Page 16 - 24_Bafta ACADEMY_Anthony Minghella_ok

interview
14
hello sailor
Swashbuckling Russell Crowe tells Garth Pearce why the fiddle’s mightier than the sword in his latest film role
“I am
committed
to acting and
get great
satisfaction
from it.
But I don’t take it too seriously and realise that it is not rocket science.”
Photos main and far right: Russell Crowe as Captain Jack Aubrey in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; centre: in A Beautiful Mind (Photo courtesy Moviestore)
Russell Crowe had a reputa- tion for making timbers shiver before he even took the job as Captain Jack Aubrey on the high seas adventure, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. He speaks his mind, never suffers a fool and his solid, rugby- playing frame has delivered a few bloody noses in its time.
But there is another side to bruiser Crowe, who has battled his way from being a child per- former in Sydney, Australia to Hollywood fame and a best actor Oscar for Gladiator. He does care about others and spends time worrying that the cast is happy around him.
Director Michael Mann, who worked with him on his first Oscar- nominated performance in The Insider, insists: “He’s one of the most thoughtful, intelligent actors around, but he puts on this tough, red-neck act.” And Peter Weir, director of Master and Commander, says: “I hired him for his inner sensitivity as much as his outer toughness.”
There’s not much of that on show when we meet in Santa Monica, California, directly after a well-received screening. He plays heroic Aubrey, nicknamed ‘Lucky Jack’, who captains the HMS Surprise during the Napoleonic Wars, with much swagger and confidence.
Away from the screen, Crowe, 39, seems much the same. He’s pugnacious, sprinkles his conver- sation with a liberal number of four-letter words and is clearly his own man. But, look a bit deeper, and he does, indeed, emerge as someone who thinks carefully.
His new character, shaped from the successful swashbuckling novels of the late Patrick O’Brian, plays the violin, when not putting
French opponents to the sword. It was this single fact, apparently, which hooked Crowe.
“Peter Weir talked to me about a man who has been on a ship since he was a boy, whose fingers are fat with hard work and hands are rough and calloused,” he says. “But he picks up this deli-
cate instrument and extracts a beautiful sound.
“There are these key scenes with his friend, the ship’s surgeon Dr Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), in which they share a love of classical music, much to the disgust of the crew, who would prefer a jig.