Russell Crowe: Jerkus Maximus?

A fascinating glimpse of life inside Maximus Crowe's world (dinner with KEVIN SPACEY, concerts at his private "farm") is recounted by reporter JACK MARX in Australia's "Sydney Herald." Jack talks about how the "Cinderfella" woos gossip columnists and others to write puff pieces about him and then throws temper tantrums when he doesn't like how things sound. He also talks about the infamous "phone-throwing" incident in which Russell threw a hotel phone at a NY concierge because he couldn't reach Australia from his room phone. Later, he waged a "nice guy" campaign to cover it up. Jack writes:

"It was during these times that I saw evidence of something that made me wince -- Crowe's bizarre propensity for nickel-and-dime media manipulation. It seemed Russell was running his own parallel, one-man PR fix-it campaign. He'd go through the daily papers and call journalists in person, chastising them for perceived inexactitudes. There was nothing morally corrupt about this, but I found it a silly pastime for a man of his stature. Sometimes it did him no service at all."

Read the whole story here.

posted by Roxie @ 11:55 AM