According to a new book, Russell Crowe threatened to kill a veteran producer with his own hands during a 3 a.m. phone call while filming his Oscar-winning role in Gladiator.
In her new book The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks, journalist Nicole LaPorte describes the episode.
According to the book, Russell believed that his assistants were underpaid, so he called 77-year-old producer Branko Lustig at 3 a.m. and told him, “You mother******. I will kill you with my bare hands.”
Lustig, an Auschwitz survivor, was then said to have called Steven Spielberg, whose DreamWorks firm was sponsoring the picture, and requested to leave the set.
‘Steven,’ he said. ‘I’m leaving. Russell wants to kill me. I’m leaving.’
The actor’s representative in Australia, on the other hand, denied the charges.
“I’ve been told that Amazon already has the book discounted. Go figure out,” the representative said.
The book primarily focuses on Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the three men that founded Dreamworks.
Crowe’s initial apprehension when asked by director Ridley Scott to say what would become Gladiator’s most iconic piece of dialogue: “And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next,” is revealed in the book.
Crowe, 46, allegedly believed the phrase was absurd and had to be persuaded to film the sequence, according to author Nicole LaPorte.
He told Scott, “It was s–t… but I’m the greatest actor in the world and I can make even s–t sound good.”
Gladiator won five Oscars after its debut in 2000, including best actor for Crowe, who LaPorte claims walked off set twice during filming. The actor responded to the allegations on Twitter, saying, “On Gawker/Defamer, book re dreamworks If mentions of me are eg’s of distance from the truth waste of paper written by a lying horse’s ass.”
Crowe, who was born in Australia, is known in the film industry for his short temper.
He was charged with assault in New York in 2005 after hurling a phone at a hotel clerk who refused to assist him in making a call to Australia.
He was filmed yelling about a BBC producer who had taken out part of his remarks during an award acceptance speech three years prior at the Bafta Awards in London.
