- What is Russell Crowe?
[upbeat music]
What is Rusell Crowe?
Excuse me, I'm just,
that's gonna take some time for me to think about.
Hello, I'm Russell Crowe and today
I'm taking the wired auto complete interview.
Who is Russell Crowe?
I've been Wondering that a long time.
Who does Russell Crowe look like?
Well, I've got good authority that Russell Crowe
looks like Mrs. Crowe's son very, very,
I mean, so close.
It's real crazy, actually.
Who Russell Crowe knitting?
I know what this refers to.
For many, many years, people in the knitting fraternity
have tried to enjoy me in their soft bosom.
And it comes from a photo shoot I did
in Los Angeles in the early 90s.
It was kind of a tedious shoot
and the dude had taken forever, the setting up, you know
as they do, and then it was kind of like,
what are we gonna do?
We'd take a shot sitting over there,
shot sitting over there.
Then in one point there was a ball of wool
and some knitting needles.
So I did the half a dozen dozen shots
like that, and they went out in that particular magazine,
and they've been used over and over,
even though I'm kind of holding
the knitting needles incorrectly, that's messed up.
People like to make the association that I'm a knitter.
So it's been in continuous use now for some, you know,
close on 30 years as a concept.
And here is the grand irony.
When I was a child, I did knit.
My mother showed me the skill.
So that's how I know I was using the needles incorrectly.
What is Russell Crowe doing now?
Well, currently, I'm doing this interview
but in a broader sense, in isolation on the farm
in Northern New South Wales.
What am I doing now?
I'm getting up really early in the morning.
I start by doing stuff on email
and then when the sun's up, we've been going out
and digging up some fields, fertilizing them
and reseeding them,
but I'm writing songs and I'm writing scripts
and it seems that I've actually
been practicing self isolation
for the best part of the last 30 years
and I'm quite good at it.
What band was Russell Crowe in?
It's a long answer to this because my first record came out
in 1981.
Not came out, it came out in 82.
I was still a teenager, I had
a performance with Pseudonym,
but after that, all right, let's see,
go back the first bands to Profile
and then I was in a band by the name of that Pseudonym,
then I was in a band called Roman Antix.
And then for 20 something years,
I was in a band called 30 Odd Foot Grunts.
Then after 30 Odd Foot Grants disbanded in 2003,
I was in a band called The Ordinary Fear of God.
I've been collaborating with a fellow
called Allan Doyle on songwriting since 2004.
Our current project is called IGP, Indoor Garden Party,
and it refers to in New Finland, which is where
Allan comes from, they have kitchen parties
and it's an incredible cultural experience.
A guitar will be brought out
and it will be basically passed around the room
like a talking stick.
And every single person in the room has a song.
It's kinda like a piss take for me on the weather pattern
in new Finland, you know, because
Allan at one point in time said to me,
that we also have garden parties,
and I'm looking at the weather in New Finland,
and I thought it would be better to have
that garden party inside.
Anyway,
what did I win an Oscar for?
I won the Oscar for the feature film
"Gladiator"
directed by Ridley Scott.
I think the ceremony was 2001 but it's the 2000 Oscar.
My zodiac sign?
My zodiac sign is Aries, but in Chinese astrology.
My sign is a dragon.
And if you put the two together,
my primal astrological sign, is a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
How about that.
Now what car do I drive?
Currently my car is a Mercedes s600, V 12,
bit of a banger.
Know what I'm saying?
Yeah, about 560 ,70 odd British horsepower
at my disposal to travel 50 kilometers an hour.
Where am I from?
I was born in New Zealand in the city of Wellington,
but my parents migrated to Australia
when I was four years old in 1968.
And I've lived the majority of my life in Australia
since then, except for a seven year period,
where my family returned to New Zealand
when I was a teenager.
Where's my Oscar?
Reminds me of a funny story that Al Pacino told me.
He won the Oscar for Scent of Woman, was it?
I'm not sure and at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion,
you get into an elevator and go from, you know,
the stage level up to where the press gallery is
and so people are packed into this elevator like sardines
and an Al just looks down and he realizes that, you know,
he's carrying his award in his hand
just naturally at his side,
but the head of the Oscar has actually
slipped between the cheeks and the diaphanous dress
of the young lady who's standing in front of him.
And so Al thinking he was doing the right thing,
lent forward and whispered in her ear,
that's not me, that's my Oscar.
Al can tell a good story, I'll you that.
Is Russell Crowe British?
