Update on the Russell thing

[annathepiper]

Well, this is a somewhat comforting article to see. It tells me that the impression I've had of Russell's character over the last four years or so is still holding up, though it's been badly dented this week. Here's hoping that he backs these penitent words up with action.

Crowe Tells of Shame Over Hotel Fracas

A combination of "jet lag, loneliness and adrenalin" led actor Russell Crowe to throw a telephone across the lobby of an exclusive New York hotel.

Crowe said he was ashamed of the violent incident that could see him jailed and admitted it was entirely his fault.

The double Oscar-winning actor was charged with assault after allegedly throwing a phone at a concierge in the Mercer Hotel because he could not make a call to Australia.

Crowe insisted he was "not aiming at" Nestor Estrada when he threw the telephone but conceded the incident could leave him in jail and unable to work in the US again.

"I'm at the bottom of a well. I can't communicate how dark my life is right now," Crowe told News Ltd newspapers.

"I'm in a lot of trouble. I'll do my best to solve the situation in an honourable way. I'm very sorry for my actions.

"I will spend the rest of my life if it takes it, trying to make it up with my wife."

Crowe said he was pleased his son Charlie was not old enough to understand the situation he was in because "that would be a heartbreaking thing".

He also said that he didn't want to imply that the situation was somebody else's fault.

"It's not. I know it's my fault. I've got to face up to it and deal with it.

"I'll cop whatever I cop."

Crowe said he had flown from New York to Manchester and back in less than a day to catch his friend Kostya Tszyu's world title fight.

Once back in New York he went to a bar for a few drinks.

Crowe then tried to call his wife Danielle in Sydney just after 4am New York time but could not reach her from his hotel room.

Frustrated, he is alleged to have gone down to the hotel lobby and after a heated exchange hurled the phone in the direction of Mr Estrada.

"I wasn't aiming at him," Crowe told the Daily Telegraph.

"But I've got no excuses. There's nothing you can say to people to explain the combination of jet lag, loneliness, and adrenalin."

"We flew over to see Kostya and back again in 20 hours and not being able to tell your wife that you're home and safe and you're okay is frustrating, particularly with the time thing."

Crowe said his fate lay with the "good graces" of Mr Estrada.

"I wouldn't imagine that he is in a position where he feels any obligation to do anything nice and I can understand that position completely," he said.

Crowe has refused to cancel his media commitments and is expected to return home in two weeks.

Comments

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

Well, that's saying all the right things. Let's hope that he takes the steps necessary so that his brain always stays in control, rather than his temper. He clearly knows better. (Which is a big step - he's got a temper, instead of being a natural bully.)

Good luck to him.

[firni.livejournal.com]

Did you see this one? He picks on Clooney, which is... eh, Clooney. But to pick on the other guy in "Cinderella Man"? Low.

http://entertainment.msn.com/movies/hotgossip4?GT1=6657

He's also duking it out with Craig Bierko, who goes mano-a-mano with him in "Cinderella Man."
"Craig was really out of his depth. He'd never been in this sort of movie and never had this type of responsibility. There was no possibility of failure," Crowe recently told Entertainment Weekly. "He kind of came in with ... this sort of foppish, Long Island kind of actor-y idea. And it's like, 'Mate, you cannot hide with this. You're in a pair of shorts and boots -- that's it, buddy.' I had to help him get into that groove."
Crowe's idea of "help": excluding Bierko -- and only Bierko -- from his 40th birthday party on the Toronto set of the Ron Howard-directed flick.

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

Eh. It does sound bad, but maybe Bierko really didn't understand just how vital his role as Max Baer was to the movie. I think he wound up pulling it off nicely, so if it means a little tough love helped, so be it.

I don't know that I'd have gone as far as not inviting him to the party, though.

[firni.livejournal.com]

I'd expect better of a man entering his 40s, but then I remember some of the acquaintances I have and figure famous people are probably just as immature.

[annathepiper]

*snorf* Yeah, a lot of the folks I know are tech people--and as wingedelf wisely observed on his journal the other day, "tech people are superannuated children". I daresay that in many ways the same thing can be said of actors. Including Russell.

And hell, if there's anything I've learned since reaching what at least numerically is supposed to be 'adulthood', a lot of us who are supposed to be grownups don't know what the hell we're doing anyway, regardless of what our professions are. ;)

(I hadn't seen the article, by the way--and I'm not terribly surprised by it. I'm the last girl you'll hear denying that Russell has an ego the size of New Zealand. But right now, I'm more anxious for him to get a rein on that temper. O.o)

[annathepiper]

Exactly--it's a step in the right direction, but it's only the first of many necessary steps. Here's hoping he keeps going on that course.

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure he's not going to have to deal with no longer being able to work in the States, at least.

Good that he knows the seriousness of this, though.

[annathepiper]

Quite, on both counts. I'd be really surprised if the judge actually bars him from the country come September--though I'm hoping that at the least, Russell now nears the Clue Phone ringing for him. ;P :)

[annathepiper]

Er. HEARS the Clue Phone. Stupid inability to edit your own comments. :)

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Let's hope that, whether he hears it or nears it, he's able to resist flinging it. ;-)

[annathepiper]

*snicker* Yes. Quite.