November 30

Pittsburghlive.com: Latrobe woman knits sweater for movie scene -- When moviegoers see Russell Crowe rip the arm of a sweater worn by Elizabeth Banks in the film, "The Next Three Days," it will be from a garment knitted by a Latrobe woman. Heidi Kozar knitted five sweaters in a little more than two weeks for the movie, which began filming in Western Pennsylvania in October - Thanks, Kris C

The UK Independent: (Oz sports related) - Dom Joly: Pitch battles and last men standing - Weird World of Sport: If you see Aussie Rules fans in a bar it's a sign you're in the wrong part of town - Thanks, Kris C

November 29

Getty Images pap pic - Thanks, Steph -- Link to the Macanudo Club

Irish Times Quiz - Thanks, Kris C

YouTube: RZA and Russell getting BBQ - Thanks, Judy

Cinematical: Scenes We Love: L.A. Confidential (Again!) -- It's the most wonderful time of the year! The time of year when I watch L.A. Confidential a dozen times because "It's Christmassy!", complain that it didn't win Best Picture, and fall in love with Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce all over again. It's not as if I don't watch this at any other time of the year, but this film is like my holiday heroin. - Thanks, Steph

November 28

Here are direct links to the scan of The UK Empire article on Robin Hood - Thanks to Avril: Page 1 -- Page 2 -- Page 3 -- Page 4 -- Page 5

November 27

Thanks to Avril - a scanned bit from the UK Empire article on Robin Hood:

Playbill: Related -- Blanchett and Company Begin A Streetcar Named Desire at BAM Nov. 27

The Daily Telegraph: Crowe delivers his Xmas message (Rabbitohs) - Watch Russell deliver his address (Video) HERE - Thanks, Maria

Star Pulse: 25 Top Movies Of 2009 (So Far) --- State of Play (15) was the only movie with a blockbuster cast that made the list and because it was a very good movie. A lengthy dramatic thriller with good writing and better acting, I was happy to watch Russell Crowe at his best. I thought the casting did a great job in this movie, nailing all the important roles with great characters and actors. - Thanks, Allison

November 26 - Happy Thanksgiving

Inside Pulse: - Related - Guy Pearce Gets to Jumping - Thanks, Kris C

Double Related (Harris and Reed - The NY Times) - A new book of outrageous quotes from The Hellraisers

November 25

Keep up to date on what Russell is doing out and about in Pittsburgh at Collecta - Thanks, Maria

November 24

Related: Thanks, Jeannine -- From the NY Times, Ben Foster has been nominated as one of five Break Through Actors at the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards to be announced on November 30th. This is for his "depenable intensity in flashy supporting roles [3:10 to Yuma, Alphadog}... to his lead role in The Messenger."

Empire Magazine UK: Robin Hood -- Get lost in Sherwood with Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe for company, opening out News Etc. section this month. We've got a first look at Maid Marion and the Merry Men (not so merry in this serious, action-packed adaptation) - Thanks, Steph, Cindy

Related -- On PBS Frontline tonight, a program entitled The Card Game - Reported by Lowell Bergman (The Insider - Al Pacino)

November 23

LA Times - The Envelope: 10 closest Oscar races in the past 20 years - 3) Russell Crowe in “Gladiator” over Ed Harris in “Pollock” for best actor of 2000: After buzz for Tom Hanks in “Cast Away” died down, the contest quickly turned toward Crowe and Harris. Crowe had just lost for “The Insider” and had the advantage of being in a best picture nominee (and eventual winner) – while Harris was a beloved veteran playing a real-life person who suffered endlessly on screen. I eventually settled on Harris, thinking that Hollywood would prefer to see him win – and thought I had nailed it when his co-star Marcia Gay Harden took the supporting actress prize. Sure, I was left eating crow on Oscar night – but I’m certain that Harris lost only by a hair. - Thanks, Allison, Kris C

November 22

Twitpic: RZA, his brother and Russell in cold Pittsburgh - Thanks, Steph

Make a Smilebox greeting

November 21

NY Times: Here is the link to the triple-related film article - The Last Station - Thanks, Steph

Related: The Wall Street Journal: A Macho Man's Quiet Heroine -- Action-movie director Ridley Scott has an unlikely hand in the look of a series

November 20

Related: The London Evening Standard: A reel life: Jordan Scott - Thanks, AllisonRelated: Esquire: Ryan Kavanaugh Uses Math to Make Movies -- "...The only difference between Ryan Kavanaugh's office lobby and your office lobby is that Ron Howard is sitting in his, in hiking boots, declining politely the receptionist's offer of a bottle of Yosemite water. "I'm A-okay," Howard says. He's come here this afternoon looking for more than something to drink." Related: BSC Review: Thor – Idris Elba (AG) as Heimdall [and, of course, memorably in The Wire] - Thanks, Kris C

[Don't know about this one] - Bingo from Gaming Supermarket: Russell Crowe Admits Bingo Love - Thanks, Kris C

November 19

Variety: Producer Ryan Kavanaugh's top 10 films - Thanks, Allison

Keep your questions coming to Ask Russell. He may not have time now due to a very heavy schedule, but perhaps in a few month's time?

