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The Sunday Telegraph
Edition 1 - State
SUN 28 AUG 2005, Page 118
gossip
By ROS REINES

Crowe shows some real style

Just before flying off to France, where he is shooting Provence with acclaimed director Ridley Scott and Albert Finney, Russell Crowe performed a true labour of love.

Showing just how passionate he is about everything he puts his name to, the famous hellraiser took the time to hand out meals to the poor and homeless people around Sydney from a van run by philanthropist Jeff Gambin's Just Enough Faith Foundation.

On September 21, Crowe's film Cinderella Man, which is centred around men surviving through the Depression by using their fists, will have its charity premiere in Sydney with all funds going to the Just Enough Faith soup kitchen.

Crowe himself has taken two tables at $20,000 each at the after-supper, which will be attended by some of the other top names in town.

The aim is to make $1 million for the organisation. There are only two tables left waiting to be filled.

However, this wasn't enough for charismatic Crowe, who wanted to experience at first hand the people he was helping.
With a minimum of fuss, he turned up at the inner-city van to help hand out the food.

Another Sydney identity who has frequently helped out in the past by serving meals from the van is none other than ConPress CEO John Alexander.

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The Sunday Telegraph
Edition 1 - State
SUN 28 AUG 2005, Page 083
Hang-up of the year
By Adam Harvey, Sandra Lee

Russell Crowe has finally revealed his side of the phone-rage incident that has already cost him a hefty payout and jeopardised his chances of working again in Hollywood. Adam Harvey in New York and Sandra Lee report.

In an interview with Britain's The Times Magazine, the actor describes how a 20-minute dispute with a difficult hotel clerk who did not "respect'' him boiled over into violence.

"I call him back and ask him his name and said, 'I'm coming down to talk to you.' So I went down there to talk to him man to man, you know, like, 'Give me a reliable outside line','' Crowe told The Times Magazine.

Crowe then allegedly threw a phone at the clerk, 28-year-old Josh Estrada, which hit the clerk on the cheek.

But televised apologies and a reported six-figure payout to Estrada may not save Crowe from tough justice in New York.

A plea deal by the actor was outlined in New York newspapers yesterday, but it has become a hot political issue between candidates for the job of Manhattan district attorney.

"Celebrities should not be able to buy their way out of a crime,'' said a spokesman for Leslie Crocker Snyder, a former criminal-court judge who is now vying for the DA's position.

Crowe was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon after allegedly throwing the phone on June 6.

The charges are felonies, meaning that Crowe faces more than one year in jail, and would be banned from entering the US if convicted.

In The Times Magazine interview, Crowe said he did not know what was going to happen when the matter reached the courts.

Contacted in France last week where he is about to start filming a new movie with Ridley Scott, who directed his Oscar winning performance in Gladiator, Crowe said he had settled with Estrada and had nothing more to say.

"I start shooting Monday,'' Crowe told The Sunday Telegraph. "I've got nothing more to add.

"At this point, our settlement has had no effect on the DA (district attorney). They are still going ahead with the prosecution.''

Crowe will be in France for three months filming A Good Year, which is based on the novel of the same name by British author Peter Mayle.

In The Times interview, he said Estrada failed to respect the fact that he was a father and husband desperate to talk to his wife and child.

"It's my obligation to let my wife know where I am and who I'm with and that I haven't drunk too much and that I miss her.

"And I do. And it's just so ridiculous not to respect that and that's what this guy was doing.

"Because I wasn't hanging on him like I was a movie star. I was basically begging him to help me out. I was tired.''

Crowe has reached a civil agreement with Estrada, and US newspapers said District Attorney Robert Morgenthau agreed to downgrade Crowe's charges to a misdemeanor, a lesser crime with no automatic US ban.

But Ms Snyder is quoted as saying that such a deal was inappropriate. A spokesman for her said, "If there was sufficient evidence in this case, such as a videotape indicating a criminal assault took place, she would have brought appropriate charges.''

Morgenthau's office refuse to comment on the Crowe case.

Earlier this month, the District Attorney seemed determined to proceed, whether Estrada agreed to testify or not.

"A security camera captured what appears to be a felony assault on tape on June 6,'' said Morgenthau.

"Whatever financial arrangement Mr Crowe comes to, if there's evidence of a crime, we are likely to proceed.''

Crowe's claim of a poorly working phone system is backed up by journalist Martyn Palmer in The Times Magazine article.

Palmer said that two days before the phone rage incident, he sat with Crowe in his suite at the Mercer Hotel while Crowe tried, unsuccessfully, to put a call through to Sydney.

"You just can't get an international call out. It's driving me f******* nuts,'' the actor is quoted as saying.

Crowe said that just before the assault, he had asked Estrada to help him get an outside line.

"We had already been communicating for 15, 20 minutes and he has been trying for me and he was like, 'Stay on the line, I'll keep trying, but if you hang up I'll stop.'

"And I'm like, 'Dude, I want to go to the bathroom. If you get her on the line, just call.' And he's like, 'No, no, I'm only going to call if you stay on the line.'

"And I thought that was a little unreasonable, so I made a speech about being a long way from home, I've got a wife and a little baby who will be sitting down for dinner right now, and how he should be really helping me out, and he goes, 'Yeah, yeah, whatever,' and hung up on me.''

That's when Crowe asked Estrada for his name, and marched downstairs.