Russell Crowe, man of action
Multi-award-winning actor Russell Crowe has become one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, known for his physically demanding roles. The archetypal tough guy, off-screen he expects his watches to resemble him, meaning always ready for a challenge.
The watch I'm wearing today
A Rolex Submariner. I like it because it’s built to last. I’ve owned plenty of in-your-face, bling bling watches in the past, but they didn’t stand up for long to the kind of life I lead. I own a ranch in Australia, you see, which means cattle, fences to put up, wood to cut… It’s not exactly restful, on the other hand there’s no better way of getting Hollywood out of your system than milking a cow! Wearing a fancy watch is great… provided it doesn’t scratch as soon as things get a little rough, or the mechanism let you down when you’re miles from anywhere. I won’t tell you how many watches I own, as that would put me in an embarrassing situation. Let’s just say that coming from a family that wasn’t really into watches, I’ve definitely made up for lost time, literally! My father never wore a watch. Not because he didn’t like them, but because of an anatomical anomaly. His body generated reversed polarity. It could be a $20 watch or something more expensive, the mechanism stopped the second it came into contact with his wrist. He destroyed so many watches that he gave up wearing them in the end.
My very first watch
Having grown up in the shadow of a father who was “allergic” to watches – or possibly they were allergic to him – it took me a while to show any interest in those things with hands and a dial. I didn’t actually own a watch until 1992. I was playing a pilot in For The Moment, about airmen who were sent to Manitoba in Canada to train before going off to bomb enemy lines on the other side of the Atlantic. This was all during the Second World War, of course. While shooting, one of the crew pointed out that all the pilots wore a watch. I wanted my character to be authentic, so I went and bought a watch at the airport. I think it was Minneapolis/St Paul! Nothing too valuable. A Gucci I paid $390 dollars for. Since then, I’ve moved up a level and can’t stand to check the time on anything other than a watch. Time on a phone, no thanks! Let’s not put everything in the same bag.
My notion of time
Apart from watches, two things help me keep track of time and more to the point remind me that the years fly by. One is my children. They grow up so fast. The other is sitting down with a glass of good wine. I can still picture myself buying this or that bottle, then when I open it, I look at the label and realise that was ten years ago! I’m a great believer in the virtues of time. I hate being pressured, getting sucked into the whirlwind that’s part of society today. I try not to go against the nature of things. Wine-growers, like watchmakers, soon understand that time is their most precious ally. Time that enables them to produce quality that will last…
Fleeting time
Whenever I hear a guy say, “I was at the Actor’s Studio, you know,” or “I’ve done a lot of stage work”, I want to take off in the opposite direction. Like the ones who say they are “haunted” by their character. That’s just a lot of navel-gazing bullshit! An actor’s job is about immersion and curiosity. The best actors, the ones who are most believable on screen, know how to stay simple. I’ve always known I’m not some everlasting icon; this is just my passage on Earth. I’m an actor, that’s what I do. Not a Hollywood actor. I have a suitcase and a passport. When someone offers me a role I feel is right for me, I up and leave. My job is to serve a character, a director, a project and a vision, not to live in Hollywood. Music helps keep me in touch with reality. Some mates and I have a rock band. I sing, play guitar and write lyrics. I enjoy the direct contact with the audience. If you’re bad, you soon know about it!
Out of synch
What most annoys me about acting are the endless comparisons. I’ve already been told I’m the spiritual son of Clint Eastwood, Jimmy Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Robert Mitchum, Richard Burton and James Dean all rolled into one. The question isn’t, how does that make me feel? It’s, how did six men have me?! Seems we’re missing a woman somewhere!
About time
When I was a kid, I was really into rugby. I was determined to be the fastest player on the pitch. Winning was never optional, it was obligatory! I threw myself into every game, so much in fact that I ended up getting a tooth knocked out. Later, I’d turn up for auditions and guys would say, “Hey, kid, if you want the part, you’ll have to ask your mum to get your tooth fixed.” I found that so dumb I’d tell them to go to hell. I was about 25 when I finally gave in and saw a dentist. For fifteen years, I refused to be pressured by producers, and I’m proud of it! The dentist clearly did a good job because the tooth survived Gladiator shock treatment!
Gladiat’hour
My biggest concern when filming Gladiator was that I should forget to take my watch off. Like in that scene from Ben Hur, where you see one of the trumpet-players wearing a watch. The other challenge was not to get eaten by the tigers! A couple of times, I was within seconds of having a chunk taken out of me. At first sight, big cats that have been raised in captivity look like sweet little kitties, but when you’re in an amphitheatre with six Bengal tigers, believe me you don’t feel quite so sure of yourself! The shooting schedule included seven days between fight scenes so we could recuperate and rehearse the next one, but once on set things never go as planned, meaning we ended up filming one scene straight after another. I’d be fighting tigers during the day, and in the evening preparing for the next scene with the fight coordinator, the fencing master and the horse wrangler. Your body bears the scars, but in hindsight it’s also what made it such an unforgettable experience. At the time, though, when you look in the mirror and you see the bicep tendon is coming out of your shoulder on the wrong side, you ask yourself, “Shit, what the hell am I doing here?”.
