Interview with George Pennacchio
ABC-7's "Eyewitness News"
Monday, March 20th, Los Angeles
George Pennacchio: Russell Crowe is an Oscar contender in the Best Actor race. He's talking with me about his Oscar, his new custom-made vest, and his new movie Gladiator.
Russell Crowe: (Sitting beside a Gladiator poster) I got uh... very little feeling in this finger here, I cracked a bone in my foot, I uh, fractured this hip (pointing to his right hip).
(He then gestures toward his left shoulder, but instead of letting us hear what he had to say about it, they begin rolling footage from the Gladiator commercial shown during the Super Bowl, while George speaks over it as follows:)
George: And that's just some of what Russell Crowe went through to play the hero in his next movie, the epic Gladiator. Russell wears a vest of armor in the film. In real life, Russell has now worn a vest my wife made. You may have seen me give it to him at the Golden Globes. He'd been asking for one for some time.
(Cut to George presenting the vest to him during the arrivals at the Golden Globes -- it's a nice burgundy number. Russell takes it and looks it over, saying "Well, well, well" and seems quite pleased, while Jodie says "Wow...that's fabulous!" Then back to the interview...)
Russell: I took Meg Ryan out to dinner. We were in London, so there was a group of about four or five of us, and um, then we got up and danced to Moroccan dance music for about two and a half hours, and um, it did a very good job, (looks directly in the camera and smirks) it stayed wrinkle free! I wore it with a long coat, a long Armani coat, and jeans and a white T-shirt.
George: Armani and Pennacchio go very well together (laughs).
Russell: (Smiling) That's what I thought!
George: (While showing a clip of The Insider) Russell is now thinking about the Oscars. He's nominated for his starring role in The Insider.
Russell: I've gotta say man, that an Oscar nomination is a great privilege, you know. Um, there's a lot of people I'm big fans of that, you know, have gone through wonderful careers and never been acknowledged by their peers in that manner, you know, so I'm very thankful and very gracious about it, but that'll do me. The things that I'm working on at the moment are 'how do I get out of the limo line?' (smiles and laughs slightly) Uh, 'how do I find a fire escape so I can go outside for a ciggie?' Um, these are some of the things that are bearing down on me at the moment, you know?
(All screen captures and transcript thanks to Lori C.!)
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