Inside Movies - Moviefone: The 10 Best Sports Movies Based on Real Life - Thanks, Allison

From Rosemonde: Recently a Swiss movies specialist and former director of the Swiss film library has published an encyclopedia :"Antiquity in the movies" (L'Antiquité au cinéma) which so far has been published only in French. Guess who is on the cover of the book!

Box Office Mojo info listed below about ABM is wrong, It went to number one in its second week

Dani's new album cover

Related -- Cinematical: Interview: Carla Gugino -- .....Ridley Scott's American Gangster as Russell Crowe's exasperated ex-wife, and most recently in Zack Snyder's Watchmen as a sexpot superheroine with a pitch-black past.

Related -- Film Forum: An Evening with Christopher Plummer - Thanks, Nora

November 18

From Box Office Mojo, a list of the top grossing movies in the US that were never #1 at the box office.  In 6th place: A Beautiful Mind. - Thanks, Amy

New York Magazine:  Stranded With Olivia Wilde

Vogue.com: (Ridley related) - Gucci Film Confirmed - Thanks, Kris C

NZ Stuff: Kiwi film-makers urged to aim for best -- Russell Crowe as Aramoana gunman David Gray? It could happen if Kiwi film-makers get bold, Film Commission boss Graeme Mason says. ... - Thanks, Kris C

Article on Dani's new album in the UK - Thanks, Avril

Talented sketch artist Julie has several portraits of our Russell done over the years. Click on her gallery to view them - And another artist has taken her sketches and made cross stitch patterns from them - Pattern Maker in the UK

November 17

Tenderness opens in Spain on November 20 - Thanks Mariola

wsj.com: Olivia Wilde -- You’re also in the process of shooting the film “The Next Three Days” with Russell Crowe and Liam Neeson, and your former “The Black Donnellys” boss Paul Haggis is directing. How’s that been working out? --- They’re shooting in Pittsburgh now and of course I’m shooting “House” in L.A., so I’ve done some scenes and have to go back and shoot more. I just have a small supporting role, and it’s hard to get into without giving away the plot, but I play a woman named Nicole who meets Russell Crowe’s character in a a park. It’s a great group of people. - Thanks, Allison

Thanks to a suggestion from Carmen, a fan from Spain, I have started a new topic in the Yuku Crowe Forum entitled "Ask Russell." You may post questions there you would like to put to him. I will let him know about it, and perhaps he will find time to answer some of the questions through me.

November 16

Variety: Film Related: Oscars hand out Governors Awards -- Honorees Corman, Willis, Bacall attend inaugural event (Ron Howard mentioned)

November 15

Russell is part of the Doonesbury daily dose cartoon today - Thanks, Barbiecat, Pamela

Robin Hood related: Enid: Matthew MacFadyen - “I’m doing a little bit with the Robin Hood film. I’m the Sheriff of Nottingham. It’s a very incidental character. It’s not the Alan Rickman Prince of Thieves. I just get humiliated. He’s a local bureaucratic idiot who’s after taxes. The bigger the movie, the more impersonal it is, the less you know.” - Thanks, Steph

Russell is at the Steelers Game - Thanks, Maria

Russell's narration of Australia Revealed (1997) is available free today at The Sunday Telegraph for Oz fans:

-- and at E Bay au

November 14

SMH: LHG news -- (Scroll) RUSTY OLD NEWS - Burgess must be starting to get tired of answering questions about Crowe. Asked on stage at the Rugby League International Federation awards night this week what he did when Crowe rang to entice him to Souths, the former Bradford player dead-panned: ''I just pressed the green button and said hello.'' - Thanks, Kris C

November 13

The Wall Street Journal: Just Asking.... -- Interview with Ridley Scott [mostly about The Good Wife, one of my favs] - Thanks, barbiecat

From Sec: Here's a tweet from somebody who says they were on set last night: "lindseyhay - Loved being treated like a celeb on set Russell Crowe may be the coolest man I've ever met! Working on set of "The Next Three Days" all night!"

