From a friend of Murphsplace:

Hi Mary: Just got home. Will try to get some things down while they are fresh in my mind. I'm doing this on my Blackberry--typing with thumbs so bear with me. RC was wonderful. Whatever negative feelings I had about are gone. He showed such caring for the students very encouraging, wanted them to know what its reallylike to struggle. Talked about befriending bit players and extras because it helps the whole film. Right from the start Russell controlled the whole interview. Lipton would ask a question and Russell would talk for literally 15 min. If Lipton tried to ask a question before RC had finished his point, RC just talked right over him. RC had little patience for Lipton's sucking up. When talking about "The Q and the D" Lipton said something complementary and RC said "actually that movie was full of a lot of drivel" I guarantee that won't make it onto the show. He talked for three hours, was great with the audience.

Main Report:

Thoughts on Russell Crowe’s appearance on “Inside the Actor’s Studio” 11/3/03

OK, let’s see if I can get my thoughts together and down on paper before they leak out of my brain.

I was standing at the “stage door” entrance (those of us with reserved seats were able to go in and sit down without waiting in line. Next thing, Russell strode in, followed by his entourage. I didn’t dare say hello to him because I was afraid of what his security detail might do. Also he was glowering, which makes one hesitate. I think he was just nervous, had been doing press stuff all day and didn’t really want to talk to anybody.

After we were in our assigned seats, Lipton came on to tape his intros. He was in a really foul mood (he may always be like this, for all I know—but I think he knew he had his work cut out for him with Russell). He shouted at one poor woman for coughing, made her say her name and told her if she didn’t stop coughing, she’d have to leave; and it wasn’t even while he was taping. So I thought “I’m toast” because I have a cold and could feel this tickle in my throat building to a crescendo. Fortunately, Hall’s and water seemed to do the trick so I made it through the evening without being thrown out.

Then (finally) Lipton came back on stage, introduced Russell, holding up the Time Magazine, and Russell came out to a standing ovation (the students do this for every guest). Then began an amazing thing. Lipton asked a question, something like what is your father’s name, and Russell launched into a ten minute answer, about nicknames, and uncles and grandfathers, it was quite entertaining, but obviously, Lipton had lost control of the interview right from the very start. He then was asked about his mother’s name, his heritage and Russell did the same thing—launched into a long, but fascinating, ramble about his mother, Jocelyn Weymuss (pronounced “Weems”) Crowe, about his heritage (Welch, Scottish, Norwegian, Maori (pronounced “Mowrie”), his relationship with his grandfather (not very close, which was one of the reasons he wore the medal to the Academy awards, to show him that he hadn’t forgotten him and that he now appreciated what he had been through during WWII.)

In answer to another question about his early life, Russell took us from the age of four through High School almost without taking a breath. It was quite entertaining—he’s a great raconteur. He really had everyone eating out of the palm of his hand. He talked about going to different schools, the rather nomadic life he had as a child, because of his parent’s difficulties career-wise. He said they lived in a lot of hotels, and the first house he actually lived in was when he was fourteen and his parents had moved back to NZ. He was in three different High Schools before leaving before graduation to try his hand as a musician. He did a lot of stage work in New Zealand and later in Australia, he did quite a few musicals and encouraged the Actor’s Studio students to “try everything”, to develop skills in not only acting, but singing and dancing as well, because the more things you can do, the more opportunities you will have to work. He gave an example of being cast in “Romper Stomper” (I think that was it), because the director had seen him as Frank N Furter in “Rocky Horror” Incidentally, he only played Frank for the last 15 performances, but was in the show, in various incarnations for three years. He said he would probably do stage work again, because he loves the immediacy of live theater. (I’m personally thrilled. When I met him in Chicago, I said I hoped he would do live theater and he said “no, I fulfill my need for a live audience with the Grunts.” I’m glad he seems to have changed his mind. Would love to see him on Broadway.)

Lipton brought up his various incarnations as a rock musician when he was a young person. He didn’t really seem to want to talk about that part of his life. He kind of gave one-word answers and where he had been animated before, he now had that glower we all know and love. He did say that he loves Rock Music, that it has been and always will be a huge part of his life, that the Grunts is not a vanity thing and he wonders why, when people write about his band, Keanu Reeves always comes up. He said “no disrespect to Keanu, but my music is a very different thing. He did say he will “probably tour again” but has no idea when.

