Red-hot "Gladiator" Russell Crowe partied into the wee hours at a Moroccan restaurant in London with Meg Ryan -- co-star in his new "Proof of Life" -- and some pals, then had patrons cheering when he dragged Meg up on a table and boogied like mad!

Russell declares his love

Rugged Gladiator star Russell Crow is about to publicly declare his love for Hollywood icon Jodie Foster when he records the love ballad he's seceretly written for her. Russell wrote the song for his close female friend while filming Proof of Life in South America. The song Other Ways of Speaking will be part of an album to be recorded by his band , 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, in Austin, Texas, next month.

Russell and Jodie have kept fans guessing as to the true nature of their relationship ever since they startled onlookers by their hand-in-hand appearance at the Golden Globe awards in February.

Since their very public display of affection, the couple have also constantly been out together, shopping and strolling hand-in-hand through the streets of LA, furthering suggestions of a relationship.

The song has now added fuel to the rumours that Russell will be the donor for Jodie's next pregnancy.

Whilst Jodie has denied stories that she is pregnant, we should remember that she also created a smokescreen denying pregnancy rumours the first time around. And recently she admitted to longing to have a playmate for baby Charles.

The pair have formed a close relationship which has been gurther cemented with Russell agreeing to star in Jodie's next film Flora Plum.

Russell's album, Bastard Life of Clarity, is the fifth release for the band and features 18 new tracks, with Russell doing lead vocals.

Although the band does not have a record label, they have sold successfully through the internet.

"The song is about committment and love and how opposites really do attract," says Russell.

And while it does not seem to fit with his bad-boy image, apparently Russell is a very sensitive songwriter.

"There will be no doubt after hearing the song that this is a very special relationship Jodie and Russell enjoy," says a member of the band's entourage.
Peter Ford

Meg Ryan (better be quick about it, too), who was walking with her Proof of Life costar Russell Crowe in New Yawk. Around Park and 47th. M.R. was in all white and those cool-ass shades she's always got perched on her perky little nose. And Russell dear may be full of perkiness, but there's hardly anything little about the boy, who was in jeans and a butch plaid shirt. The male half of this Hollywood equation lit a cig and then shared it with his female (walking) half. Sort of like Bette Davis sharing a sex-smoke with all those celluloid lovers, if you ask me.

WHEN MEG MET THE GLADIATOR

"Movie sexpot Meg Ryan pulls her coat together and stares at the ground as Gladiator hunk Russell Crowe follows a few yards behind. Minutes earlier, Meg, who is world famous for faking a restaurant orgasm in the film When Harry Met Sally, chatted with Russell at a trendy London nightspot.

Meg, 38, dressed down for the date, wearing a plain black outfit and hardly any make-up. Then she and the muscular Kiwi carefully walked down Park Lane apart after leaving the Met Bar. Meg is married to Hollywood star Dennis Quaid 46, and they have a son Jack. Bachelor Russell 36, has wooed many beauties including Sharon Stone. He and Meg are filming a movie called Proof of Life."

By Dominic Mohan

MOVIE superstars Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe appear to have struck up a very close friendship while working together in London. The pair, who are filming Proof Of Life at Pinewood Studios, have been partying on and off set over the past few days.

Last week Meg, who is married to actor Dennis Quaid, and Gladiator hunk Russell were spotted shopping in Piccadilly. On Monday, they ate at trendy Mirabelle restaurant - arriving within minutes of one another and leaving separately.

On Tuesday, they went to David Bowie's secret gig at the BBC Theatre.

Again, the sexy blonde arrived and left without Russell. They spent most of the evening giggling and chatting together.

A pal revealed: "Russell and Meg have been trying to keep a low profile. Whenever there are photographers in the street they seem to part or drop their heads.

"But they are together all the time and have been hitting all the trendy London restaurants and bars.

"At the Bowie gig they sat together and stayed for ages afterwards."

The couple are staying at separate hotels in London.

But insiders tell me they are soulmates.

Meanwhile Meg's husband Dennis, father of their eight-year-old son Jack, is back home in America.

New Zealander Russell has become one of Hollywood's biggest heartthrobs and has dated a string of beauties including Sharon Stone.

Last night his spokesman told me: "All I know is they are in London working on a movie together."

In Proof Of Life, Russell plays a hostage negotiator who falls for the wife of the man he is trying to free.

Funnily enough, the wife is played by Meg.

Heartbreakus Maximus: Is Ryan Seeing Crowe?

For what it's worth, British tabloids are following up the news of Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid's failed relationship Friday by printing pictures of the perky actress with buff Gladiator star Russell Crowe. 

The Sun claimed that Thursday's public announcement that the Hollywood couple was separating after nearly a decade of marriage came on the heels of its own "exposé" of Ryan's new relationship with her Proof of Life co-star Crowe. 

"Meg and Russell are extremely close and incredibly fond of each other," the tabloid quoted an unnamed friend as saying. "They just click. She feels young again and they've been having a wonderful time in London." 

