Russell Crowe: In Print

RUSSELL CROWE, NEAR THE OSCAR
by Lorena García
LA NACION (Argentina), 2/15/02

The 38-year-old Australian actor and musician was nominated for his role in "A Beautiful Mind" which will open here on Thursday.

He was interviewed by LA NACION during a brief visit to London. The film in which he stars, directed by Ron Howard, is based on the life of Nobel Prize winner John Forbes Nash, Jr.

London - The opinion of others would seem, in principle, not to be of any interest to the Australian actor Russell Crowe, aged 38, whose popularity keeps rising in the Hollywood stock market. That's what one would suppose from the first impression given by a sullen man (now somewhat overweight), reticent when it comes to talking about himself, and even branded as arrogant by fans, reporters and colleagues, because of a certain harshness in his personal dealings with others.

He has been an actor since the age of 6 and a musician since he was a teenager, when he called himself Russ le Coq [sic] (he had promised his parents that he would resume his identity when he produced something really serious). He became Russell Crowe again at the end of the 80s, in film, although he never abandoned music: he is a guitarist and composes melodies for the band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts. The story is that in 1997 he managed to stand out in Hollywood thanks to the policeman he played in the film noir "L.A. Confidential", and he established himself as star in "The Informer" [sic] (together with Al Pacino) and with the Oscar he received last year for "Gladiator."

When he was interviewed by La Nación, during one of his visits to London, Crowe still didn't know (although he had a feeling) that he would once again be nominated as best actor for this year's Academy Awards. This time for his role as the mathematical genius John Forbes Nash, Jr., who in 1949 developed schizophrenia and after many hospitalizations won, in 1994, a Nobel Prize for the development of his games theory. "A Beautiful Mind," which will open in Argentina on Thursday, has eight nominations in the most important categories of the Academy Awards.

But it seems that it is precisely the "interpretations" of his professional and, obviously, personal, life that irritate Russell Crowe the most (the story of his romance with North American actress Meg Ryan is excluded from the discussion from the beginning). And as the interview proceeds, the idea that "nothing bothers him too much" disappears somewhat. At any rate, he begins to smoke without offering me a cigarette (nor does he seem to be the sort to ask if his smoking bothers anyone). In his long speeches, Crowe tries to explain himself, even tries to justify himself. And even though he speaks quietly and hesitatingly he doesn't allow any interruption. The actor, who still has a home in Australia (a 2000 hectare field with horses, cows and sheep), isn't inclined to interrupt the progression of his ideas.

He looks you straight in the eyes and acknowledges: "I know that I have a strong personality. But it's because of all the s... that I've taken in my life. The only way to survive has been by defending myself. But I'm not authoritarian". It is explained to him that the comment that he was a "tough man"came from the producer of the film, Brian Grazer, who had said to the director of "A Beautiful Mind", Ron Howard, that he feared that this toughness might intimidate Jennifer Connelly (nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress), who was chosen after all the other actresses who tried to play the role of Alicia, Nash's wife, with Crowe had failed. About this, Crowe says: " That was written by a reporter who spent only two days on the set. How could I be an actor if I was that beast, that wild man that he described? What happened was this: I'm reasonable, and just as I want everyone to be comfortable on the set, I also try, in terms of acting, to have everything work as well as possible for me. And because I have a sense of responsibility for everything involved in the production of the film I like having everyone involved."

He exhales the smoke from his cigarette and continues: "There are young actors with less experience who sometimes have problems concentrating. For example, we spoke with Joaquin Phoenix during the filming of "Gladiator" because he had to spend a lot of time sitting on his throne doing nothing. For a young actor who wants to make an impression it's a bit boring. So I had to find a way to stimulate him. I wasnt critical of him nor of Jennifer. In any case, he felt intimidated by the challenge of working at a level he wasn't used to. But she was wonderful".

A Woman and a Hat

With a star like Crowe, the limits of his anger are unknown (and it's best not to know them). Yes, unfortunate comments during interviews have led to fears of uncomfortable moments (in a television interview he was annoyed by the questions and began imitating the noise of a helicopter, or so they say).

Then why do you think that it's always this aspect of your personality that defines you?: "I'm another ¨kind of person. Having to be in front of the press and having things written about me is the most artificial aspect of my life, but unfortunately I live it all the time. That's why I try to stay objective. I don't like to talk about what I do apart from my work, but the majority of reporters want to know the story of my life. I know that all the press isn't the same. So, I'll stay and sit here and give you the benefit of the doubt."

Now that he is immersed in the territory in which, supposedly, he feels safest, that of acting, Crowe tells that what was difficult about the role was "being able to count on having all of the elements about this character in order to start working". In this way, the biography written by Sylvia Nasar was his starting point. "It gave me general ideas, but the film was equally inspired by Akiva Goldsman's script because we felt that that biography wasn't the Bible. And the idea behind the film focuses more on the human challenge. I couldn't even rely on a chat with Nash because he was like a false witness to his own life. And reaching the truth about this man was even more difficult because of his illness. So then I worked using my common sense and intuition, on what I thought could have been true."

In order to understand the world of this ailing mathematician, neither did Crowe want to visit psychiatric hospitals. "I don't need to invade the privacy of these people to know what schizophrenics are like. For that there are mounds of medical documents, with specific cases filmed on video. Some of the cases I saw were extreme. For example, the one in which a man mistook his wife for a hat. The amount of material is vast. But finally, the most tangible document I had was the script."

Meeting with the genius

Russell Crowe and John Nash didn't meet until the first day of filming. Actually, the actor says that he had tried to meet with the mathematician, who is currently working as a computer programmer for the New Jersey Transit Authority. "But it didn't happen because when I wanted to, he wasn't available. And during the rehearsals I preferred communicating indirectly, through Howard, who recorded the interviews with my questions."

But on the very first day of filming, Nash Jr. showed up on the set. Crowe remembers the event in detail: "Instead of telling him how I was going to play the character I thought it would be better to invite him to drink something. And then he began a long intellectual discussion about the satisfaction he would get from having either a coffee or a tea. So, the idea of drinking something almost became a philosophical idea: "By adding milk and sugar to coffee, would it still be coffee?". Then he asked for tea, but finally he gave up because he said he like tea from northern India, not the south. And he even distrusted the information on the packaging because he didn't believe in commercial matters. "You never know. Generally, they mix them", he told me. I sat and listened to all of this. If that's the way he carries on in life, I'm not surprised this man went mad. This conversation was very useful. In fact, I asked Howard for permission to include it in the film. This conversation showed me that the answers John Nash gave the director had really been false."

The time for the interview is almost over. Russell Crowe puts out one of the many cigarettes he smoked. To distance himself from some of his "roles" , just in case, he reviews a few of the characters he has played and explains: "I'm not a Roman general, I'm not a gay plumber, I'm not a neo-nazi skinhead, and I'm not a mathematical genius. I'm only an actor who does his job and likes it."