October 25

source: nlnews@archant.co.uk

October 25, 2006

Russell's just a softie at heart

By Justin Matlock

"There's little I wouldn't do to impress my wife," says Russell Crowe. It's not something you'd expect to hear from an actor who's more at home wrestling a tiger in a Roman amphitheatre than remembering a wedding anniversary.

Indeed Crowe will always be remembered for his turn as revenge-seeking Maximus in 2001's mega-hit Gladiator. The film earned him a Best Actor Oscar and turned the native New Zealander into a major Hollywood player, but pigeon-holing Crowe as the tough action hero seems a little off the mark.

Crowe can do romantic. And when it came to wooing long-time girlfriend Danielle Spencer, nothing was too much. The paired finally married in 2003. "Eventually it must have just been the untold weight of effort that helped her to decide I was worthwhile."I hired a boat in Sydney Harbour," confesses Crowe, 42. "I looked up all the boat hire places but the only one I could get sat 150 people. She must have thought I'd intended to get a boat that size."

With his bumbling gestures of love, Crowe shares more than a passing similarity to his character in his new film A Good Year.Crowe plays English investment expert Max Skinner who moves to Provence to sell a small vineyard that he has inherited from his late uncle. Once there, the memories of his beloved Uncle Henry (Albert Finney) and the beautiful local waitress Fanny (Marion Cotillard) force the arrogant hotshot to re-evaluate his life.

For those more used to his action roles, this light-hearted drama seems a bit of a sea change. Crowe sees it differently."If somebody is familiar with all my films, then they know there's a gay football-playing plumber in The Sum Of Us and an ice-skating sheriff in Mystery, Alaska. Comedy is not a place I haven't been to."

Action, though, is always left a forwarding address - particularly when A Good Year's director is his Gladiator partner Ridley Scott."Ridley and I were musing that the film didn't have a battle," laughs Crowe. "There was a sequence I wasn't enamoured with - a standard argument. We already had a tennis set up for Henry and the young Max, so I said to Ridley 'What if two unfit men started sweating it out on the tennis court? Would that be enough of a battle?'" Clearly it was, but just because the fight used rackets rather than swords didn't make it any less strenuous. "It's not any easier because it's for laughs. If you get it wrong, whether you're wrestling a tiger or whether trying to get out of a foot of cow shit, you're going to bleed."

It's a typically no-nonsense response from Crowe, although when talk turns to Ridley Scott, things get decidedly softer. "Just as your cuddles get deeper the longer your marriage goes on, the depth of communication with Ridley increases because we know each other. "There's a shorthand," he adds. "I can tell from 50 yards away if he's cranky and I can probably work out what I need to do as I'm walking towards him."

Their bond shows no signs of weakening. With Gladiator and A Good Year in the can, the pair are already working on another movie - American Gangster, about the drugs trade in Harlem during the 1970s. "He's one of the greatest filmmakers ever and he keeps wanting me. It's an incredible privilege, so if he keeps asking, I'm going to say yes."

Still there will come a point when he will have to say no. With a growing family to consider, Crowe is becoming choosey about the roles he picks and the length of time he spends away from home. "Every decision I make now goes through what's right for my wife and my kids. So the jobs I'm choosing don't come with the schedule of the films I've done in the past. The time spent making my next three films- Tenderness, American Gangster and 3:10 to Yuma - wouldn't add up to the weeks I spent on Cinderella Man."

As the son of a publican, Crowe already had the knowledge to understand wine-loving Max - a knowledge that's led to its fair share of run-ins over a bottle of plonk. "I went to dinner in London once and bought this expensive Australian wine that I've had a lot of experience with it," says Crowe. "When it was brought to the table, you could smell it was corked but the sommelier tried to convince me that it was the chestnut undertone and the waft of blackberry that I could smell. "He may be mellowing, but you have to imagine that poor sommelier came off second best.