difficult giving up the uniform actually. I'd grown quite fond of it.''

The film is high drama on the high seas and features an amazing storm sequence and naval battles. But it's also a study of the friendship between `Lucky' Jack Aubrey and dedicated surgeon Stephen Maturin, played by Paul Bettany. The pair worked together on A Beautiful Mind. Scots actor Billy Boyd plays Coxswain Barrett Bonden.

But Master And Commander is Russell's film. He not only learned to play violin for the part, he got to grips with sailing a 120 ft American tall ship, Rose, which was turned into the HMS Surprise.

Russell even steered himself through troubled waters in Fiji in a boat that was, coincidentally, also named Surprise. The Rose, formerly America's largest sailing school vessel, is a replica of an 1800s Royal Navy ship.

Russell, 39, said: "I loved being out on her. Climbing one of her three masts at sea, 137 feet above the ocean, was a highlight for me. Those days were really special. There was an immense sense of freedom because we weren't connected to the land.''

But he also learned a downside. "The reality of the situation for a man like Jack is that it is a very lonely job," Russell said. ""Every ship's captain I spoke with before we began this film discussed that loneliness aspect, and to be prepared for it. One shared with me a saying `Not always right, but always certain' meaning that, as captain, you can't transmit any doubts you may have in the middle of a life-threatening situation.''

Russell was in make-up for hours every day as artists re-created the roadmap of Aubrey's scars. And he had moulds of his teeth taken using thin plastic membrane to make them look suitably stained and rotten.

Russell, who married Danielle Spencer this year and is expecting a son in January, studied the nautical history, lore and skills required as a Royal Navy captain of the time.

He trained in open ocean sailing and, with the rest of the cast, climbed the rigging and learned about navigation, small arms handling, cannons, sword-fighting and military etiquette. He even organised rugby games with the cast and crew to toughen them up for the final battle scenes.

The film, which is released on November 28, is based around the time of celebrated British admiral Horatio Nelson, more than 200 years ago.

It's adapted from books in Patrick O'Brian's Master And Commander series. Jack Aubrey is captain of a ship suddenly attacked by a far superior French warship. Aubrey sets sail in a high-stakes chase across two oceans to intercept and capture their foe. Before the final showdown, the Surprise goes through a typhoon sequence which makers claim has never before been captured on film.

In the story, Jack Aubrey rounds South America's Cape Horn to face the full fury of a massive storm on a 120-foot square-rigger. State-of-the-art visual effects merge with massive physical forces and real-life footage of a storm at Cape Horn to create a typhoon as real as it is big. To do it, film-makers built a second, 60-ton Surprise at Fox Studios in Baja, Mexico, home of the boat used in Titanic. This was placed in a six-acre water tank at the mercy of wave and wind machines, man-made torrential rain, enormous jet engines producing fog and mist and, if that wasn't enough, massive dump tanks which unleashed 8000 gallons of water across the deck, soaking cast and crew. The noise was deafening. In much quieter times, Russell took violin lessons from Australian virtuoso Richard Tognetti, who helped compose the film's score.

Director Peter, who is best known for Gallipoli, The Truman Show and Dead Poets Society, said: "I hope movie-goers enjoy the chase, action and the voyage from Brazil, round Cape Horn and up to the Galapagos Islands, but will also feel that they are living aboard this ship.''

Aristocratic Scot who ruled the seas inspired Hollywood's latest hero

The character of Jack Aubrey is based on a 19th century Scots naval hero, Admiral Lord Thomas Cochrane. Hamilton-born Cochrane was dubbed The Sea Wolf by Napoleon for his daring and skill. Writer Patrick O'Brian, who died in 2000 aged 85,based his adventures of Aubrey and his ship, Sophie, in the Master And Commander book upon Lord Cochrane's ship, Speedy. Cochrane who is laid to rest in Westminster Abbey and is known as Britannia's Last Sea King is remembered in Scotland through HMS Cochrane, the name of the naval base at Rosyth.

Thomas, born in 1775, was the aristocratic son of the ninth Earl of Dundonald. After his father lost all the family's money on applied science schemes, he had to go to sea at the age of 17 in the Royal Navy ship, The Hind, under the command of his uncle. Within three years, he was a lieutenant and, at 6 ft 2 in with a shock of red hair, cut an imposing figure. At 25, he was given command of the brig Speedy. He then became a death-defying pain to every other seafaring nation. In just 15 months, he captured 50 ships, including a 32-gun frigate.

As well as a fighter, he was also politically minded. He exposed the corruption of the British Admiralty's ties with the Tory majority in Parliament. This set in motion a chain of events that ultimately resulted in his disgrace, conviction on a charge of stock market manipulation, imprisonment and hasty flight from England. He was also an MP for Honiton in Devon. After his release from jail, he became commander of the Chilean Navy. He later took command of the Brazilian Navy and the Greek Navy.

In 1831, Cochrane became the 10th Earl of Dundonald and the following year, King William IV awarded him a free pardon for his role in the 1814 stock market fraud. Before he died, on October 31, 1860, Cochrane became Commander-in-Chief on the North American Station and Rear Admiral of the UK. He was also a prolific inventor, with 14 patents to his name for the manufacture of coal-gas and its use in lighting, steam boilers and screw propulsion for ships.