February 1

Source: Sunday Mail (Queensland, Australia)

February 1, 2004

"Injured Crowe on the mend: Russell Crowe is recovering from surgery after dislocating his shoulder while training for a boxing scene in his next film. The actor, 39, had repair surgery at a Sydney hospital this week.

Brian Grazer, the producer of the fight-film Cinderella Man, said Crowe was expected to make a full recovery. "He has been training with some of the foremost boxing instructors in the world, and that commitment is what led to the injury to his shoulder."

Filming had been scheduled to start in the US next month but has been put back to April so Crowe can have intense physical therapy. He injured the same shoulder last year. "He has been working so hard to get fit, but you can't help bad luck," Crowe's publicist Wendy Day said yesterday.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

February 1, 2004

Stars' support role gives Mundine a lift
By Danny Weidler

Anthony Mundine says his new friendship with actor Russell Crowe will help him achieve his aim of world boxing domination in the super-middleweight division.

Mundine defended his WBA world title against Japan's Yoshinori Nishizawa in Wollongong two weeks ago with Crowe and Nicole Kidman in the audience and said their support gave him a huge lift.

He has been spending a lot of time with Crowe since the actor first surprised him at his Redfern gym before his title defence.

Crowe has entertained Mundine and also trained with him - the pair kayaked across Sydney Harbour from Woolloomooloo before embarking on an 11-kilometre walk to Manly. Crowe's bodyguard Mark Carroll also took part in the journey.

Mundine was also seen at David Hookes's funeral with Crowe and Carroll.

"I'm learning a lot from Russell and enjoying his company," he said. He has a lot of life experience and he is a very smart man and the things I'm picking up from him are going to help me as I rise in boxing and in life in general.

"Russell and his crew, and that includes Mark Carroll and Russell's assistant Keith, are such positive people and that's what I need. You gain a lot by mixing with positive people and his crew are great to get to know.

"Russell has had to deal with a lot in becoming the best actor there is and I'm learning from his experience. He gets a lot of things written and said about him that aren't true and he is aware of the kind of crap people write about me and say about me in the papers and on the radio."

Mundine was surprised by Crowe when he attended his fight in Wollongong and an even bigger shock was the presence of Kidman.

"I was just blown away when Russell and Nicole Kidman turned up in the dressing rooms," he said.

"For them to drive for 90 minutes from Sydney to come and see me fight was huge. I had to pinch myself. I still felt a bit embarrassed for not recognising Russell when he came to watch me train and then for Nicole to be there I was just shocked. I was surprised how tall she was and I told her that, so she took off her shoes and I was about an inch [2.5 centimetres] taller than her. I didn't have that much time with her but I asked her about her kids and we had a good chat."

Mundine said he is hoping to spend more time with Crowe and has given him an open invitation to sit at ringside at all his fights. "I appreciate the support that he has given me because I've got a lot of knockers out there," Mundine said.

"He's proved himself to be a man among men and it's good to get his support as well as the support of so much of the sporting community. He knows that he has my support whenever he wants it and if he ever needs me I'm there for him."

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

February 1, 2006

Oscar nods about as imaginative as a B movie (excerpted)
by Richard Roeper Sun-Times columnist

Joan Allen? Robbed.

"Syriana"? Should have had the most nominations.

Russell Crowe? His name should have been called.

Comedies? Ignored, as always.

Every year when they reveal the Oscar nominations, the presentation is the same as the year before. It might as well be 1983 for all the innovations we (didn't) see when the names of the 2005 nominees were announced at the crack of dawn Tuesday in L.A., the better to get exposure on all the East Coast morning talk shows.

The names of the nominees in the major categories are read in rapid-fire fashion. Some of the hackier hacks in the press let out a whoop when one of their favorites is announced. You can almost hear them: "You know, I'm pretty good friends with Clooney. Every time I do a junket with him, he remembers my name and asks how the wife is doing. And you can tell he really means it!" Sure he does. He's going to have you over to the villa in Italy any summer now.

More envelopes, please.

As for the nominations, there has never been a less surprising year. Even if you haven't seen "Brokeback Mountain," "Walk the Line," "Capote" or "Crash," you knew those films were favored to capture multiple nominations. These days there are so many awards prior to the Oscars -- and so much more publicity about those awards -- that by the time the nominations are announced, it's like Selection Sunday for the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. We already know who's going to capture about 90 percent of the slots.

But instead of dwelling too much on the undeserving, here's my list of films and performances that were equal to or better than the actual nominees.

Best Picture
"Syriana"
"The New World"
"Nine Lives"
"Walk the Line"
"A History of Violence"

Best Actor
Russell Crowe, "Cinderella Man"
Viggo Mortensen, "A History of Violence"
Eric Bana, "Munich"
Ralph Fiennes, "The Constant Gardener"
Colin Farrell, "A New World"

Source: Total Film

February 1, 2006

Excerpt from interview with Anthony Hopkins ~

AH: One of the people I got to know years ago, which was a great privilege, was Laurence Olivier. He seemed to be like a racing driver as an actor. He was like a laser - that was his power. And the only actor I've met since who had that same quality of laser-like determination is Russell Crowe.

