Something to Crowe about
Actor knows how to pick projects
By Todd Leopold
CNN
 |
Russell Crowe in "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World."
Story Tools
ON CNN TV
|
"Eye on Entertainment" talks about the weekend's happenings on CNN's "Live Today" between 10 a.m. and noon EST Thursday.
|
|
(CNN) -- There are actors, and there are movie stars.
That's not to say that actors don't have star quality, or that movie stars can't act. But it's hard to be both: Actors tend to be people who lose themselves in their roles, while movie stars overwhelm whatever part they're playing. Dustin Hoffman is an actor; Arnold Schwarzenegger is a movie star.
And that's why Russell Crowe is so special.
Crowe takes chances; Crowe likes challenging scripts and challenging projects. He gained weight and looked like hell for his role in "The Insider," and he immersed himself in the extremely internal world of a mathematician for "A Beautiful Mind." He was a bully cop in "L.A. Confidential" and a triumphant Roman soldier in "Gladiator."
He doesn't seem to pick his scripts based on how much money a film would make or whether a role may bring him an Oscar nomination. He seems to base his choices on a love of the craft.
And yet, with that chiseled face and brooding eyes, he's very much a movie star.
With his latest film, "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," he gets to be both actor and movie star. The brash English naval officer Capt. Jack Aubrey is a role tailor-made for derring-do, and it's probably what Hollywood had in mind when it took on the Patrick O'Brian novels. And yet Crowe brings to the part a thoughtfulness and intelligence that would make O'Brian proud.
Eye on Entertainment sets sail with "Master and Commander," opening Friday.
Eye-opener
O'Brian's many novels starring Aubrey, a British sea captain during the era of the Napoleonic Wars, are so filled with historical and nautical minutiae some have believed they were unfilmable. But perhaps it was just a matter of finding the right Aubrey -- and the right director.
In the case of "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," Australian director Peter Weir ("Witness," "The Truman Show") kept the focus as much on the crew as on their actions. (The movie's title is a mouthful, the result of combining the first title in O'Brian's series, which the studio liked more, with that of the 10th, which provided much of the plot.)
The result, says CNN reviewer Paul Clinton, is a film in which "characters and dialogue are much richer and more detailed than your average high-sea adventure flick."
Crowe co-stars with Paul Bettany, who plays Aubrey's good friend, Dr. Stephen Maturin. After Aubrey's ship, the Surprise, is damaged in battle off the South American coast, the captain is determined to get revenge. Maturin provides level-headed advice while the headstrong Aubrey embarks on his plan.
The result is a movie that works as a crowd pleaser and a character study. Expect to hear more about it at Oscar time.
On screen
• Another set of historical characters -- the Looney Tunes cartoon figures -- take center stage in "Looney Tunes: Back in Action." Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman and Steve Martin are the human actors in a cast that includes Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Taz the Tasmanian Devil and Martin the Martian. (Warner Bros. is the studio, and it, like CNN, is a division of Time Warner.) It opens Friday.
On the tube
• The American Music Awards turn 31 this year -- just eight years younger than founder Dick Clark. Eventually, the age of the two will cross, and the ensuing matter-antimatter collision will turn Staind into lounge lizards and prompt Britney Spears to sing ska. Jimmy Kimmel hosts. 8 p.m. EST Sunday, ABC.
• Did someone say Britney? Well, expect one of these on her special, "Britney Spears: In the Zone": a dramatic monologue from "Timon of Athens," a display of 16th-century Chinese art, a guest appearance by Joey Heatherton or navel-baring dance music. Odds are on the latter. 8 p.m. EST Monday, ABC.
Sound waves
• And did someone say Britney? Her new record, "In the Zone" (Jive) -- which just happens to have the same title as her ABC special -- is released Tuesday.
• Blink 182 releases its new album, "Britney Spears: In the Zone," on Tuesday. (Just kidding. It's actually called "Blink 182." Really. The label is Geffen.)
Paging readers
• Creepy detectives chasing creepy serial killers get all the attention in America, but in Britain, where murder mysteries are more civilized, there's P.D. James. In "The Murder Room" (Knopf), the doyenne of intelligent mystery brings back her sleuth, Adam Dalgliesh, to investigate the death of a conniving museum trustee. The book comes out Tuesday.
• Robert Harris, who imagined a world in which the Nazis won World War II in "Fatherland," journeys to ancient Rome for "Pompeii" (Random House), a thriller featuring a Roman engineer who tries to cope with the impending eruption of the volcano in A.D. 79. The novel arrives Tuesday.
