Russell Crowe sees music as a key creative outlet
Russell Crowe relishes being the frontman of the rock band Indoor Garden Party.
Russell Crowe relishes the challenge of being a frontman in a rock band.
The Oscar-winning star is the frontman of a band called Indoor Garden Party, and Russell admits that music provides a key creative outlet for him.
The 61-year-old film star told People: "It's my theatre. I've done straight theatre, I've done musical theatre and I've done all that. But I started playing in rock and roll bands, and it's a very easy point of comfort."
Russell explained that starring in a rock band contrasts sharply with his "life on a film set and how scheduled it is".
The Hollywood star added: "You are on a train, and you're going to travel on that train, and at every given day, you have to give over to the schedule, give up the needs of the character, what the producer wants, what the director wants, what the DP requires, what your other cast might require. That's what you're doing."
Russell describes performing in front of a live crowd as "anarchy".
He explained: "That's why I do it. It's that kind of unknown factor response from the audience and what you create together between the band and the audience is slightly different every time."
Meanwhile, Russell previously rubbished suggestions that he's a perfectionist on set.
Asked whether the description was accurate, he told British GQ magazine: "That’s so silly, because perfectionists tend to not do anything because nothing’s ever right for them. But while we’re here, and we’ve got the camera, and the lights are set up, and there’s a few hundred people, why don’t we do this until we know it’s a good version of what we’re trying to do?
"It’s not an irrational thought process at all. Ridley Scott once said to me, before we even started shooting together, 'I like how your head works – if you think of something, if you see something wrong, you have to tell me. If you tell me a good idea in post-production, I will f****** hate you forever.'"
Russell also pushed back against perceptions that he's not very happy.
The movie star said: "I’ve been unreasonably happy for most of my life.
"I know that bothers some people, but that’s just not my problem. I pursue creatively and artistically what I want to do, and I have done that for probably about 35 years, you know? I do it unapologetically. And my choices are always freaking people out.
"2011: I went to China and I made The Man With the Iron Fists, directed by RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan. People were like, 'What the hell are you doing that for?' And I was like: 'Well, I really believe in Bobby Diggs, RZA, I definitely know that he’s got a director’s brain and that he understands film, and when else am I ever gonna get to play a character like this?'"
