Russell Crowe came to play

Oh he wants it. So he brought his Movie Star Game to Cannes. It’s a game that’s been missing from his repertoire for a while. But he trotted his kids out, and he trotted Danielle out, and suddenly Russell Crowe is Mr Congeniality with reporters, and smiling for photogs, and obliging with the press, and even tweeting about how hot he is for his wife and there was no phone in sight with which to club a hotel clerk, hell no. This Russell came to play. In doing so he’s convinced me he belongs with them again.

Who?

As noted last week about the appeal of Gladiator, there are many who consider it one of the more important films of a generation and Russell Crowe as Maximus one of the most iconic characters of all time. The film won almost everything, and of course earned him an Oscar. At the height of that popularity, yes indeed, Crowe was on par with the handful of super elite superstar Movie Stars – Clooney, Roberts, Hanks, Pitt, Depp, Jolie, Cruise – of which there are, really, only a few.

And then it went away.

And now it’s back again. In Cannes last night, at the photo call, on the carpet, Russell Crowe became a Movie Star again. Wife Danielle was at his side all night, they were surprisingly affectionate and emotive during arrivals, even more so when they entered the palais, and the way he entered the theatre, as everyone waited and watched – I’ve seen George Clooney enter this theatre and he practically races to his seat – it was like Maximus Decimus Meridius entering the Coliseum. There was pomp about his pace, it was a gladiator’s swagger, and this is what you want at Cannes, especially on opening night. Cannes is excess and over the top and theatricality. Russell Crowe delivered on that last night, and in doing so he’s sold me on him again. I remembered why he was one of them. And he still belongs there.


Photos from Wenn.com and Bauergriffinonline.com and Anne-Marie Michel/LE/Splashnewsonline.com