TF: You worked with Crowe right at the start of his career on an Australian film called Spotswood.

AH: The first day I started working with him, I thought, "That guy's got it." The best way to describe Russell is like a shark, he's like a shark circling round. You could see it in the way he was figuring things out. Just before he became the big hit in LA Confidential, I was asked if I would do a film interview about him. They asked me about him and I said, "Oh yeah, I could see it in him, he was different from the other guys." He was argumentative. He argued with the director all the time. And I said to the director, "Listen to him, he's got a point. He's good - let him do it!"

TF: Did you see yourself as a younger man in Russell?

AH: Yeah, I did. There's a photograph of me here from 1970 [pulls out photo]. This young lady gave it to me and I looked at it and I thought, "I was a bad boy then." I thought, "God, this is an unhappy camper but ... Boy! I'd take on anyone back then!" I don't know Russell that well but I admire him and, you know, whatever he's got to do really. I really like him because he's ballsy, he's got guts, he's macho and all the rest of it. He's going through his bad boy period but he's basically a nice guy.

Source: The Sun-Herald

February, 1, 2009

An epic of merrymen
Christine Sams

All's well in Nottingham, says the Sheriff.

Russell Crowe has spent the summer getting into shape for his role in Nottingham; now the actor has shared his excitement about the film.

Quashing rumours of problems with the project, Crowe told S the film's director, Sir Ridley Scott, is happy with the progress of pre-production, with things in full swing for the movie to be made late next month.

"Things are going well on Nottingham," Crowe said in an email to S last week.

"The main set of the village of Nottingham (ours is south-west of London) has been standing for eight months or so now and it is ageing nicely into its landscape. Sir Ridley is very happy about that."

Crowe says the setting will provide an authentic backdrop for the Robin Hood tale with a twist - his character is a likeable Sheriff of Nottingham.

"The village is built on 200 acres, which gives you a hint of the scale Rid is going for," says Crowe, who has also chopped his hair in time for the role. "We should be starting around March or April."

While Sienna Miller was sensationally dropped from the cast - it caused headlines in Britain - Crowe didn't weigh into speculation about the causes of the recasting. There were reports at one point that Crowe's physical shape had something to do with the decision - but judging by his trimmed-down physique, he has been back in training for the role of leading man.

His new leading lady is yet to be revealed.

"No announcements re: casting just yet; there will be some cool surprises though," Crowe says.

Although Nottingham will be made in Britain, Crowe is still home in Sydney.

Last week the Oscar winner was creating a home movie of his own: he filmed son Charlie on the way to his first day at school. It was a big day for the five-year-old, who was accompanied by his mum Danielle Spencer and Crowe. The couple also have another son, Tennyson, now 2 1/2.

Source: This is Nottingham (UK)

February 01, 2010

Ey up mi duck - Russell Crowe's talking Notts in new film

Notts film-lovers are used to hearing the city's most famous legend swagger about the screen with an accent that's more sunny California than sunny Calverton. Kevin Costner and the Walt Disney cartoon fox drawled about a place called "Noding-Ham" while Errol Flynn and Patrick Bergen went for something more plummy. Even Jonas Armstrong, TV's latest incarnation, sounded like a Mancunian Scally version of the swashbuckling outlaw.

But that's all about to change.

For Russell Crowe, the latest Robin, who is due to arrive at cinemas in May in a Ridley Scott re-telling of the tale, is perhaps one of the first to attempt a Nottingham accent. The revelation came from Calverton actress Sara Poyzer, who was called into Pinewood Studios to dub "background voices" into the film, named Robin Hood. Sara, 39, is a West End star, having played the Julie Walters role in the stage version of Billy Elliot and worked alongside Lenny Henry in his award-winning role as Othello.

"I've done dubbing work on films before, such as Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp" she explained. "I think I was called up for this one because they were looking for people with Nottingham accents."

Dubbing involves overlaying voices on to the finished film to give the sound a greater sense of depth.

Sara spent one day working on scenes involving Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett, who is playing Maid Marian, together with the accent coach who taught both actors to perfect the Notts twang.

"Both Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett are attempting a North Notts accent," she said. "I was really pleased about it because I found Kevin Costner's American Robin Hood was quite frustrating.

"The accent is a little bit different from mine. It's things like 'corp' for 'cup', 'munkeh' for 'monkey' and 'Robin Hud' instead of 'Robin Hood'. I thought Russell Crowe did a pretty good job.

"I was saying to the producer, 'Why make another Robin Hood?' but this one seems more historically accurate. And having the Notts accents gives it an authentic feel." It might be difficult to pick up Sara's voice in the film as it is meant to form part of the backdrop.

"I did a lot of dubbing in the scenes with Cate Blanchett. I had to call out Maid Marian's name a few times," she said. "I was also doing background voices in several village scenes. I had to say lines like, 'Please don't burn us!' and 'Please don't take our children'! It's quite violent and full-on."

Overall, Sara was impressed with the film, which arrives in cinemas on May 14. "The film looks brilliant - really good. I'm looking forward to seeing it," she said.