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| STAMINA
- Crowe and Zellweger had been interested in making Cinderella
Man since
1997 |
THE
CHAMP
by Josh Rottenberg
The sun's going down as Russell Crowe strides out onto the patio of
a hotel in Beverly Hills, still buzzing from last night's premiere. "It
was an extremely late night," he says, pulling a pick-me-up from a
pack of smokes. "There was an after-party, and then there was an after-after-party.
But the one to really be at was the after-after-after-party." He has
reason to celebrate. It's been a tough eight-year slog getting his
new movie, Cinderella Man, to the screen, and at this point, just days
away from its opening, Crowe can practically taste the fairy-tale ending.
Cinderella Man (see review on page 79) recounts one of sports history's great
underdog stories: the tale of James J. Braddock, the scrappy Depression-era boxer
who battled his way from the welfare rolls to the world heavyweight championship,
buoyed by his steadfast wife, Mae (Renee Zeilweger), and feisty manager-trainer,
Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti).
It's Rocky meets The Grapes of Wrath, directed by Ron Howard with the same sure-footed
feel for human drama he brought to his last collaboration with Crowe, 2001's
Best Picture winner, A Beautiful Mind—and like that movie, it has "for
your Oscar consideration" written all over it. Still, in a summer already bursting
with lightsaber duels, comic-book superheroes, the Tom and Katie show, and other
assorted diversions, Crowe knows a period drama about people surviving hard times,
no matter how rousing, isn't the easiest sell. "There's no utility belt, no cape," he
says. "There will be a lot of people that will take a bit of convincing to go
see this film. They won't know its power until they've seen it."
Hollywood has known the power of the Braddock story for years. An early draft
of Cinderella Man by Cliff Hollingsworth started making the rounds in 1997, and
Crowe and Zeilweger both zeroed in on it. Various directors circled around the
project—Penny Marshall, Billy Bob Thornton, Lasse Hallstrom—and various
actors were attached to the role of Braddock: Mark Wahlberg, Ben Affleck, Matt
Damon. Still, Crowe and Zeilweger never took their eyes off the prize. "I'd always
ask my manager about it, to the point where I'm sure I annoyed him," says Zeilweger. "It's
rare to come across something you can connect with on an emotional level. The
trend has been for everything to be big and splashy, but this was just a pared-down
story about the human spirit and unconditional love."
The project came Crowe's way again while he was making A Beautiful Mind, and
he lobbied Howard to take it on. Together with A Beautiful Mind screenwriter
Akiva Goldsman, they set to work fleshing out what had always been a rather bare-bones
script. "We wanted to dramatize what it's really like to live inside a fairy
tale when you don't know there's a happy ending," says Howard, who had grown
up hearing tales of the folk hero Braddock from his boxing-aficionado father. "That
became the guiding principle."
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MAE-TRIARCH As Braddock's
wife, Zellweger ponders the family's uncertain future
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As with any good Cinderella story, of
course, there were travails on the way to the ball. Just weeks before
shooting was to begin, Crowe dislocated his shoulder while sparring,
a serious injury that required surgery and wreaked havoc on the shooting
schedule. Still, Crowe refused to pull back on any of the boxing
scenes. "The
doctors kept saying, 'If he goes down again, there's no coming back,'" says
Howard. "It
was nerve-racking as hell. But what were the options? Not do the movie?"
"Russell shouldn't have been doing what he was doing—I'm sure of it," says
Zeilweger. "But he won't compromise. He's tenacious."
Tenacious is one of the nicer words that have been applied to an actor whose
supposed hair-trigger temper and penchant for barroom fisticuffs are the
stuff of tabloid legend (and a classic South Park parody, "Russell Crowe: Fightin'
Around the World"). There are rumors the 41-year-old has mellowed since marrying
actress Danielle Spencer in 2003 and having a son, Charlie, who's now 18
months old, and the warmth and gentleness in his performance as Braddock
will surprise anyone expecting the volcanic Crowe of Gladiator or L.A. Confidential.
But as he makes clear in a conversation that ranges from Cinderella Man to
power in Hollywood, and touches on some old grievances as well, it'll take
more than domestic tranquillity to subdue him. Russell Crowe still floats
like a butterfly and stings like a bee.
EW
What appealed to you about Braddock?
RUSSELL CROWE
The more I read about him, the more I liked him. That's not necessarily a
motivation for me—I often will play characters I really don't like, just for the fun
of that experience. But I liked Braddock as a man. In his 69 years of life, he
put this stamp down—just a simple workingman's stamp. He died in 1974,
in the same house he bought with the winnings from the world championship
in 1935, desperately in love with his wife. To me, this was a great American
life.
EW
When did you first discuss it with Renee?
RC
I talked to her about the project in 1998, in an outdoor cafe in San Diego.