Well, no born in New Zealand, lived in Australia,
but do have Welsh, Scottish and English and Irish
in the background, but also
Norwegian, Italian and Maori.
Is Russell Crowe Leeds United fan?
Yes, I am.
The English soccer team that I follow is Leeds United,
currently not in the premiership,
haven't been for quite some time.
And that is a sensitive subject.
Am I left handed?
No, I am not left handed.
Am I a nice guy?
Probably not.
Am I Russell Crowe related to Sheryl Crow?
No, and that that should be obvious with the spelling.
But also, I saw Sheryl Crow in the foyer
of a hotel and people had been making that joke for so long.
I just went up to and said, hi, we're supposed to be married
and thinking I was being charming and you know,
apparently it wasn't.
Didn't go down very well.
How did Russell Crowe become Roger Ailes?
Substantial amount of prosthetic makeup, and very long
and arduous thing to face every workday,
the fella that did that make up Adrian Morrow,
is a fantastic artist.
So oddly, you would talk about that biz being a torturous
experience and really,
the thought of it was and doing it every day was
but he just made it very cool.
And we got through it very easily.
How old was Russell Crowe in Gladiator?
20 years ago today, not today.
20 years ago this year, Gladiator came out.
We shot it 1999 so I was 35 when we shot it,
and 36 when it came out.
What is Russell Crowe?
Excuse me, I'm just, it's gonna take some time
for me to think about.
I'll text you an answer or something, okay.
What color are my eyes?
Well, they're very light and they take light very well.
Normally, they're actually sort of a greeny,
hazelly sort of thing.
But in many movies, they'll appear to be blue
depends on what I'm wearing.
And there has been times when I've been at customs
traveling internationally where the guy's looking at my face
and looking at what it says on the piece of paper
and the two things didn't match.
What school did Russell Crowe go to?
Well, I went to many, ended up going to I think
five primary schools and three high schools,
mainly just because my parents moved around a lot.
What is my height?
I'm what we call in Australia, Collingwood six footer,
I'm five foot 11 and a half and a bit,
so just shy of six foot.
A Collingwood six foot, that refers to a Australian rules
football team called Collingwood, who made the Super Bowl
of that particular sport many many times without winning it,
so possibly you would call it a Buffalo Bills,
six footer in America.
Are Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling friends?
Well listen, I tell you what, I haven't seen him for ages,
but that's the natural cycle of time with actors,
but that kid, I shouldn't really call him a kid.
But that guy, what an actor.
His natural innate timing is just breathtaking,
when you're performing with him.
I'm really good at keeping my [bleep] together on camera.
Doesn't matter if the places burning down,
I'll still keep playing the character.
And that's sort of been a signature part of how I do my job.
You know, Ryan Gosling can make me laugh in a heartbeat,
whatever character [beep] I'm trying to do,
he can just like a laser pump through it, and just
just sends me off.
And there's lots of footage of behind the scenes
from nice guys.
You know, with the director calling out,
Ryan, please just let him say the dialogue this time
'cause I'm just pissing myself with these Ad lips
that he comes up with.
So, you know, our connection is really easy.
We get on we talk and I definitely consider him a mate
if he ever, you know, call me or whatever needed something,
you know, totally, I'd love to do a second film with him.
So, great actor, good bloke, Ryan Gosling.
My latest movie, and it's coming out on July 1st,
is called Unhinged.
Before that I was the thing on Showtime called
the loudest voice, which you should see if you haven't.
And unhinged, you should definitely see.
Do I have siblings?
I have one older brother.
His name is Terry.
Can I sing?
♪ My duties to the law ♪
No.
Can I ice skate?
I spent many many months on the skill of ice skating for
a movicol mystery Alaska back in 1998.
And I reached the heady heights of skill and achievement
of that of your average Canadian seven year old,
though I would never ever challenge one on the ice.
Did I do my own stunts in Gladiator?
Pretty much.
That was back when I had tendons,
the good old days.
Yeah, I mean, there's,
you know, a part of the functional move,
there's always going to be people who are there
to do those sort of things for you.
But when you're working with a director, like Ridley,
you got to give him 100% shot, you know.
when you get a bit older, and your body starts to remind you
of all those takes when you didn't quite get it right?
And I'm not whinging, I am 56.
It is what it is.
I've used my body in very extreme ways to make my living
and enjoy my life and you do come to a point
where you pay for that,
but no regrets in that regard at all.
That's the end of our time for today,
and I hope you can find something
special to do for the rest of your day.
Goodbye for now.