Russell Crowe is one of the biggest movie stars of his generation, with equal success in Oscar-nominated dramas and comic book blockbusters. But while he has always pursued roles in a wide range of genres, the actor is still annoyed by the Australian film industry’s attempts to typecast him early in his career.
The Happy Sad Confused Promoting his role in The Pope’s Exorcist, Crowe recalled his early success in Australia and the frustration he felt after only being offered hero roles.
“I got to a point where I only did about seven lead roles and won a couple of Australian Oscars,” Crowe said. “And a script came along that gave me the opportunity to work with an actress I really wanted to work with, so I did it. But then the next script came and it was like a mirror of the script. So I was looking at that and the careers of other Australian actors. And I just realized that even after seven roles, from an Australian industry perspective, I was at a point where they were happy and satisfied with what I was doing, and I thought, ‘We’re just going to get you one more role like this, that’s the guy. , who rides again.”
He continued: “I was only in my late twenties at the time. It was like I just started doing this. I’m not ready to repeat myself. So the only option left for me was to make films in other places.”
Shortly after his recognition, Crowe traveled to the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. The actor said that the enthusiastic response he received from Americans on the Croisette made him believe that if he moved to Hollywood, he could get more diverse roles.
“I just got the vibe in Cannes that so many American, industry people came up to me and talked to me not about one role, but about several things they saw me in,” he said. “So I just thought, ‘Maybe I should go there.’ Because at that time, in the 1990s, this was not an issue. You didn’t just go to Los Angeles to create something.”
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