I'd just come off The Insider, and I was, like, 254 pounds and bald. I can't
imagine what she thought, but she remembered the conversation and I got the
script to her somehow. She's never said anything but yes through the whole
process: the years, the changes, all these cycles. In my mind it's always been
her, because she never hesitated.
EW
Ron Howard told me he and Akiva Goldsman spent a lot of time looking for
dirt on Braddock—ties to organized crime, evidence he threw a fight—to
give him some edges, so he didn't seem too virtuous to be true.
RC
I've heard this kind of theory, and I've read in a couple of reviews that
they think Braddock is a little saintly or something. You're not watching
the f—ing
movie if you think that. He's got a deep-seated anger at how life has treated
him, but he's not going to wear that on his sleeve. That's just who he is.
If your take on Braddock is overly simple, you're just not watching his eyes.
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FAMILY 'MAN' Now that he's a father, says Crowe
(pictured in a scene from ''Cinderella Man''), ''I probably
am a lot more communicative now. I'm not as defensive as
I once was.''
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EW
Between the shoulder injury and just the rigors of the boxing training,
it sounds like this was a really grueling experience physically.
RC
Spending 10,12 hours a day living in your own sweat—that's a hard thing
to get used to.... At one point I mentioned to the physiotherapist that it was
the third day in a row my urine was dark brown. And he was like, "Man, you've
got to bring that stuff up with me sooner. You're clinically dehydrated and your
body is starting to eat its own muscle tissue." After that first week, he turned
to Ron and said, "You expect to do 36,37 consecutive days of this? You can't
be serious." But to me, I'm just doing my job, which is going into the ring
and doing what the director asked me to do.
EW
But weren't you putting your career at risk? If you re-injured your shoulder—
RC
Yeah, but you're putting your career at risk either way. If you make a boxing
movie and it's shoddy...
EW
But couldn't you have pulled out?
RC
I had to complete the movie: I've taken the script to Ron, all of these people
have been hired, all of these things have been built.... It was a point of
honor.
EW
You're not exactly known for making things easy on yourself.
RC
Yeah, the thing is, I quite often do interviews where the whole conversation
comes down to my preparation. That's so tedious. That stuff only counts if
you get the other stuff right.... If you don't take the audience into account,
what are you doing it for? Whatever you think these things stand for, if
they stand for anything, it's f—ing entertainment, mate. That's the
deal.
EW
You and Howard seem to be developing a sort of Martin Scorsese-Robert De
Niro partnership. But from the outside, you look like a pretty odd couple.
RC
We are in a lot of ways, but in other ways we're actually very similar. Ron
is so many more shades than the simple thing that people see. He's a lot
more competitive and intellectually aggressive than you guys give him credit
for. But whatever you have bought into about his personality over the years,
he's not going to change your mind because it's working really well for him.
You guys don't see him coming. I really respect Ron. I respect his style
of leadership.
EW
The assumption is that he must be good at navigating your moods on the set.
RC
[Bristling a bit]
That's misperceived. Sometimes I will change the mood on the set if I think
it needs changing. But I don't do that by going and complaining about the
bagels. I don't say a damn word. I just do it with my body language.
EW
Craig Bierko, who plays Braddock's nemesis in the ring, Max Baer, has been
quoted saying you were very standoffish with him, that he was the only one
not invited to your 40th birthday party—
RC
Here's the thing: Craig was really out of his depth. He'd never been in this
sort of movie and never had this type of responsibility. There was no possibility
of failure; if he's not a badass, we have no movie. He kind of came in with
this sort of—I'm trying to stretch for a nice way to say it—this sort
of foppish Long Island kind of actor-y idea. And it's like, "Mate, you cannot
hide with this. You're in a pair of shorts and boots—that's it, buddy." I
had to help him get into that groove.
EW
You had to make him want to take your head off?
RC
That's not what it was about. It was about getting him to a place where he
looked like he could—simple as that.
EW
You were supposed to do a movie this year with Nicole Kidman, Eucalyptus,
but it fell apart a couple of weeks before shooting. What happened with that?
RC
There was a whole bunch of stuff, mate. The detail required to make the film
efficiently was not there, and I was an executive producer, so it was my
responsibility to point that s— out. Sometimes these situations just arise, and it's better
for everybody—the studio, the creative people involved, and the audience
ultimately—that you don't do the thing that you haven't got together.
EW
Still, haven't you been in situations, like on Gladiator, where you had to
take a leap of faith even when the details weren't all there?
RC
Yeah, but that leap of faith has to do with who I'm working with. With Gladiator,
I'm talking about a captain who knows absolutely what he wants to do. Ridley
[Scott] and I didn't have the detail of the scenes—we only started
the movie with 26 pages we both agreed on. And it was hair-raising. But he
had all the elements in his mind.
EW
At last year's Oscars, Chris Rock devoted a good chunk of his opening monologue
to you: "You want Russell Crowe and you can only get Colin Farrell? Wait." What
did you think when you saw that?
RC
I sent him a check for $80.
EW
Why$80?
