Russell Crowe is directing Last Breath, a feature documentary about maintaining his passion for music alongside his successful acting career, he confirmed today in Karlovy Vary.
Crowe confirmed that his next role will be Hermann Goering in Jamie Vanderbilt’s Nuremberg, about the trials of Nazi leadership following the Second World War. Production details and shoot dates are unconfirmed.
The New Zealand-born actor, who has performed in bands since the early 1980s, has been shooting material for Last Breath since 2011, he said.
“It’s about my connection to music, which begins at the same age as when I first started acting,” said Crowe, speaking at a Karlovy Vary press conference today (July 1). “It’s the same energy source, writing a song or creating a character.”
The film, which is still in production, will follow Crowe and his band Indoor Garden Party on their recent 23-date tour in Europe, as well as previous shows in the US, UK and Australia.
Crowe said that while Australians have always accepted his music career, it has been less well-received in several countries. “When my overseas [acting] career started peaking the way it did, there was this strange resentment that I would continue with music,” said Crowe. “One person said, ‘How famous do you need to be?’, because I was playing in a band while acting. How fucking ridiculous! It’s the same when people try and tell me what roles I should play – fuck off!” Last Breath “seeks to make people comfortable with the idea” that he has both passions, Crowe said.
Gladiator 2
He also expressed his love of directing, describing it as “the greatest joy that exists on the planet.”
“If I could, that’s all I would be doing,” said Crowe, who has made two fiction features – 2014’s The Water Diviner and 2022’s Poker Face – and three documentaries – 2002’s Texas, and two further docs he said he has not released. “In order to release them, I have to make them legally comfortable,” said Crowe. “To me, that destroys the point. I’m talking about two docs on specific subjects, where the truth is told but nobody wants to back that up. I just have to wait for them to die – it’s alright, I’m a patient man.”
As an actor, Crowe is best-known for roles including Maximus Decimus Meridius in Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic Gladiator. Asked his thoughts on the sequel, which is currently in production, Crowe said, “They should be fucking paying me, for the amount of questions I’ve had to answer about a fucking film that I’m not even in. It’s got nothing to do with me; in that world I’m dead, six feet under, and that’s that.”
“I admit to a certain tinge of jealousy, because it reminds me not only of my youth, but of what that meant for me in my life,” continued Crowe. He recalled being in Malta recently with his band, and seeing the Gladiator 2 colosseum set, built exactly as it had been 25 years previously for the first film. “It was a timewarp for a couple of seconds,” said Crowe. “I don’t know anything about the cast or plot – well I wouldn’t, because I’m dead – [but] whoever’s involved in that movie, if Ridley has decided to do a second part to that story, he will have really strong reasons. It’s very typical of Ridley to rethink everything that he’s done and know how to make it better. I couldn’t think of that movie being anything less than absolutely spectacular when it does come out.”
Crowe was speaking at a press conference in Karlovy Vary, where he was awarded the Crystal Globe for outstanding contribution to world cinema last night (June 30). He then performed a gig with his band Indoor Garden Party in front of the main Hotel Thermal venue.
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