As Russell Crowe’s expanding waistline has dominated the headlines surrounding the release of his last two films, “Body of Lies,” and “State of Play,” entertainment industry writers have not failed to seize on the weight gain as Crowe’s first step off the A-list (the New York Times even going as far as running an entire piece on the affair of tumescent leading men in their Arts section). But the star has temporary silenced those critics with the first release of a set photo from Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood,” that features the Aussie looking like the studly Crowe who drew massive crowds with “Gladiator.”
The L.A. Times Patrick Goldstein, not content with Universal’s explanation for the photos as simply promotion for the film, has his own conspiracy theory which links the “Robin Hood” stills to the recent grumblings about Crowe’s weight. Goldstein via his blog claims that the picture was not put out to act as a promo for the film, but may have been an attempt by Crowe to save face and exercise some damage control by showing the press the fruits of his recent weight loss.
We think the interesting story behind the promo picture isn’t the possible existence of weight loss conspiracy theories but the fact that as Robin Hood, Crowe appears as though he is simply reprising his role from Ridley Scott’s massive hit, “Gladiator.” Apparently the similarities may not be a coincidence as Jeffrey Wells claims to have a source that said, “Everthing in Robin Hood– the hairstyles, the music and the aesthetics — will make it play like an unofficial sequel to Gladiator. This is no accident. It’s a commercial mandate and was part of the scripting delay.”
Ugh (“Gladiator” is fun, though way overrated too). But it makes sense, the audiences have spoken and it is clear they don’t want to see Crowe actually act, but would much rather him recycle to same, like totally badass character over and over again, regardless of dramatic relevance, for the rest of his career (for the record he’s excellent in both ‘Play’ and ‘Lies,’ dare we say underrated in both). Sigh…
The “Untitled Robin Hood Adventure” has a tentative release date of May 14th, 2010.
Great to hear your thoughts on all this, especially about Russell being underrated in Body of Lies and State of Play. Sometimes it seems as though, despite his talent(or maybe because of it), Russell Crowe simply cannot win with the press. They see a single photo of him and simply make up their own stories to surround it.
What’s with all this Russell Crowe is fat talk? Was he heavier than normal in Body of Lies, yes, but that was for the character and it was no more than what he was in The Insider. Truth is Crowe has never been really lean (I think Romper Stomper was the leanest I’ve seen him), but also never fat either. It seems his normal body type is the stout type in LA Confidential and Gladiator, so whenever he changes that just a little people freak out? So Christian Bale can drop to a twig in The Machinist, and Jared Leto can blout up for Chapter 29, but Crowe can’t deviate a little without people making it a big deal? Tough crowd.
PS…look for a much heavier Matt Damon in The Informant.
Crowe never repeats a character. Think for a moment about all his roles….. he’s a chameleon, and creates original looks, behaviors and mannerisms for each film.
While it’s natural to equate his hair [period correct for medieval fighters, which Robin is supposed to be, just returning from a Crusade] in the Robin Hood sneak look with Maximus, I think the only similarity between the characters will be that both projects are period action/romantic/adventure films.
For years, some narrow minded entertainment writers and bloggers have been hoping Crowe would return to that genre of film… now that he has, he’s being criticized. He just can’t win.
Russell Crowe is one of the best — if not the best — actors currently working in Hollywood. He was terrific in both State of Play and Body of Lies. Body of Lies, overall, is a disgustingly underrated movie. Why so many people hate on that film is beyond me.
This new Robin Hood will be, in all likelihood, extremely awesome.