Russell Crowe - method man

Nov 16 2007 by Rob Driscoll, Western Mail

Russell Crowe is reunited with director Ridley Scott and his old friend Denzel Washington for his latest film, American Gangster. He tells Rob Driscoll how he researched the gritty role

RUSSELL Crowe enters the room and he’s immediately in chatty, amiable, even jokey mood. Maybe he’s just at pains these days to erase that long-held public image of himself as a grumpy, argumentative hellraiser – the kind who throws phones at hotel clerks, or threatens Bafta officials after his poem’s been cut at an awards ceremony.

Or maybe his new life as a doting dad and loving husband has mellowed him.

Then again, there’s possibly another very good reason – he’s found exactly the right people he likes working with the best, and he’s decided to stick with them, in particular, revered British director Ridley Scott.

Crowe’s latest film, American Gangster, is their third project together, and they are already committed to at least two more movies. The two men, of course, first collaborated on Gladiator, the acclaimed sword-and-sandal blockbuster which won Crowe the Best Actor Oscar in 2001, and now their unique working relationship is underpinned by a deep friendship.

“It just gets easier really, and we knew when we worked together on Gladiator that we communicated really well,” explains 43-year-old Crowe. “It probably took longer for us to realise that, in any given roomful of film people, we were the ones we could rely on.

“I think that’s the thing that gets stronger every time we work together – he had no problem throwing responsibility my way and I really enjoy that. My bottom line is that I think Ridley is one of the greatest visual artists of our time, and I feel very privileged that he wants to work with me – so I go with that flow.”

American Gangster is not only a reunion for Crowe and Scott. It also re-teams the New Zealand-born superstar with another Hollywood A-lister, Denzel Washington, 12 years after playing opposite each other in the sci-fi thriller Virtuosity. Only this time, both performers are at the absolute peak of their careers.

The film is a gritty, old-school crime thriller based on the true story of ‘70s Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas (Washington), whose deadly empire was finally brought down by Richie Roberts (Crowe), one of New York’s most dogged, incorruptible cops, after years of persistent detective work.

“Denzel and I have been friends for more than a decade,” says Crowe. “In Virtuosity, I had the flashy role, and he had the quieter one – so now we’ve reached a balance. This time around, Denzel gets to wear all the sharp suits. I play a ‘70s cop – so I didn’t need a wardrobe budget.”

He’s deliberately belittling the role of Detective Richie Roberts, the kind of obsessive crime-fighter who’s gone down in police history as a true maverick, and Crowe – ever the meticulous method-man – made it his duty to meet the real Roberts, even inviting the long-retired cop to visit him at his rented home in upstate New York, to help prepare for his warts-and-all performance.

“Richie’s a very humble and reticent man,” says Crowe. “For me, talking to him was quite difficult. I’d ask a very complicated question and get a one word answer – similar to the way journalists feel about me, no doubt!

“But at one point in time I’d made the decision I was going to wear a Star of David necklace, because in all the photographs of Richie Roberts I had, he was wearing it – and possibly because of the current political climate he saw courage in that and he started to answer my questions.

“He’s the kind of bloke that once he starts talking – similar to me as well – he can condemn himself at the same time when he’s trying to help you out. He would say to me, ‘Look, I really don’t want to be seen as a womaniser’, and then in the next breath he’ll tell you about the time he had sex with a stenographer in the broom cupboard of the Supreme Court, during the course of a really important case. So, ok Rich, I’ll do my best!”

Once his movies are done and dusted, there’s not much chance of Crowe rushing to hob-nob with the paparazzi at premieres, or do any Tom Cruise “walkabouts”. He’s more likely to be at the family base in Sydney, where he lives with wife Danielle Spencer and their sons Charlie, three, and 16-months-old Tennyson. He’s keen to make their life as normal as possible and keep his children’s feet on the ground.

At the same time, he is none too sure how Charlie sees his father and his career. “The way he sees it is probably, ‘My daddy makes DVDs but they’re not good enough for Charlie to watch’ – something like that!” laughs Crowe, whose own grandfather came from Wrexham.

“That’s going to be something I’m dealing with and adjusting to for the rest of my life. That’s the gig, being a dad. I didn’t grow up in the situation I’m in now, so I don’t know what to tell him about this and how people will be affected, by how they treat him because of what they think of me.

“They’re both in for a good deal of stick when they’re at school, one way or another. We’ll just deal with it as it comes, like every other parent. Both my wife and I are very aware that we need to work against privilege, and at this point of time my son is nearly four and he thinks a box of sultanas is the greatest gift God ever sent to earth.

“If I can keep him in that place where simple things bring great pleasure, where going for a ride around the farm and spending an afternoon talking to the cows is something he’ll discuss with his friends for a week, then that will be a great advantage to both of us.”

Meanwhile, back at the office, there’s work to be done – with one Ridley Scott, unsurprisingly. They’re currently in post-production on political thriller Body Of Lies, co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio, while scheduled for next year is the intriguing prospect of Nottingham, a re-working of the Robin Hood legend with Crowe penned in as the nefarious Sheriff.

“I’m a big Robin Hood fan and have been since I was a little kid,” says Crowe.

“If you go back in history of the mythology, you get to the ballads of Robin the Beheader, who would chop off your head and your hands and take all your money and not give any of it to anybody. So we’ll have a look at that. And we’ll look at the Hollywood mythology and how much of that is embedded in the psyche of people when they think of Robin Hood.

“I tell you this much,” he adds with a chuckle. “Richard the Lionheart won’t be bounding up in the last scene and saving the day!”

American Gangster opens today