Still Crowe-ing
Does Bill Bryson bring Russell Crowe to mind? For some book reviewers, anything south of the equator can be connected with the Edge’s hunkiest export.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Sssshhh! Silence is Regulated Golden
A multiplex in Birmingham banning kissing in its cinemas prompted the BBC to investigate cinema etiquette leading them to uncover the news that an independent cinema in Wellington, New Zealand, banned crisps from its…
Crowe Songs Attract Flock of Acolytes
Crowds packed, paid up to $300 and queued for up to 12 hours to get into Stubb’s Bar-B-Q in Austin, Texas, for a performance by an unknown country-rock band called Thirty Odd Foot of…
Russell Crowe: Hollywood Actor of the Year
Russell Crowe was named Hollywood Actor of the Year at the Hollywood Film Festival Awards held at the Beverly Hilton on August 7th. Internet users voted online at Entertainment Tonight site ETonline.com and Reel.com…
Sam Neill: vintage celebrity
The Telegraph investigates the latest celebrity trend: the wine-making lifestyle: accessorise with vines, winery and bottling linel. Kiwi Sam Neill makes the star vigneron along with Aussie golfer Greg Norman, French actor Gerrard Depardieu,…
Anna’s new rhythm
Vanity Fair profiles the maturing of Kiwi actress Anna Paquin, from precocious Oscar winner in Jane Campion’s The Piano, to upcoming roles in Bryan Singer’s blockbusting sci-fi flick X-Men and Cameron Crowe’s 70’s rock…
Natural History New Zealand double Emmy nomination
Natural History New Zealand writers Ian McGee (who won NZ’s first Emmy last year) and Quinn Berentson were nominated for their for an episode “The Rat” in the 13 part series Twisted Tales co-produced…
Cate Blanchett Talks About Me, My Elf and I
Blanchett, Academy Award nominated for her performance in Elizabeth is in the final stages of filming another Queen, the role of elf Galadriel in Lord of the Rings. Blanchett explains why an attraction to…
More *Aussies* to join
Putting more Kiwis in Kangeroo skins and calling them Aussies, news.com.au reports that four more ‘Australian’ actors have been added to the cast of George Lucas next Star Wars movie, including Martin Csokas, formerly…
Wellywood
Hobbits boost the local carpentry trade: “They haven’t begun construction of a new Hollywood sign yet on the steep hills that encircle New Zealand`s capital city of Wellington, but it would not be surprising…
Bean Says Boromir No Gamble in Lord of the Rings
Sean Bean has trodden the tightrope between Hollywood Bond villain and small budget independent movies enough times to know that the movie world has its ups and downs, but he says “it’s definitely worth…
“It’ll make Star Wars look like a weekend in the lavatory”
Ian Holm, the British actor who plays Bilbo Baggins, oozes enthusiasm about Peter Jackson’s big-budget adaptation of the Lord of the Rings. “There are 130 special effects people and it’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant.”
Rogue Paquin: mutant rebel with a cause
Paquin stars in Bryan Singer’s blockbuster adaptation of the comic X-Men. In the high tech parable of good and evil, Paquin offers “a surprisingly poignant performance.” Expressing well the hazards of being an adolescent…
John Clarke Throws a Gumboot at Australian PM
New Zealand comedian John Clarke has demonstrated “speechwriting at its finest” in the ABC TV spoof about the Sydney Olympics, The Games. Penning the words for John Howard, actor, Clarke showed John Howard, Prime…
The Outsider: Huck Finn on Heroin
Alison Maclean brings verge vision to the story of an American outsider. Jesus’ Son, an adaptation of a story by cult American author Dennis Johnson, is about a 7’s junkie who finds redemption. The…
Bilbo buzz spawns rumour about a hoard of treasure
The Lord of the Rings folklore continues to spread. Fox chronicles the Ring rage: the record breaking previews, websites, esoteric and precious fans, mammoth investment and eager anticipation that the project has spawned. “To…
Cate’s Elvish Ways: standing up for the sisters in
Cate Blanchett, playing the role of the enigmatic and beautiful elf queen Gandriel in Lord of the Rings, found a unique way of keeping up with the lads on set – she wore platform…
Peter Jackson: “One of the Most Creative Directors Around”