The New York Times Magazine: interesting article on movies by A.O. Scott - Screen Memories -- "...But the tone for mainstream commercial entertainment was set early on, when “Gladiator” won the first Best Picture Oscar of the new decade. And nearly every hero thereafter, from Aragorn and Harry Potter to Spider-Man and even the newly young Mr. Spock and the newly sad James Bond, was caught up in a Manichaean struggle defined by an endless cycle of vendetta and reprisal.The SMH via the London Telegraph (Scroll): EATING CROWE - It's the book which has the league world talking - and laughing. But not everyone sees the funny side of The Johnny Larkin Diaries. Academy Award-winning actor Russell Crowe, for one. At the book launch at the Norfolk Hotel in Redfern last night, author and Sun-Herald journalist Adrian Proszenko revealed Crowe had threatened legal action over his depiction in the satirical romp through the 2009 NRL season. Proszenko had sent an unfinished manuscript to the Souths co-owner in the hope he would accept the novel in good humour. Back came a legal letter demanding Crowe's name be withdrawn from the book for fear of holding him up to ridicule and damaging his reputation. Proszenko tried to speak to Crowe, hoping to resolve the situation but was told it wasn't possible for ''legal reasons''. Rather than risk a potentially costly court case, he and publisher Allen & Unwin opted to remove all references to Crowe. ''I was genuinely surprised by his response,'' Proszenko said. - Thanks, Kris C

November 12

Examiner.com (Pittsburgh) - Russell Crowe and the old banjo [Mr Nice Guy!] - Thanks, Steph, Anne S [Link to the Pittsburgh Guitars Store - a neat place]

Scott Related: The LA Times: Ridley Scott is rolling the dice on a 'Monopoly' movie and here's why [UPDATED]

Your Fox Chapel: Crowe's latest film gets Sharpsburg on big screen - [nice story] - Thanks, Cindy

Related - People Mag: Ron Livingston Gets Married (To Rosemary DeWitt - (Cinderella Man) - Thanks, Marilyn

The SMH: Wharf residents join battle over waste fees -- A FIGHT between some of Sydney's wealthiest apartment dwellers and the city council over whom they pay to take away their rubbish has drawn in the owners of the exclusive Finger Wharf apartments at Woolloomooloo, who include the actor Russell Crowe and retired broadcaster John Laws. The Herald revealed last week that residents of one of Sydney's most exclusive apartment blocks, The Tower on Market Street, were locked in a dispute with the City of Sydney over an annual waste levy of $201 per person for a rubbish removal service the council does not carry out. - Thanks, Kris C

November 11 - Happy birthday Keith - Remember our veterans

From Judy: The November 16-22, 2009 issue of "TV Guide Magazine" has a short interview with Olivia Wilde.  This is what she said about working with Russell: "You just finished filming a thriller, "The Next Three Days", with Russell Crowe.  Any scenes with him?  All of them!  In the middle of a scene, I would suddenly be thinking to myself, "Oh, my God, oh, my God."

Related: Ben Foster -- Time Out New York : Ben Foster finally takes the lead -- "...Reached by phone while on a press tour, Moverman, 43, remembers his first impression of Foster. “I saw 3:10 to Yuma [in which he plays Russell Crowe’s psychotic comrade] and I was blown away. But I didn’t even look up his name. I just filed the experience away. Then while short-listing people for my film, the casting director mentioned Ben, and I got so excited. When we first met he looked me in the eye and had so much intensity, so much heart. We spent six hours drinking, and I felt, This can work.” - Thanks, Kris C

November 10

ifolio: I have been out on the town with Russell Crowe (a long time ago) - Thanks, Steph

bleacherreport.com: Rugby Cheerleaders: The Hottest Women You Never Knew Existed -- "...Russell Crowe owns a team and got rid of the cheerleaders because he said they were too distracting. After I heard all this, I definitely had to check these girls out for myself and they live up to the hype." - Thanks, Kris C

The UK Times: The 100 Best Films released in the UK from 2000-2009 -- 32 - Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000) The sheer audacity! Taking a dead genre — the sword’n’sandals movie — and not just reviving it, but creating an Oscar-winning box-office sensation into the bargain. - Thanks, Allison

November 9

BBC: Robin Hood role for sword fighter - Thanks, Steph

The Post Gazette: Movie causes traffic shifts Downtown - Thanks, Cindy

Screen Daily: Optimism creeps back into AFM as market enters home stretch -- Buyers have flocked to Mandate International’s Paul Haggis film The Next Three Days with Russell Crowe, ... The Film Catalogue -- Thanks, Maria

Lionsgate Investors: "Mandate’s third arm is its highly profitable international distribution business. The company distributes major feature films in the world marketplace, creating an important independent profit center for Lionsgate. Mandate recently achieved record international sales at the American Film Market for its slate of films. The Mandate International brand is so prestigious that, shortly after the acquisition, Lionsgate and Mandate unified their international theatrical sales teams under the Mandate International banner."

