A close brush with Russell Crowe

Honestly now, it was more of a close "encounter" than a close "brush" with the Aussie actor with a smoldering talent and temper. But in light of the recent incident at a New York hotel which could land him in jail (seven years?), I’m inclined to describe my one-on-one with Russell Crowe, also in New York Friday (June 3) last week, as a "close brush" because, honestly, our elbows did brush against each other when our six-minute TV interview ended. He turned around talking to the "handler" when I stood up and my elbow brushed against his elbow while I was taking the microphone off from my shirt.

The event was the press junket for Russell’s new movie, Universal Pictures’ Cinderella Man (distributed locally by Buena Vista International, showing in Metro Manila sometime in September), which is the true story of James Braddock, the boxer who became the symbol of hope and fulfilled dreams during the Depression era in America when he won against all odds a title bout with the reigning champion noted for killing his opponents right in the ring.

Cinderella Man reunites Russell with director Ron Howard after their award-winning turn in A Beautiful Mind and marks Russell’s first starrer with Renee Zellweger who plays Braddock’s wife.

Our interview, done two days before Russell’s headline-making, yes, "close brush" with the front-desk man (with a Filipino-sounding name, Nestor Estrada) of an uppity Manhattan hotel where Russel was booked, was scheduled from 12:30 to 12:36 p.m. at a suite-turned-studio in the Essex House located right across the Central Park. There were more than 40 of us entertainment journalists from different parts of world lined up for the TV interviews.

To make a long story shorter, Russell showed up superstar style – only six hours late, that is! But he was worth the wait, I should say. You won’t mind waiting even 60 hours for the Russell Crowe, will you?

The press junket organizers had to revise the schedule pronto, shuffling the TV interviews with Zellweger and her presscon with Russell and their separate round-table interviews, along with Ron Howard (very down-to-earth). My one-on-one with Russell was rescheduled at 7:30 p.m. following Russell’s solo presscon.

I just arrived in L.A. Sunday morning (June 5) for yet another press junket, this time with Lindsay Lohan and Michael Keaton for Disney Pictures’ Herbie, Fully Loaded (a must-see fun movie for all ages, watch it!), when Edmund Silvestre, news editor of the New York-based The Filipino Reporter, texted me that Russell Crowe was arrested by the New York police for "assaulting" the hotel front-desk man when Russell got pissed off by a faulty telephone at his room that prevented him from making a long-distance call to his wife in Australia at 4 o’clock in the morning. That was the day after Cinderella Man opened in theaters across America. (He was released after a few hours after paying a $5,000 bail.)

Edmund was curious. "How was he during your interview?," he asked. "Did he, uh, ‘behave’?"

I sent kilometric text messages to Edmund telling him that, yes, Russell "behaved" during the interview. He was polite (never mind if he didn’t apologize for his tardiness... not that he had to), he stood up and shook my hand when we were introduced, flashing a wide friendly smile, and he answered all my questions without showing his famous volatile temper (even if I did ask a somewhat personal question, the answer to which you will read in a future Conversations feature).

Up close and personal, Russell exuded an animalistic appeal that women around the world (Meg Ryan included) find irresistible. He would fix you with a penetrating look when he answered your questions, reminiscent of his intense facial expression in his movies’ dramatic moments. In short, very Russell Crowe. He was wearing a jogging suit, saying he walked from his hotel to the Essex House, refusing to take a cab because, he joked, "you know how New York taxis are..."

Over-all, I told Edmund, Russell was nice. That’s why I was more amused than surprised when Edmund texted me about Russell’s "close brush" with the Manhattan hotel front-desk man. It was not, after all, Russell’s first such "brush." Edmund reminded me, "Watch the newscast; he’s all over TV." I did. There Russell was, competing for airtime with Michael Jackson who’s waiting for the verdict on the sexual-molestation case filed against him by the parent of a pre-teener.

The unpleasant incident didn’t seem to detract from Cinderella Man which was praised, as expected, to high heavens by critics, describing it as a shoo-in for major awards in the next Oscars. Here are excerpts:

• From Mike Clark of USA Today which gave the movie a perfect four stars:

A premier boxing movie and a forceful Depression remembrance for the socially conscious, Cinderella Man also ices it for stargazers that Russell Crowe is the dominant screen actor working today.

Ron Howard’s biopic of world heavyweight champ James J. Braddock, like its ’30s brother Seabiscuit from 2003, is a test case to see whether a prestige picture can be sold in the summer. (Cinderella Man surpasses Seabiscuit in every way.)...

Renee Zellweger plays Braddock’s wife, trying to feed three kids in basically one room with no place to cry (except outside in the snow; that was the Depression for you). She has several strong scenes that the amazing Crowe also makes special. Let Crowe enter a nightspot in real life, and the thoughts of many bartenders turn to bubble-wrapping the glassware.But on screen, this master and commander projects sensitivity like no one else around...

• From Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal:

Russell Crowe makes Braddock a spacious container for all sorts of surprising qualities: quiet tenderness; loosey-goosey grace in the face of impending disaster; affecting candor (when, for instance, he begs money from former associates); ready wit ("Welcome to New York," he tells an opponent after stunning him with a double jab). What a formidable movie star Mr. Crowe has proved to be in a lengthening string of distinctive films: The Insider, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind and Master and Commander...

(Postscript: Russell apologized for the Manhattan Hotel incident when he appeared on Late Night with David Letterman three days after the incident. Still, his arraignment has been set for Sept. 17.)

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