MEETING RUSSELL CROWE ON MAY 13TH 2010

We are a group of young ladies from an Italian forum completely dedicated to Russell Crowe: Ross Place-Russell forum. You can find us at http://russellcrowe.forumfree.it/

This is a site where we all meet and talk about  our beloved Russell. It is a site where we can express our love and admiration for a great actor and a great man.

We come from different parts of Italy, from North to South, from East to West. Housewives, managers, doctors, students, clerks, ..., busy in everyday’s life, but who always find time to update on Russell and to have a little chat with friends on the forum. Yes, Russell did make a great gift to us: through this forum we really found lots of good friends.

Well, let’s go to the day some of us have met Russell.

There was a rumour that Russell could come to Italy to promote his latest film Robin Hood. This rumour became real when we found out he was coming to Milan, in the North of Italy, to be interviewed in a renowned television programme “Che tempo che fa”. That was our great occasion ! We all contacted the organizers of the programme providing our names to be part of the audience.

The big day arrived: on May 13th appointment was outside Milan studios at 13.30 hrs. You can’t imagine to which point our love for Russell could arrive. Some of us had the luck to live not so far away from Milan. But bear in mind that somebody living in Calabria (not far away from Tropea, a place which Russ loves) had to catch a plane. Others from Trieste or Rome had to take a train for a certain number of hours. One of us from Rome did see Russell in Cannes the day before. We had to involve in this adventure husbands, friends or relatives to look after our children at home. But that was our great occasion, a dream which had to become true ! Well, we all met outside the studious and it was the first time we saw live each other.  Some of us have put the photo somewhere on the forum or in facebook, so could be easily recognized. It was a great emotion to see each other and it seemed we were friends from a whole life. After so much writing to each other through the forum, the feeling has been immediate and instinctive. But there wasn’t much time to talk about us, we were all there for Russell and that was the only thing we had in our mind.

We prepared some gifts for Russell: a card with a photo and a few lines from each of us and a t-shirt from the Italian football team with another card. We gave this little parcel to one of the organizers kindly asking her to forward it to Russell. So she did, as confirmed personally by Russell to our “correspondent” in Rome through Twitter.


At about 14.00 hrs we started to enter in the studios. Of course we had to be indentified first. After the first step we had to leave everything to the cloak-room attendant, our cameras included !! Cameras were forbidden and this was a sad surprise for us. Anyway we had to wait another hour before entering in the studious where Russell would have been welcomed. The dream was near to become true !!! A big group of us was sitting on the right hand side of the talk-showman. One of the girls was wearing a black t-shirt with the following writing: I love Russell. Another one had a t-shirt with the Rabbitoh’s logo, but she wasn’t allowed to show the Rabbitoh’s flag she prepared with her hands.

A few others of the group sat more in the middle of the audience where they thought they could see Russell better. All of a sudden a big camera was placed just between them and the sofa where Russell was supposed to sit on. No view what’s so ever ! Panic ! Fortunately the cameraman assured that the camera would have been pulled down to allow the view.

One of the organizers advised that there was a plane delay, but that Russell Crowe was confirmed to be coming. We were all more and more excited.
After a while we heard through the microphones somebody speaking English. He was there....All of a sudden Russell entered !!! A big smile going from one ear to the other and waving “hello” to the audience. He was wearing a black polo neck and short trousers: he really looked so casual and friendly. He gave a thorough look at each person of the audience, this was at least our feeling ! He wasn’t just the famous person being there for the programme. He knew we were all there just for him and we found a big sign of respect looking so carefully at the audience.  Before recording the programme Russell stayed under our astonished eyes for quite a long time. He had to do the soundcheck with his three Merry Men of “Beautiful girl” song and we all felt privileged about it. There was a great harmony between the four men who sang a really pleasant song just with their voices and a guitar. We couldn’t believe it !! He was there just for us and we were doing everything  possible not to lose even one single movement of him. After the soundcheck, he went to change his clothes. A few of us took the occasion to ask the three Merry Men a help to obtain a photo or at least an autograph from Russ at the end of the interview.
 
At a certain point the showgirl made the big announcement: academy award Russell Crowe is here.....A big applause and there he was, fascinating in his dark grey suit, dark shirt and tie. He really had the walk of a General, that proud and confident look we all love. As he often does, he gave a little gift to the presenter:  the cap and the t-shirt of the Rabbitohs. He was very pleased of it and said that he would wear the cap in particular the whole summer saying that it was Russell Crowe’s gift.
 
We enjoyed the whole interview ! The atmosphere was very relaxing and pleasant. Russell had everything under control  and did demonstrate being a man of humor and with strong family values. The reason we love him !

At the end of the interview Russell sang “Beautiful girl” with the three Merry Men and we all accompanied this moment clapping our hands to give the rhythm.

End of the song....and beginning of the panic...for us !

Russell came towards the audience distributing and then launching some adhesives of his rugby team. He was so close to us ! He was there for us for the autographs ! We were all looking forward to this moment, but at the end we really had unexpected reactions.

A few examples:

One of us asked him if it was possible to take a photo. He said it wasn’t allowed in that occasion. After the autograph she stayed there for a few minutes and all of a sudden she gave him a kiss. Well, after this she was jumping for joy shouting “I kissed him.....I kissed him !!”

Another girl of the Forum is still fretting and fuming: she was so shocked, that once he signed the autograph, she just said “Thanks” and turned away while he was saying something to her. She really wasn’t able to look at him, as she was so excited !
Another one said to him: “You have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen”.

By the way, some of us noticed he had a beautiful scent!

Well, it was a great moment for us, we had our hero in front of us. But unfortunately emotion was too big for our little hearts, we were not used to such a situation. Some of us felt so sorry not to have handled better those little precious moments: “I could have said this or that ..”.

Anyway, Russell has been very generous with his fans. He had really a big patience and did all his best to make us live a nice and unforgettable moment. He is a very special person !
Thank you, Russell !

The girls from Italian Forum
http://russellcrowe.forumfree.it/