Ryan is in London (with her 8-year-old son by Quaid, Jack Henry) while shooting Proof of Life with Crowe. Gossip columnists are saying the two hooked up on the set of Proof, which began shooting in February and wraps in two weeks. 

Ryan and Crowe were apparently spotted holding hands last week at a David Bowie concert in London and later were seen on the other side of the Atlantic, sharing a cigarette near Central Park in New York City. 

However, it seems that Crowe is a chummy guy, and his affections may or may not be symbolic of a greater meaning. Last month, gossip rag The National Enquirer printed photos of him and actress Jodie Foster joking and touching on their way home from shopping in Los Angeles. He's also been linked to heartbreaker actress Winona Ryder. 

"There is no third party involved," the former couple's publicist, Lisa Kasteler, told the New York Daily News. 

Ryan, star of hits like You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle, married Quaid, recently seen in Frequency, on Valentine's Day in 1991. 

The couple met in 1987 while working on the sci-fi flick Innerspace and began dating a year later on the set of the thriller D.O.A.

Reuters contributed to this story.

Meg Ryan's marriage 'over'
From Grace Bradberry in Los Angeles

BY THE fickle standards of Hollywood they have shown impressive staying power, but Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid announced yesterday that their nine-year marriage was over.

The announcement came a day after Ryan was seen in London with Russell Crowe, the star of the hit movie Gladiator. Both are filming Proof of Life at Pinewood Studios, in which Crowe plays a hostage negotiator who falls for the wife (Ryan) of the man he is trying to free.

Twice this week they have been seen together in the West End. On Monday, they shopped and had dinner together before going to David Bowie's secret concert at the BBC on Tuesday. Reports at the time said that they spent most of the evening "chatting and giggling together".

The split between Ryan, 38, and Quaid, 46, was described by their publicist yesterday as "mutual and amicable". There was no word on whether the couple, who have an eight-year-old son, plan to divorce. Nor was there any reaction to reports of Ryan and Crowe's increasing closeness.

Crowe, 36, first attracted attention as a neo-Nazi in the 1992 film Romper Stomper. His Hollywood breakthrough came in 1997 when he played an idealistic young detective in LA Confidential. This year he received an Oscar nomination for playing the tobacco industry whistleblower in The Insider. His role as Maximus in this summer's Gladiator propelled him into the upper echelons of the Hollywood A-list.

Even before that, he was a hit with Hollywood's female stars, enjoying a brief friendship with Nicole Kidman before she married Tom Cruise, dating Sharon Stone for several months and, more recently, appearing in public with Jodie Foster.

Quaid and Ryan met on the set of Joe Dante's 1987 comedy-adventure Innerspace. Ryan once told Good Housekeeping that she was wary of him at first. But after they were reunited in Austin, Texas, when they starred together in the 1988 thriller D.O.A., they got engaged the following year and married on Valentine's Day in 1991.

Their relationship may not have been helped by the rather different trajectories that their careers have followed since then. Ryan has become the queen of romantic comedies, perfecting her daffy on-screen persona in such films as When Harry Met Sally.

In contrast, Quaid's career has suffered a marked downturn. The three films he made with his wife bombed. Even when he was paired with Julia Roberts in Something to Talk About, the film flopped.

Even before Ryan and Crowe began filming together, something Ryan said might have sounded a warning note. "Russell is, let's face it, amazing," she remarked.

Yesterday a spokesman for Proof of Life would only say: "They are working hammer and tongs on the film."

Call it 'When Maggie Ditched Denny ...'

Call it the big breakup.

News that Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid have separated after nine years of marriage makes official what Russell Crowe-watchers have been saying for weeks: That the "When Harry Met Sally…" star and "The Gladiator" became an item while working together on the romantic drama "Proof of Life."

Meg Ryan 
In the movie, which has been shooting on location around the world since late February, Crowe plays a hostage negotiator who falls in love with the wife of a man he's trying to free. Ryan — obviously — plays the wife, which suddenly thrusts this Castle Rock project into something of a life-imitating-art situation. Tongues have been wagging about Ryan and Russell on both sides of the Atlantic. In London last week, the two were spotted holding hands and being openly affectionate at a David Bowie concert at the BBC's Broadcasting House. Another night, they turned up together at a pub.

Just the other day, the two were seen sharing a cigarette on a midtown street here.

A joint statement from the publicist representing Ryan and Quaid said their decision to split was "mutual and amicable."

But the release also added that the breakup happened six weeks ago, when Ryan was fully booked with "Proof of Life" and Crowe. A Castle Rock rep said the film still has two weeks to go before it wraps.

"There is no third party involved," insisted Lisa Kasteler, rep for the estranged couple, who have a son, Jack, 8.

"They hope that the press will respect their privacy during this difficult time," the statement said.

Difficult for Quaid, perhaps. Ryan, it appears, has moved on. Crowe's rep did not return calls for comment.