He took us through his movies—very interesting. Didn’t say much about “The Crossing” except that he was finally convinced to have a missing front tooth replaced (missing for fourteen years) — resisted replacing it all that time because he had this thing about not wanting to be “fake” in anyway. He said when he was explaining his tooth philosophy to the director, it was dawning on him for the first time that he was really full of hooey about this tooth thing, and the director said “well, son, in this movie you’re playing a character with two front teeth, so you’re getting that tooth replaced.”

He was intrigued by “Romper Stomper” said Hando was originally written as coming from the North of England, but Crowe insisted he be Australian, because having this despicable person not be Australian, would let Australians “off the hook” for the racism that was creeping into their society. He said it later, but I think he was applying it to this, that many acting teachers will tell a student he must love the character he or she is playing, which he thinks is nonsense because if you love someone, you forgive or overlook their faults, and you miss building a complete character. His goal is to try to be objective about the characters he plays.

He loved “Proof”, loved the premise of it, loved the character he played and said he was the only actor to represent it at Cannes, which was the first time he had been away from the South Pacific. Told a very funny story about being in the bathroom when they were calling his name after “Proof” was screened. (I won’t try to repeat it here, much will get lost in translation)

“The Sum of Us” reunited him with Jack Thompson, with whom he had a brief television role when he was six. He loved working with Jack, who became a second father to him. He loved the staginess of the film, thought having the actors speak directly to the camera worked in this case, but he usually hates that kind of gimmickry. Told another very funny story about having to kiss his new gay boyfriend—once again, I would do it no justice by repeating it, but suffice to say he had the audience roaring. Incidentally, the other character is now a director and is directing Robert de Nero in a film.

Then came “The Quick and the Dead” One got the feeling that this was not a great experience for him. He was screwed on his salary, because he had to finish “the Sum of Us” so they had to delay shooting and made him sign something where he would only get $50,000 for the whole shoot and had to pay his own expenses. But he said he would do it again, because he knew that if he was going to have real success in the movie business, he would have to make American movies. He noted that with a few exceptions, Australian pictures are not seen outside of Australia. His early films are now seen in the US quite frequently but that is because Russell Crowe has become RUSSELL CROWE.

Lipton attempted to say something complementary about the “Q and the D”, Russell cut him off saying “no I saw it the other day and it was really full of a lot of drivel” Everyone cracked up. I, for one, appreciated his candor, and Lipton looked quite uncomfortable-- no one likes to be caught sucking up.

“The Insider”—he really had doubts about that one. He was talking to Michael Mann and said “why do you want a 34 year old to do this part. There must be plenty of actors in their 50 are who could do this” He said Michael walked up to him and said “I don’t want you for the part for what’s on the outside, but for what’s in here (patting Russell on the chest). That was the convincer. Mann said he didn’t care at all about the actual physicality of the portrayal of Wigand, that Russell could look any way he wanted, but Russell chose to resemble Wigand as closely as possible, gained the weight (which had a lasting effect on his metabolism), shaved his head so he could get 55 year old hair wig. He emphasized again and again to the students how important commitment, preparation and a good work ethic are to creating a great and memorable character.

He didn’t have much to say about “Mystery, Alaska” except that it was the first time in his life he was able to get out of debt. That even though he had achieved a great deal of success in Australia, he was never able to make ends meet. He did say he “sucked” at ice skating, was f---ing freezing the whole time and was very happy when it wrapped.

“Gladiator”. Most of what he said has already been in print, because of the fame he was now gaining internationally. He said it was a really tough shoot, which they started with only 38 pages of script, that he a Ridley Scott had many “impassioned” discussions about character and dialogue. “Strength and Honor” was a derivation of his high school motto. “On my signal, unleash hell” was also his. And that wrenching scene where he comes upon his wife and son after they are killed, Scott had originally wanted him to stop about ten feet from their bodies and collapse in a weeping heap. Russell said it didn’t feel right, that he needed to embrace his wife’s body, but Ridley said “I don’t have a body, I only have feet” so Russell just embraced her feet, which were hanging by a rope. (Kind of takes the gut-wrenchiness out of the scene—sometimes movies are like sausage. You really don’t want to know what went into making them)

Never mentioned “Proof of Life” not once, not even in passing, except to say that he had sailed in the Galapagos while on a short break from “filming in Ecuador” and that this helped him prepare for the section of M & C when they sailed through the Galapagos.