Chicago Tribune, backs the talent of Jackson and a “top notch cast” as Hollywood indemnity for the Lord of the Rings. Jackson was recently voted 7th most promising director for the 21st century in…
Jesus and the Second Coming
Kiwi director Alison Maclean wowed Cannes with the moody Crush, then took a seven year maturing process, through Sex and the City, Homicide and a Natalie Imbruglia music video, to release the indie-hit Jesus’…
Rogue Anna Paquin is Premiere Cover mutant
Playing the character of ‘Rogue’ in Bryan Singer’s (Usual Suspects) blockbuster adaptation of comic legend X-Men, Anna Paquin makes the special edition cover of July’s Premiere. Like Paquin’s Oscar winning acting talent, Rogue is…
Romance and roadkill in
Director Alison Maclean’s edge aesthetic gets sharper: described by the New Yorker as having a “big messy emotional talent”, she is thrilled that audiences are connecting with the romance rather than the wierdness. But…
From One Edge to Another to Take up the Haka Challenge
From Vancouver on the edge of the Atlantic, director Jonathan Tammuz will continue a global roll to the edge of the Pacific to direct “Haka” an 1850s-set $30million British production. The production will be…
The Ubiquitous Crowe Tabloid Dispatch
“Hollywood’s golden girl Meg in marriage split … Crowe has become Hollywood’s latest heart-throb since starring as Maximus, in the summer’s most successful blockbuster. Ryan is reported to have spent considerable time with Crowe…
Sam Neill: walking with the dinosaurs … again
Kiwi Neill has become the first major actor to sign on for more encounters with a blue screed/rampaging dinosaurs in Jurassic Park 3. He will reprise his role as Dr. Alan Grant from the…
Hollywood Hobbit Brings Trouble to Middle Earth
Literary fans who are devoted to the purity of Tolkien’s Middle Earth ouevre are angry at rumours that Frodo Baggins is ready to flirt. The introduction of glamorous Hollywood stars such as Liv Tyler…
Maclean movie puts the art before the horse
Feed gets a shot in the arm from director Alison Maclean. “We all know what to expect from ’70s smack movies. So why is Jesus’ Son so unexpectedly good? Maclean’s movie, like the much…
Tolkien epic is lord of the net
The $200m epic, in production in New Zealand and not due for release for a year and a half, is already burgling box-office treasure and causing a storm on the internet, with a promotional trailer breaking…
Bonding Bungee Brings Together Father and Son Film-makers
Award-winning doco “Pop & Me” charts father/son relationships around the world as the father/son makers work out their own. The film’s defining moment comes when Chris persuades his Dad join him in a tandem…
“All You Sweet Girls With Your Sweet Talk”
Known for her willingness to thematically peer over the edge ‘to the centre in her head’, Maclean is attracting attention for Jesus’ Son (starring Billy Cudrup and Samantha Morton). The film, about alienation, ennui…
Alison Maclean gives
The story of a grunged out herion addict ‘FH’ (Billy Cudrup), based on the stories of Dennis Johnson and inspired by the Lou Reed lyric, also stars Oscar nominated Samantha Morton, Holly Hunter and…
Gandalf: Lord of the Seas
Sir Ian McKellen takes a break on Auckland Harbour from playing the wise wizard Gandalf in the 16 month long shoot of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. He is immersing himself in the…
Heavenly Creatures: In New York not all angels are innocent
From New York Daily News TV preview: “Lynskey and future “Titanic” star Winslet are phenomenal as two alienated teens in 1950s New Zealand who construct their own, ultimately lethal fantasy world in Peter Jackson’s…
New Zealand: Hottest destination of movie makers
It’s official: Bollywood star Hritihik Roshan has been made a singing-dancing- fighting icon in the Bollywood smash hit Kaho Naa … Pyar Hai (Say you Love me), a romantic musical thriller shot in the…
Niccol turns into Hollywood gold
Kiwi Andrew Niccol is to write and direct ‘the Hollywood project’, rumoured to star Al Pacino as a down and out movie producer. Niccol was Oscar nominated for the screenplay to The Truman Show and…
Russell Crowe maximises his earnings
“What we do in life echoes in eternity,” Russell Crowe as General Maximus says while admonishing his battle-ready troops in Gladiator. And what we do at the box office echoes in our paychecks”.
Roman in gloamin’ ?
