In some way or the other, Russell Crowe evokes archetypal memories of Greek-Roman gods and figurines. His career-defining role of the Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic directed by Ridley Scott, ‘Gladiator’ cemented his legendary, archetypal image. Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Crowe moved to Sydney, Australia, at the age of 5 with his parents, who were caterers on film sets. The Crowe family returned to New Zealand in the late-70s. The young man discovered his passion for music and released the single ‘I Want to Be Like Marlon Brando’ under the name Rus le Roc in 1980. He launched a band called 30 Odd Foot of Grunts along with a friend and served as a singer, guitarist and songwriter for the next couple of years. But he couldn’t resist the call of films and returned to Australia during the early ‘80s.
Crowe’s first acting role was in the 1983 musical ‘Grease.’ After a short sting with a touring theater, he landed first feature film role in ‘Blood Oath.’ His breakout role came with the 1992 movie ‘Proof,’ in which the actor played the role of a naive dishwasher. Crowe took Hollywood by storm with his 1995 American Western film ‘The Quick and the Dead.’ He played a major role in the flick alongside Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman and Leonardo DiCaprio. Movies like ‘Virtuosity,’ ‘Rough Magic’ and ‘Breaking Up’ soon followed. ‘The Insider,’ which was directed by Michael Mann and starred Al Pacino, became pivotal in Crowe’s career in the late-90s.
His career was elevated to new heights the 2000 historical epic ‘Gladiator,’ which earned five Oscars including Best Actor for Crowe. He fixed his place among the all-time greats of Hollywood with films like ‘Romper Stomper’ (1992), ‘L.A. Confidential’ (1997), ‘Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World’ (2003), ‘Cinderella Man’ (2005), ‘American Gangster’ (2007), ‘State of Play’ (2009), ‘Robin Hood’ (2010), ‘Les Misérables’ (2012), and ‘Man of Steel’ (2013).
In 2014, Crowe made his feature directorial debut with the film ‘The Water Diviner.’ The drama, which follows a father desperately searching for his lost sons in a war-torn Europe, met with positive reviews. Crowe returned to the familiar turf of playing emotionally complex characters with the 2015 flick ‘Fathers and Daughters.’ He is one of the few actors in Hollywood who are comfortable playing characters with troubled minds. At this point you must be wondering what is the next Russell Crowe movie or TV show? Well, here’s the list of upcoming Russell Crowe films and TV shows scheduled to release in 2019 and 2020. We can only hope that the latest Russell Crowe movies would be as good as some of his recent ones.
4. The Loudest Voice (2019 – )
Russell Crowe steps into the shoes of one of the most controversial figures in the history of American media — Roger Ailes, the founder of Fox News in ‘The Loudest Voice.’ The Showtime series is based on the book ‘The Loudest Voice in the Room’ by Gabriel Sherman. The plot chronicles Ailes’ meteoric rise to power in Fox News and his aggressive media campaigns during the presidential election which earned him the tag “de facto leader” of the Republican Party. But the media mogul fell from the prime of his reign when Gretchen Carlson (Naomi Watts), a former Miss America and anchor of the popular show ‘Fox and Friends,’ turned up with serious sexual harassment allegations against Ailes. She revealed that Ailes fired her from Fox News after she denied his sexual demands. Following Carlson’s lead, other women also turned up with shocking revelations that forced Ailes to step down in 2016. He died of a heart attack later.
