Russell Crowe
From Philosopedia
Russell Crowe (7 April 1964 - )
Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand, of Welsh, Scottish, Norwegian and Māori descent. When he was four, his family moved to Australia and his parents became filmset caterers. His maternal grandfather, Stan Wemyss, was a cinematographer whom Crowe says produced the first film by New Zealander Geoff Murphy. The producer of the Australian TV series Spyforc was his mother's godfather, and Crowe at age five or six was hired for a line of dialogue in one episode, opposite series star Jack Thompson, who years later played Crowe's father in The Sum of Us.
He attended Sydney Boys High School but when 14 his family moved back to New Zealand, where he attended the Auckland Grammar School. He did not complete secondary school, leaving early to help his family financially.
Crowe returned to Australia at age 21, intending to apply to the National Institute of Dramatic Art. "I was working in a theater show, and talked to a guy who was then the head of technical support at NIDA," Crowe recalled. "I asked him what he thought about me spending three years at NIDA. He told me it'd be a waste of time. He said, 'You already do the things you go there to learn, and you've been doing it for most of your life, so there's nothing to teach you but bad habits.'"
Contents |
Filmography
- Neighbours (TV Show) (1987)
- The Crossing (1990)
- Prisoners of the Sun (1990)
- Hammers Over the Anvil (1991)
- Proof (1991 film)|Proof (1991)
- The Efficiency Expert (1992)
- Romper Stomper (1992)
- For the Moment (1993)
- Love in Limbo (1993)
- The Silver Stallion: King of the Wild Brumbies (1993)
- The Sum of Us (1994)
- The Quick and the Dead (1995)
- No Way Back (1995)
- Virtuosity (1995)
- Rough Magic (1995)
- L.A. Confidential (1997)
- Heaven's Burning (1997)
- Breaking Up (1997)
- Mystery, Alaska (1999)
- The Insider (1999)
- Gladiator (2000)
- Proof of Life (2000)
- A Beautiful Mind (2001)
- Texas (2002) (documentary) (also director and producer)
- 60 Odd Hours in Italy (2002) (short subject) (also director)
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
- Cinderella Man (2005)
- A Good Year (2006)
- American Gangster (2007)
Personal
- Crowe has been involved in a number of altercations in recent years which have given him a reputation for having a bad temper. He won the Best Actor in the 2002 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards for his portrayal of John Nash in A Beautiful Mind. During the presentation for his award, he planned to read a piece of poetry called Sanctity by Patrick Kavanagh but was cut short to fit in the BBC's tape-delayed broadcast. At the awards after party, he accosted producer Malcolm Gerrie. Crowe later apologised for his actions, but many believe this incident was responsible for depriving Crowe of the Oscar for Best Actor that year.
- A Beautiful Mind won four of the eight awards for which it was nominated, with the most conspicuous exception being Crowe's nomination for Best Actor. During the filming of A Beautiful Mind on the campus of Princeton University, he made an obscene gesture to Princeton student Meredith Moroney whom he spotted photographing him, which raised a media stir.
- In the early hours of November 18, 1999, Crowe was involved in a scuffle at the Saloon Bar in Coffs Harbour, Australia. The altercation was caught by a security video, which three men unsuccessfully used to attempt to extort money from him.
- In the early morning of June 6, 2005, Crowe was arrested and charged with second degree assault by New York City Police, in connection with an incident at the Mercer Hotel, SoHo, New York, in which Crowe threw a broken telephone at a hotel employee. He was further charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon (the telephone).
- Crowe released a statement saying he was jet-lagged, missing his family in Australia and became frustrated after having repeated difficulties making a phone call to his wife in Australia. He was sentenced to conditional release on the basis that he not be arrested in the United States for a year and pay US$160 in court costs. He also paid about US$100,000 to settle the civil lawsuit to the concierge, Nestor "Josh" Estrada, who was treated for a facial laceration on his upper right cheek.
- Crowe's temperament was parodied in an episode of the cartoon South Park titled The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer. In this episode, Crowe is the star of his own, fictional TV series "Russell Crowe – Fightin' 'Round the World" in which he travels the world in his tug boat "Tugger" to fight people of different nationalities.