Contact Music: Crowe bought Banks a bike - Thanks, Kris C, Lui

November 8

Related: (Mark Strong (BOL), Rachel McAdams (SOP) - the new Sherlock Holmes Trailer

Russell will be out on the Pittsburgh bridges today, speeding again with Elizabeth?

My Pittsburgh page has been updated with a link to images of a WW1 plaque in front of St Mary's of the Mount Church in Mount Washington. My mother's name is on it - Helen Burrey, Army Nurse.

November 7

IMDb: TN3D message board - :) Russell Crowe and Brian Dennehy filming in Sharpsburg, PA yesterday. In a very tiny house. Don't know how they fit actors and cameras and crew in that house. For now, everyone remains very laid back and smiling. - Thanks, Cindy

Direct link to Elizabeth Bank's great interview on Leno about Russell and her filming TN3D - Thanks, CGee

From Darrin: "Thanks to a head's-up from Murph, I was able to record the Elizabeth Banks appearance on the Jay Leno Show last night where she told two stories about Russell!  One is about the fender bender and what REALLY happened, along with pix! I'm sure they'll make their way to YouTube eventually as they do, but as always, if you see them there, please be sure that the YouTube'r has credited Constant Crowe. Thank you for your help with this!"

The Pittsburgh Channel.com: Russell Crowe Movie Will Shut Down Pittsburgh Bridges -- Four Pittsburgh bridges will be closed at various times on Sunday because of filming for the new Russell Crowe movie, "The Next Three Days." Thanks, Steph

LAC/author related: Review in the Guardian of Blood's a Rover by James Elroy -- "...Ellroy began his trilogy after finishing the quartet of Los Angeles-set crime novels that made him famous, in which plotlines concerning serial killers, police corruption and shady political manoeuvrings gradually thicken and merge and turn out to be connected by long-buried master-crimes. Two of the LA books have three main figures who take turns as the focal character, and all four of them incorporate real-life people and events into the carefully organised layers of fantasy." 

November 6

ed note: Elizabeth Banks talks about "Freaking Russell Crowe!" tonight on Jay Leno. Saw a bit on Law and Order.Reuters: Lionsgate Music - (Scroll) - Additional upcoming projects include the Jim Sheridan film BROTHERS,
scheduled for release in December featuring music from U2, as well as music for such upcoming films as
THE EXPENDABLES, starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and Jet Li, FIVE KILLERS, starring Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher, KICK-ASS, starring Nicolas Cage, and Academy Award® winning director Paul Haggis' THE NEXT THREE DAYS, starring Russell Crowe. - Thanks, Kris CVariety International: U.S. production shuts out Australia - Production falls from $227 million to $20 million

November 5 - Top of the world - Yankees win!

[ed note: I no longer have a Twitter account. I still am on Facebook, but not accepting any more new friends at the moment]

The Australian: AC/DC is now the highest-earning Australian entertainer, with more to come - Russell Crowe is the top-ranking actor with estimated earnings of $25m, while Nicole Kidman dropped to ninth in the list with $11m, trailing her husband, musician Keith Urban, with an estimated $20m. - Thanks, Allison, Kris C

Clothes on film: BOL - Body of Lies: Mark Strong in Huntsman - Thanks, Allison (Huntsman site)

Related - Pittsburgh: Three Rivers Film Festival casts a wider net - Thanks, Kris C

November 4

Real Estate Source au: PRC, Russell Crowe, Tipped to Bid For $15 Million Bellevue Hill Mansion, Sydney - More on the mansion - Thanks, Maria

Thoroughly Russell Crowe: November Crowe Calendar

November 3 (USA residents - Don't forget to vote)

Broadcastnow.co.uk: Liza Marshall quits as head of C4 drama -- Marshall is stepping down to become head of film and TV at Scott Free, the London and Los Angeles-based production company owned by Hollywood directors Ridley and Tony Scott.... Scott Free has a number of feature films and television programmes in development and production, including Cracks (directed by Ridley’s daughter, Jordan) and the latest big screen adaptation of Robin Hood, helmed by Ridley and starring Russell Crowe. - Thanks, Steph