Russell Crowe is being hailed here as the best-looking guy in a skirt since Mel Gibson. The showbiz press have gone crazy over the New Zealander’s performance in Gladiator, just like Mel’s in Braveheart. …
G’Day Caesar
Crowe’s accent crosses the expanses of the globe and the distance of time in the Gladiator – Owen Duggan corrects the notion that it’s Bondi-based, and Christine Kenneally muses on the sound of things ancient…
Rome with a View
Ridley Scott’s exhilarating and ferocious Gladiator brings the epic back to life. The movie is dominated by Russell Crowe’s towering Maximus, a man of intelligence, probity and Roman virtue. He’s the most virile presence…
The Hobbit; Or, There and Back Again…Already?
Currently being filmed in New Zealand on a mammoth 18 month shoot, the first film won’t even be released until Christmas 2001. Despite this the film’s official site is up and running. “Preview” footage…
Star Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott: an irresistible pairing
“Scott, the big name auteur, and Crowe, the acting wunderkind, in the same room. The director, with his well-bred English manners, and the thespian, with his New Zealander ease and laconic wit, are a…
Tragic death of activist remembered in Punitive Damage.
The Kiwi-made documentary traces the life and tragic death of Kamal Badmadhaj, slaughtered in the 1991 Dili Cemetery Massacre by the Indonesian military. The film won the Audience Award at the 1999 Sydney International Film Festival…
Russell Crowe: A Gladiator Even a Woman Could Love
“Why would a woman want to see Gladiator: 1. It’s a love story. Really. 2. An intelligent female character. 3. Russell Crowe … Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, Crowe’s got that take-no-mess…
Fresh Crowe Conquers in Revival of Old-genre
“I just thought he was fresh, a new generation, he’s a man who’s on his way up,” says Ridley Scott, of Russell Crowe, the Gladiator’s 36-year-old New Zealand star.
Even Better than the Real Thing:
When Ridley Scott wanted to recreate the Colosseum he stayed well clear of Rome, preferring to leave the real Colosseum to the tourists. Instead he used computer imaging and sets in Malta and Surrey….
Down-Under achievers: Which actor wasn’t born in Australia quiz? Answer: Russell Crowe is originally from New Zealand.
Answer: Russell Crowe is originally from New Zealand. (4 May 2000)
Edge living: Roman style
From whistle-blower to tiger-slayer, countless billboards are proclaiming a new hero. But despite the many high-tech advances made since the earlier cinematic days of the wide-screen Roman Empire, at least one fact remains the same:…
When Love Comes to Boston
New Zealand film When Love Comes about a “group of free spirits and sexual stripes” chosen to show at Boston gay and lesbian film and video Festival at Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The…
“To Die or Not to Die – Very Good Question”
Gladiator features breathtaking photography, sets and computer generated images. But the real glory of the show is Russell Crowe who is simply magnificent … Like James Mason, he is one of those actors who…
Short
New Zealand director James Cunningham’s short film – a digital action thriller about a mutant hero that invades a computer system to destroy student loans – has been selected to compete in the prestigious…
Russell’s a lot to Crowe About
“Unlikely Hollywood hunk Russell Crowe may well have saved his best work for his latest film, a career-capping turn as an enslaved general in Ridley Scott’s sensational sword-and-sandal epic Gladiator“.
No Roman holiday and no soccer!
Crowe show he’s no slave and rebels against producer’s request: ”I mean, they’d let me run in front of chariots, wrestle tigers, and do battle with 5,000 men in the snow and mud. The…
Russell reasserts his edge roots
“Hollywood is carving a bust for Crowe in the action-hero pantheon, but Crowe is keeping his distance. “I’d move to Los Angeles if Australia and New Zealand were swallowed up by a huge tidal…
Magnetic Maximus unleashes Hell to please the masses in
Apart from its spectacular visuals the film’s other strength is its acting, “… but everyone else can step aside for Crowe. “Gladiator” should make the Oscar-nominated actor an international star. When he’s in a…
Veni, Vidi, Vici
Russell Crowe’s star-making turn reviewed in People, “Gladiator’s pull is potent, thanks to the razzle-dazzle fight scenes (the opening battle rivals that in Saving Private Ryan) and a magnetic performance by Crowe (The Insider),…
“In New Zealand if you asked for a coffee, it was a teaspoon of Nescafe.”
Kings Cross, 1986, newly arrived struggling actor waiting tables: an American customer orders a decaf coffee. “Suddenly I’m faced with long black, short black, cappuccino, and cafe latte – plus decaffeinated. So I take her…
“I wanna be Marlon Brando”…
sang Russell Crowe years ago when he was an aspiring rock star in New Zealand – the idea no longer seems absurd as Crowe brings an intensity and commitment to his craft that sometimes…
