RUSSELL COMMENTS ON SOME OF HIS ROLES

Romper Stomper: This very strong and violent film hasn’t been released yet in most countries and where it opened it has been a flop. But it’s my part in this film which draw to me the attention of directors such as Curtis Hanson and Ridley Scott. The legends says that Sharon Stone wanted me to play a role in TQATD after seeing Romper Stomper. In fact, she couldn’t bear more than two minutes of the film. Nevertheless I’ll always be grateful to her for pushing me forward.

The Quick and The Dead: I felt sandwiched between the stars of this film. I had one of the four main parts alongside Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman and Leonardo Di Caprio but nobody knew who I was. Everybody looked at me strangely. It was difficult to be a leader when not a star. Luckily the director was Sam Raimi who also had some difficulties to communicate with the actors. One must say that’s only recently he get interested in his films’ scripts. Back then he didn’t give a damn about the plot. I tell it affectionately because I like his works and his directorial career. Through our relation I’ve learnt many things and it helped me to cope with the difference of fame.

LA Confidential: The studio didn’t agree with Curtis Hanson about giving me one of the cops parts. They wanted someone more well-known. Nevertheless we began rehearsing. One day, when coming back to the hotel, the key didn’t open my door. The producers had stopped paying my expenses to make me quit. But Curtis wanted someone whose face wasn’t that familiar to an American audience. So I kept on rehearsing everyday. Much of the film success comes from the warm welcome it received at the Cannes Film Festival. To adapt James Ellroy is quite difficult but Brian Helgeland and Hanson did a great job transforming a 50 characters jigsaw into a plot with three cops.

The Insider: What’s fascinating with Michaël Mann is how precise he is. For each scene he has a thick file full of informations. He likes to take his time. He takes a look at the framing and examines carefully the cameras movements. The actors like his involvement in the story and the details. He is very interested in the emotional building of the characters. I work quickly. My preparation for a role is done before shooting. When I’m in front of the camera, I’m ready. I don’t need to warm up or think about my character. I had told to Michaël Mann that many takes wasn’t my style. He laughed as to mean “Don’t worry!”. The first day he made me enter a room 17 times. Two days later we re-shot the scene ! Half-way through the film,as we were getting near the most difficult scenes , I made it clear that I couldn’t keep going like that. Surprise, he agreed that three takes were enough! The team considered me a god ! Our relation improved then and I took pleasure on the set. I respect him very much but I think he isn’t conscious enough of what an actor can bring to a film.

Gladiator: First, Gladiator was only a concept: 85 AD, an emperor, a gladiator, tigers. We only had a hazy script that was too cynical for my taste. I didn’t wish to play a monolithic action hero. I’ve helped to re-write my lines and include some bits from Marcus-Aurelius’s thoughts to give some depth to the character. I enjoy films which can have several degrees of meaning. Here, if you look for a philosophical dimension, you can find it. Ridley and I were a good duo,even if we had some tough moments : beeing in the middle of the English forest with 5000 extras when everything went to burn or under a heavy saharian desert sun. Nobody imagined that Gladiator could be something more than another action film. This surprise helped us. We knew that the story - a man who takes his revenge for his wife’s death- could attract a female audience,but the studio thought it was only intended for a male audience. After the second week-end, most of the public was women. Thanks to them, Gladiator made a $200 millions gross profit in the US.

A Beautiful Mind: I nearly turned down this film. During my first meeting with Ron Howard he was so uncertain about the film’s subject that I believed he hadn’t read the script. I knew more about it than he did. I was irritated. But he explained to me that he was editing “the Grinch” and wasn’t yet “inside the film”. So I told him to call me back when he is ready.

For our second discussion, he perfectly mastered his subject. For this film I had to refuse the Aragorn part in The Lord of the Ring. Even if I knew that Aragorn’s character would be expanded in the course of the trilogy, it was a lesser challenge than playing a mathematician and Nobel prize. Unlike The Lord of the Rings, nobody had bet on A Beautiful Mind. Variety predicted a $30 millions profit and it made 176 ! I’m proud to have taken part in a film about such a topic and which has been a success. My relations with Ron and Ridley Scott are rather similar. They both make me fully take part in the creative process. I think Ron Howard is a more mature director since he has made ABM.

Master & Commander: The studio tried to sell this film as “Gladiator at sea”. I’ve seen it as a total lack of respect to Peter Weir. It got on my nerves. During the press conferences, to be provocative I said that M & C was a $150 millions experience to make you feel what life was aboard a ship at these times. What I’ve enjoyed the most, and what the public has surely been surprised of, is the humanity of my character. Jack Aubrey knows perfectly well what he has had to sacrifice to command such a ship. I’ve liked very much Peter Weir’s personality but I guess this film has been one of the biggest challenges of his career. Maybe too big. When you have a sea scenery with 600 sailors, have to worry about which way the wind blows, the moment when the fog will appear, it’s quite complicated. After the second day of filming, I saw in Peter’s eyes that, whatever he could have written, he will never be able to direct water and wind (giggling).

Cinderella Man: Physically, it was a very tough film. While preparing it, my shoulder has been dislocated and I had to undergo surgery. 21 days later I was back on the ring, a decision which, according to my physician, will certainly have further consequences. I had to do it. Had I quit, the film would have fallen through. I knew how important this story was for Ron. He had been speaking of it for seven years. But we had to change the working plan and its 36 consecutive days shooting boxing matches. We worked hardly to prepare the matches choreography because we wished to give a specific tone to each of them. CM drew us closer, Ron and I. I hope to work again with him. He has a good technical skill and is self-confident enough to take risks while giving his actors much freedom.

A Good Year: It hasn’t been difficult for Ridley Scott to convince me to play in AGY. I had read neither the script nor the book the film is based on. It’s how he spoke of the story which attracted me. To wrong-foot the audience with a sentimental comedy was fun. Ridley and I agree on film aesthetic,have the same work ethic and share the same sense of humour. On the set we have a similar aim and we try to solve together any problem which may arise. I really enjoyed beeing given this responsibility by him. Sometimes I had to cheer up the actors. Ridley and I also have constantly worked on the script. I’m responsible for the tennis match. Didier Bourdon’s character and mine should have to fight each other in the vineyard. I found it such a cliché. With Ridley, I’ve no problem to be heard. I appreciate his personal involvment as any of his actors does. And we both respect a film’s cost and the profit it may return. If we can do better for less money, we do it. Now we are shooting a third film together, ‘American Gangster’ about organized crime in the seventies.