The Independent UK: The 30th annual AFM (November 4-11) will screen 455 films for the consideration of distributors and exhibitors around the world. With 8,000 attendees from 70 countries, film buyers and producers meet and greet to buy and sell at this insider event. ... Here are some titles expected to create a buzz for 2010 releases: - The Next Three Days, directed by Paul Haggis (Crash) and starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks, this thriller based on the French film Pour Elle. - Thanks, Allison

You can wish Keith a happy birthday (11/11) at this Yuku Topic

Kaspinet has updated her site. Great images

Related - The AFP: Blanchett smolders in US in 'Streetcar Named Desire' -- WASHINGTON — Australian star Cate Blanchett is winning standing ovations and rave reviews from US audiences for her heart-rending performance in the Tennessee Williams classic "A Streetcar Named Desire." More than 60 years after the play debuted on Broadway, Blanchett and her Sydney Theatre Company Saturday launched 24 performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, all of which are already sold out. - Thanks, Cindy

November 2

Times on line: The Biggest movies of 2010 - 3 Robin Hood - Ridley Scott directs Russell Crowe in a revisionist take on the classic English legend. Matthew McFadyen is the Sherriff of Nottingham, confounding earlier rumours that Crowe would play both outlaw and oppressor. Cate Blanchett replaces Sienna Miller as a widowed Maid Marian. The title ‘Maid’ may raise some eyebrows there. Due in mid-May this will almost certainly be one of the most talked-about film releases of the year. - Thanks, Allison
The Mayo News: MUSIC Size2Shoes, the band with a star-studded following - Hollywood actor Russell Crowe is also a huge fan of Size2Shoes, and the brothers have jammed with him on several occasions. “I’m a huge fan of Size2Shoes,” says Crowe. “From the inspired mastery of their harmonies, to the streetwise intellect of their humours. Unique, unaffected, awesome.” Next year, they are heading to Australia to record their second album at Crowe’s private studio. -- Thanks, All - The band's page at MySpace - Thanks, StephRabbitohs.com: Rabbitohs Back for 2010ed note: Just wishing --- That Russell will star in Ridley's remake of Red Riding. Just a wish after watching the whole wonderful, disturbing trilogy on PAL DVDThe Post-Gazette: The Morning File: If you're not worried about the swine flu, start paying attention (to something else) -- This new illness (pronounced correctly as either "hini" or "hone-none") is about as dangerous as swine flu. It should discourage you even from shaking hands with Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington or Jake Gyllenhaal if you run into them during their local filming. If a Hollywood star does interrupt a scene to try to shake hands with you, as they often do to try to curry favor with fans, just give a polite salute or curtsy or run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. - Thanks, Kris CRelated: The Mail UK -- Want to live on a film set? How Hollywood is bringing New Orleans, Paris and Berlin to a location near you For the masterminds of Pinewood Studios' new makeover, bringing New Orleans, Paris and Berlin  -  as well as several other world 'environments'  -  to Buckinghamshire isn't enough. As James Delingpole reports, they want us to live there too - Thanks, Cindy

November 1

BBC iPlayer - High Flight (Hear Russell reciting HERE) - Thanks, Christine (Trailer for For The Moment HERE)

BOL premieres on HBO TV on December 12 - Thanks, Kris C

Latino Review.com: Robin Hood Writers Talk About Robin Hood - -- "Nottingham was about us both wanting to see a new and different version of a classic old story retold. The truth is the movie Ridley Scott made doesn't have all that much to do with the script we sold to Universal, in the midst of a bidding war with various other Hollywood studios, about 3 years ago. Our script was told from the Sheriff of Nottingham's POV (thereby the title), and Russell Crowe signed on to play the part of the Sheriff, who was the hero of our screenplay. There are a few things remaining in the movie which had their origin in our script, like including Eleanor of Aquitaine (mother of Richard the Lionhearted and Prince, later King, John) as a key character in a Robin Hood movie for the first time (at least that I know of), plus the movie would never have been made to being with if Russell Crowe hadn't signed on to play the Sheriff in our original script. I guess for us, without having seen the movie, it's a mix of triumph and frustration. Triumph because we got the ball rolling that led to a massive Medieval period piece being made with an excellent cast by arguably one of the greatest directors in movie history, but also frustration in that the world will never see the original movie we wrote. But we did get paid, so I'm not complaining. Once they bought it, Universal had the right to do whatever they wanted with our script." - Thanks, Steph