Naples Daily News
May 5, 2000
By Candice Hughes, Associated Press

ROME — Years ago, when Russell Crowe was an aspiring young rock singer, he wrote a song called "I Wanna Be Like Marlon Brando." These days, he's happy to be Russell Crowe. Only five years after landing his first Hollywood role, he is one of the hottest — and busiest — actors around.

So busy, in fact, that when he was offered the lead in Ridley Scott's new movie "Gladiator" he ignored it. He was too absorbed in the role he was creating for "The Insider" at the time, a role that garnered him an Oscar nomination.

"I was ignoring it because I was working," Crowe said during a visit to Rome. "The two things weren't coming together in my head."

He ended up taking "Gladiator," a $100 million epic of honor and glory in ancient Rome that opens Friday (May 5), at the urging of "Insider" director Michael Mann.

Passing up a chance to work with Scott would be crazy, Mann told Crowe during one of the two-hour-plus makeup sessions that helped transform the 36-year-old actor into the paunchy, middle-aged Big Tobacco whistleblower he was playing in "The Insider."

Crazy Crowe's not. He took the part.

The whole project seems improbable at first glance. A gladiator movie in this day and age? But it works. The filmmakers have created a gorgeously detailed ancient world, one that is savage and civilized at the same time.

The kind of single-minded focus and hard work that kept Crowe from leaping at a juicy role like "Gladiator" is the key to his success. Colleagues say he approaches each role with fierce intensity.

"You know how they say an actor is the custodian of his role? Russell, well, Russell is the bodyguard of his character," said "Gladiator" producer Douglas Wick. "And he's on duty 24 hours a day!"

Crowe's intensity and commitment to his character led to some clashes with the equally forceful Scott, whose credits include "Blade Runner, "Alien" and "Thelma and Louise."

"He would kill for his character," Wick said. "And Ridley would kill for the movie. So you have two very willful people who are sometimes in disagreement."

Crowe and Scott both speak well of each other now ("a great artist, a Dutch master," Crowe says of Scott. "He's worth it," the director says of Crowe.) and insist their clashes proved creative at day's end and made the movie better.

In "Gladiator," Crowe plays the hero of the tale, the Roman general Maximus who is betrayed and sold into slavery as a gladiator.

On the brutal battlefield of the Colosseum, recreated for the film with sets and computer imaging, Maximus transcends disgrace and becomes a hero once again.

Crowe said the written "Meditations" of emperor Marcus Aurelius, played in the film by Richard Harris, served as "a touchstone for who Max was."

"When I discovered the book," he said, "it was like one of those 'Eureka!' moments."

At first blush, Crowe doesn't seem like the kind of guy who sits around with tomes of Stoic philosophy written nearly 2,000 years ago.

Born in New Zealand, raised in Australia, Crowe lives on a 560-acre ranch north of Sydney. He rides horses and punches cows to relax.

But Crowe has the true actor's gift of delving into a character, of creating such a complete inner reality that he can convey a lifetime with just a glance or a gesture on film.

He also has the chameleon's gift of transforming himself physically. For "The Insider," he put on around 50 pounds and — seemingly — 20 years. As Maximus, he is absolutely believable as a grizzled general who personally leads his Roman legions into ferocious hand-to-hand combat with the barbarian hordes.

The real-life Crowe is a sleek, trim, tanned fellow who doesn't look a day over his 36 years. His speech is blunt, sprinkled with Aussie-isms like "mate" and "bloke" and the kind of earthy Anglo-Saxon expressions family newspaper don't print.

Crowe says he always knew he wanted to be a performer, and he grew up around the movie business. His grandfather was a cinematographer and his parents were film set caterers. He was a child extra and landed a part in an Australian TV series when he was just 6.

For a while, Crowe thought he wanted to be a rock star; he still writes songs and plays guitar in an Australian band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts. He also tried his hand at theater, doing 415 performances as Dr. Frank N. Furter in "The Rocky Horror Show."

Crowe landed his first film role in 1990 in Australia and his first Hollywood role ("The Quick and the Dead," a gunfighter film produced by Sharon Stone) in 1995. The big breakthrough was two years later, in the critically acclaimed "L.A. Confidential."

He is now shooting his 22nd film, "Proof of Life," a kidnap thriller with Meg Ryan, and has a Depression-era drama directed by Jodie Foster, "Flora Plum," lined up.

Success, he says, is sweet. And a lot of work.

"I wanted to work with the best actors I possibly could. I wanted to do the greatest work I possibly could," he said. "And I can do that because I've kept focused. I've done what I set out to achieve."