In a new interview, Russell Crowe reveals that Michael Jackson prank called him for nearly three years, and that he was almost kidnapped by al-Qaeda back in 2001. This is not an April’s fools joke, which may be what’s even crazier.
April 1st is over, and while you’re probably still avoiding articles with headlines like this, this is a recent interview that actually came out on March 29 on The Guardian, where we assure you these events actually happened (according to Crowe), and Russell Crowe was not making them up, as far as we know. So, don’t be disappointed, be amazed by the comically insane stuff that this actor has done and gone through during his long career.
While he promotes his directorial debut, The Water Diviner, Crowe tries to set the record straight about his outbursts and dealings with the media. Crowe has always had a love/hate relationship with the media, loving them when he’s got a movie to promote, and hating them when he wants to be left the f*ck alone.
In an interview with The Guardian, the actor reveals so many absurd things that it makes you no longer question why he’s such an ass sometimes. He’s followed by paparazzi and gets in fights with them, throws phones at people, and smokes in hotels despite signs saying “no smoking.”
His problems with the press apparently began after Gladiator hit theaters, and he became a massive superstar. He says he actually enjoyed his first “flush of American fame,” which came after his performance in LA Confidential, which ended up becoming the type of role he’d play often: The tormented tough guy, whose ability to use his fists often covers up deeper sensitivity. But, the fame that came after his Oscar win for Gladiator was, “a pain in the arse.”
He said, “Even walking down the street was a pain in the arse. People want a piece of you. And something else happens, man. You build all these friendships and then you hit a certain level within the business and those people need you now, if you’re connected to their thing, their thing gets done, their life is enriched, and friendships get damaged because you say no. Suddenly I was destroying people’s hope and dreams if I said no to something. It was rather intense.”
One of the craziest things to come up in the interview was when Crowe revealed to The Guardian interviewer that now late Michael Jackson used to prank call him constantly, “for two or three fucking years.”
The weirder thing? He never even met the man. Crowe continued about Jackson prank calling him, saying, “he (Michael) found out the name I stayed in hotels under, so it didn’t matter where I was, he’d ring up do this kind of thing, like you did when you were 10, you know. ‘Is Mr Wall there? Is Mrs Wall there? Are there any Walls there? Then what’s holding the roof up? Ha ha.’ You’re supposed to grow out of doing that, right?”
Definitely weird, although, we all know Michael Jackson had some strange tendencies, and we wouldn’t want to talk bad about the deceased king of pop, but prank calling Crowe at hotels over nearly three years? Certainly a pretty strange thing to have to deal with while you’re working.
One of the scarier things brought up in the interview was when Crowe revealed that al-Qaeda supposedly was out to get him at some point in 2001. The actor said, “I still really don’t know to this day what the fuck that was all about. All I know is, I arrived in LA, got to my hotel, as I’d done umpteen times before, started unpacking, and there was a knock at the door and a team of FBI guys wanted to sit down and discuss something with me. And then, for nearly two years, they were always around.”
Crowe continued, “I remember going to the Golden Globes and having, like, 16 security guys with me. I don’t even know why. They wouldn’t give me any details. And of course, people were like: ‘Look at him, he thinks he’s fucking Elvis.’ And then one day they just weren’t there any more.”
Obviously, in 2001, threats like these were taken extremely serious, and seeing as the FBI and more than a dozen security guards were with Crowe at the Golden Globes is serious business. But, it also shows the less glamorous side of Hollywood. Being famous sometimes makes you a target, even to the deadliest terrorists on the planet.
Crowe’s films have struggled a bit as of late, with his bible-epic, Noah, receiving mixed reviews, and taking in a mere $362 million on a $125 million dollar budget. While that sounds pretty solid, it’s actually more like breaking even for the studio, which spent another $150 million on advertising the film.
He’ll make his comeback, and hopefully we’ll see some of his work like Gladiator, Cinderella Man, and A Beautiful Mind, where he proved that he’s one of the best actors on the planet, despite any faults he may have in his personal or media-filled life. He’s a great actor, and we hope he’s able to right his ship and put butts back into theater seats.
The Guardian’s interview is pretty fascinating, and Crowe really seems to open up to their interviewer, so be sure to check out the rest of the interview by clicking this link to read the full interview.
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.