RC
Because that's how the story started: He said that he really loves Cuba Gooding's
work and when he saw him in [
Boat Trip
] he figured money must be short, so he sent him a check for $80. So I just
sent Chris a note, like, "You're going to need this money after that kind of vocal
support of me." [Laughs]
EW
There's a sense in Hollywood that you're one of the last of the alpha-male
movie stars, that a lot of the upcoming stars are sort of man-boys. You heard
a lot of that in some of the harsher reviews Orlando Bloom got for
Kingdom of Heaven
.
RC
Look, I think there's a lot of really talented actors around at the moment,
and Oriando would be high among that group. But you get your stripes over
time. I didn't play a lead role in a feature until I was 25 or 26, and I'd
done my first TV thing at 6. So I'd had a massive amount of experience.
EW
Word has it that you're offered pretty much every script in town.
RC
And I read everything.
EW
It must be a little overwhelming.
RC
But that's the deal. It's what they call a class-A problem. It's also good,
because I know what everybody else is doing. It's interesting to see who
takes what after I've had a look at it. That probably sounds really s—ty and arrogant. I
don't mean it to—it's just interesting. The negative part is, I hardly
ever go to a movie anymore, because I've pretty much seen them all in my
head.
EW
You turned down roles in some huge blockbusters, like Morpheus in
The Matrix
and Aragom in
Lord of the Rings.
RC
Well,
The Matrix
—I just didn't get it. I couldn't get past page 42. That world was just
not interesting to me. With
Lord of the Rings
, if I did that I couldn't have done
A Beautiful Mind
, and I just had to do
A Beautiful Mind
. You can't do it all, and the people who try to usually end up not being
able to focus at a certain level after a while. I mean, if I'm going to drink
a bottle of wine, I drink a really good bottle of wine.
EW
So every project has to meet that high standard? You'll never take a job
just because it sounds like a fun excuse to get a paid vacation?
RC
No. Ted Demme was my mate for years, and he'd always ring me about everything
he was doing. He'd start the conversation with "Look, we're doing a movie and
it's going to be you and me and a whole bunch of beautiful girls in Jamaica and
we've got a big-ass sailing ship..." I don't respond to that. I respond to the
call that says, "It's 185 A.D. You're a Roman general. You're being directed
by Ridley Scott."
That's something my imagination can get a hold of. The other thing is a lifestyle
choice.
EW
There have been reports recently you're going to do a big romantic epic with
Kidman and Baz Lurhmann.
RC
I really believe in what Nicole and I could bring to the screen together,
and Baz is somebody I would go to the ends of the earth with. I really don't
know anything about what's been printed in newspapers, but considering I
see Baz quite regularly for coffee and he hasn't brought it up.. .whatever.
EW
You obviously carry a lot of clout in Hollywood at this point. When you look
at someone like Mel Gibson, do you admire what he's done
with his power?
RC
There are certain aspects of Mel's career which inspire me a lot. We've always
had quite a distant relationship, but I've been lucky enough to have a few
chats on the phone with him this year. I certainly respect his sense of humor
in the face of certain things he's had to put up with, and I cannot be anything
but full of praise and respect for
The Passion of the Christ
. But then there's other films of his where you see the construct of his
career in them, and those aren't necessarily decisions I'd be looking to
make. But that's cool. He probably looks at some things I've done and might
not understand them at all.
EW
We've managed to talk for quite a while without discussing your offscreen
reputation: the fights, the relationships, all the things that have gotten
you in the gossip columns.
RC
[Grumbles.] Great. Can we just leave it alone?
EW
Is it just like ripping your skin off to talk about that stuff at this point?
RC
Well, it's just so tedious, because it's such a circular argument. I mean,
anybody with an opinion is going to get some type of reputation.
EW
Do you feel like you've paid a price for that reputation? There were a lot
of people who thought you didn't win the Oscar for
A Beautiful Mind
because there was some sort of backlash against you.
RC
Mate, what I said to that bloke at the BBC was a valid statement. [Crowe
swore at BBC producer Malcolm Gerrie after a poem was cut from his televised
acceptance speech at the 2002 British Academy Film Awards; he later apologized.]
EW
I'm not asking you to explain that whole incident.
RC
But maybe it would help to explain it. I was discussing with him how inappropriate
I thought it was to cut out me thanking John Nash, given that the movie was
about John Nash. Should I have bothered? Probably not. But it was a valid
point.
EW
So is there anything to this idea that between getting married and having
a kid, you've started to mellow?
RC
I probably am a lot more communicative now. I'm not as defensive as I once
was. I think that's probably been the problem, and there's really nothing
to defend. The work that I do is the work that I do, and that's all I've
got to focus on.... There's only two stories in your business: the rise and
the fall. You're either on the way up in people's hearts or you're disappointing
them. I've had quite a few years now of being the man with the black hat.
Maybe I'm going to get a new hat soon, you know? Here's hoping.
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