The Seventh Day Adventists
When 18 years old, Crowe starred in a video, commissioned by the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Australia, that encouraged youths to become ministers in that denomination. He played the part of a farm worker who decided to devote his life to the denomination and, to the delight of church officials, inspired many to join. Russell Gibbs, who was Director of Photography on the film that was called A Very Special Person, found that Crowe's involvement had been instrumental in encouraging people to join the church, adding that "It was shown in colleges and high schools to encourage people to become priests. He actually spoke to real ministers in researching for the role and admitted he found the whole thing very interesting."
Does Crowe Have a Philosophy?
Paul Giamatti of Interview (May 2005) asked Crowe about religion:
PG: Okay. I'm spinning around and doing everything. Are you a religious man? Were you raised religious?
RC: Well, my mom and dad were both baptized, but I was never christened, which was a pretty big deal in New Zealand in 1964. When it came time for christening, my mom said, "Look, I was christened in the Church of England, and my stepfather forced me to go to a Catholic church. My husband was christened in the Church of England. But we think that our sons, when they're old enough, should make that decision themselves." Growing up, we always had this odd relationship with the church. Though we didn't really go as a family, my mother was totally fine with the idea of me going to church on my own, so I'd go and have a look at a Catholic service or a Presbyterian service or an Anglican service. I went to a temple. The Baha'i faith is something I looked at as well. Although I wasn't brought up in a religious household, I'm a very inquisitive person about it, and, just the same as with my acting, I've taken things from various sources that mean something to me. I couldn't tell you that I follow a particular doctrine, but in terms of spirituality, I think there's a karmic cycle, which is very, very obvious: You run around acting like a dick, and you get your ass kicked. The world just works that way.
PG: I'd like to believe that's true.
RC: I just have this thing where I look at the Ten Commandments and think to myself, "That seems like it was written by somebody other than a human being." There are things in Buddhism that I agree with as well, but it just seems like if we adhered to those 10 really basic rules and applied them to everything—even traffic rules and parking fines-we could take thousands of laws off the books. There are some pretty fundamental things in there: respect your parents; don't kill people; do to others what you'd like them to do to you. That, to me, sounds like a foundation on which to build a society.
PG: I tend to agree with that philosophy more than a lot of others.
RC: Some people say when it comes to religion "Well, that's bullshit. You should make a choice.
PG: Why? Why should you have to choose?
RC: You shouldn't. That's not what it's about. There's no way that there's going to be a day when God comes down and says: "Hey, the Anglicans, they had it all spot on, you fools." [both laugh]
PG: Or the Sclentologists.
RC: Well, that's a self-help organization.
PG: But aren't all religions basically self-help organizations? I mean, I'm not going to start crapping on Scientology, but—
RC: You don't want Kirstie Alley lining up you. [both laugh]
PG: Yeah, that's all I need right now, to be pursued by Scientologist hit men because of this interview. But people go, "Oh, it's just this made-up religion." Well, they're all just made-up.
RC: See, I looked at Scientology, as well. I read Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard, I got a couple of videos and I took it all in. It just seems like a religion that is perfect for people who feel like they need a grounding, who feels that the world has run off on them. I've discussed this with Scientologists, and they don't disagree. So, for a certain type of person, that's great. With any of these religions, as long as the heart and soul is positive, then to me it's all good. Finding a way of discussing what's going on inside you is healthy, as is finding a way to forgive yourself for stupid shit you do—and a way to acknowledge that you've done something stupid. If religion means anything to me, it's about that.
A philosophy professor, Dr. Eric Walther, points to the following quotes from the above interview:
- In terms of spirituality, I think there's a karmic cycle, which is very, very obvious.
- I look at the Ten Commandments and think to myself, "That seems like it was written by somebody other than a human being."
- I read Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard, I got a couple of videos and I took it all in.
Crowe is no secularist, Dr. Walther comments:
- As I use the term, a secularist is committed to living without religious consolations. A secularist does not believe in karmic cycles. To a secularist, the Ten Commandments sound exactly like something a human being wrote (and not a very nice human being at that). A secularist who "took it [Scientology] all in" would have to be a masochist. Polymorphic perversity is still perverse; same with spirituality. Hey, maybe that's a good label for the category he belongs to: polymorphic spiritualism.