“A Beautiful Mind”. He spoke fairly briefly (that’s a relative term in Russell-speak) about this film. Talk about the preparation. Said he based his accent on a video he saw of Sen. Robert Byrd of W.Va. So Nash’s accent was really Robert Byrd. Said he tried to learn some advanced Mathematics, but got hopelessly lost. Did quite a bit or research on schizophrenia and realized that he knew very little about the disease and how devastating it is for the one who has it and for their family.

Talked about M & C. How he did it mainly because he wanted to work with Peter Weir. But in preparation, became fascinated by naval lore and read everything he could get his hands on, including, of course all of the O’Brien novels. And that by odd coincidence, he was in Fiji, preparing to do some open ocean sailing to get the feel of it, when he saw a beautiful boat named “The Surprise”. He located the owner, explained what he was preparing for; turns out the owner is a Patrick O’Brien obsessive, who would be thrilled to have Russell take the boat in the open sea. Russell said that all of the novels were on the boat; along with a replica of the original “Surprise” He told all of this in a very animated and funny way—I couldn’t possibly do it justice. One other thing he talked about was his fear of sailing, his problems with motion sickness and that he just had to figure out a way to get past all of that. He didn’t want to do Dramamine, so he figured out “pressure points” on his wrist, learned to anticipate and always breathe deeply and look at the horizon. He said that making movies is sometimes just about facing your fears. (Lipton said that M & C was an “unbelievably, fine example of movie making—one of the best he has seen—Russell just looked down and glowered) Russell groaned when Lipton held up the “Time” cover. Apparently, Russell was less than thrilled with the piece, but did appreciate Corliss’ glowing review.

He told a very touching story about buying his farm. His parents had gone bankrupt and he wanted to help them. But he had no money, even though he had made quite a few movies by that time. So he borrowed money from Jack Thompson, led his parents to believe the money was his, and bought his farm. It started at 100 acres with a “shack” on a hill, but has grown to be something quite different—1200 acres, 500 cattle, his horse Honey, his two dogs, his brother and sister-in-law, lots of buildings and employees. At first he couldn’t kill his cows, but now he does and says that they are well taken care of, are loved and have a good life, and he thinks they taste better because they have been loved. Interesting, almost Emersonian philosophy.

I have tried, without much success to keep my opinions out of this piece, but now I want to say that I had never fully appreciated this man’s dedication, his humanity, his down-to-earthness and his willingness to help others who are starting out. He is someone one would treasure as a friend. (I did not always feel this way about him—I recognized his huge talent, but was put off by his flaws. Well, I still see his flaws, but now feel they are far outweighed by his assets. I met and talked with him in Chicago and couldn’t really warm up to him—way too intense) I fully realize he is mercurial and when things don’t go as planned, he can revert to being an overbearing control freak. But, at least for now, and maybe for most of his time, he is an incredible human being.

Last night he really and sincerely spoke to each member of the audience for about three hours. I felt as if he was directly talking to me and I know others felt the same way. I’ll tell you, if it wasn’t real, it was some great performance—I think it was real. He made great eye contact all around the auditorium, was animated, funny and really drew you in. At some point early on, I realized he was not making eye contact with James Lipton. When Lipton asked a question (on the few occasions he was able to), Russell would look down at his hands and then on more than one occasion, would just say what he wanted to, totally disregarding the question. I found this very refreshing, though some might say Russell was quite rude. And I must say on Lipton’s behalf, that he kept his cool and was unfailingly gracious to Russell. It’s just that Russell’s b------t detector was in high gear last night and he had no patience for obsequious, self serving remarks.

I’ve said enough. I hope everyone has a chance to watch the program on Bravo next year. And I hope I was able to convey at least some of the essence of the evening and, hopefully, a few anecdotes that will end up on the cutting room floor so that his fans will have some inside scoop. It was a great evening, one which I will not soon forget. I only wish all of his fans could have been there—even some of his detractors. I think they would have learned something.