**December 26**

SAG noms a holiday gift for Lionsgate
(hollywoodreporter)
Article HERE

**December 24**

Tennyson Crowe's Perfect Pout
(justjared) 23 December 2007 at 11:41 pm
Russell Crowe has a ball (literally) during a family outing at the Sydney Botanical Garden in Australia with wife, Danielle Spencer, and their two sons, Charles, who just turned 4 this past Friday, and Tennyson, almost 18 months. Both kids look like they're having loads of fun and how cute is tiny Tennyson!? It was reported last week that Ben Affleck will be replacing Edward Norton in the film version of UK's BBC TV drama State of Play. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Affleck will take on the role of a US congressman embroiled in a conspiracy after Norton asked to leave the political thriller. Brad Pitt pulled out of the project in November, to be replaced by Russell Crowe.










**December 23**

Russell Crowe links with Ridley Scott again
(couriermail.com.au)
IT'S a variation on a very old gag, but rumour has it that someone exists who claims he once saw a movie starring Russell Crowe that was not directed by Ridley Scott. All the article  HERE



NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 14th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS
12/20/2007
(sagawards.org)
Actor Awards Ceremony will be Simulcast Live on Sunday, Jan. 27, on TNT and TBS at 8 PM ET/PT, 7 PM CT, 6 PM MT

Los Angeles, California - Nominations for the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® for outstanding performances in 2007 in five film and eight primetime television categories and for the new SAG honors for film and television stunt ensembles were announced this morning in Los Angeles at the Pacific Design Center’s Silver Screen Theater in West Hollywood. Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg introduced Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love) and Actor® recipient Terrence Howard (The Brave One), who announced the nominees for this year’s Actors®. SAG Awards™ Committee member JoBeth Williams and Committee Vice Chair Daryl Anderson announced the stunt ensemble nominees. Screen Actors Guild will honor its own and celebrate the 75th anniversary of its founding at the 14th Annual Actors® ceremony on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008, at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center, simulcast live nationally on TNT and TBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. CT, and 6 p.m. MT. Recipients of the stunt ensemble honors will be announced from the SAG Awards™ red carpet during the TNT.TV and TBS.COM live pre-show webcasts. Of the top industry accolades presented to performers, only the Screen Actors Guild Awards® are selected purely by actors’ peers. Two randomly selected panels–one for television and one for film--each comprised of 2,100 Guild members from across the United States, chose this year’s Actor® and stunt honors nominees. The secret ballots were mailed Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007 by Integrity Voting Systems, the Awards’ official teller. Voting was completed by noon Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007. Awards ballots will be mailed on Friday, Dec. 28, 2007. The entire active membership of the Guild across the country will vote on all categories. Votes must be received by Integrity Voting Systems by noon Friday, Jan. 25, where results will be tallied and sealed until they are opened by the presenters at the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® ceremonies on Jan. 27. The Screen Actors Guild Post-Awards Gala, benefiting the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, will be hosted for the 12th consecutive year by PEOPLE Magazine and by the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF). The complete list of nominations for the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® follows. A replay of both announcements will be available for viewing on TNT.TV and TBS.COM.
14th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS NOMINATIONS

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

3:10 TO YUMA (Lionsgate)
CHRISTIAN BALE / Dan Evans
RUSSELL CROWE / Ben Wade
PETER FONDA / Byron McElroy
GRETCHEN MOL / Alice Evans
DALLAS ROBERTS / Grayson Butterfield
VINESSA SHAW / Emmy Roberts
BEN FOSTER / Charlie Prince
ALAN TUDYK / Doc Potter
LOGAN LERMAN / Will Evans

AMERICAN GANGSTER (Universal Pictures)
ARMAND ASSANTE / Dominic Cattano
JOSH BROLIN / Detective Trupo
RUSSELL CROWE / Richie Roberts
RUBY DEE / Mama Lucas
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR / Huey Lucas
IDRIS ELBA / Tango
CUBA GOODING, JR. / Nicky Barnes
CARLA GUGINO / Laurie Roberts
JOHN HAWKES / Freddie Spearman
TED LEVINE / Lou Toback
JOE MORTON / Charlie Williams
LYMARI NADAL / Eva
JOHN ORTIZ / Javier J. Rivera
RZA / Moses Jones
YUL VAZQUEZ / Alfonse Abruzzo
DENZEL WASHINGTON / Frank Lucas

All the other nominations   HERE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLIE!!!!
**December 20**

RUSSELL CROWE - RUSSELL CROWE WINS BID TO BAN POKER MACHINES
Oscar winner RUSSELL CROWE has won a bid to ban gaming machines from the Australian rugby league club he took over last year (06). The Gladiator star and his business partner, Peter Holmes a Court, secured victory in a vote at the South Sydney league club in Redfern, Sydney on Thursday (20Dec07). The pair wanted to remove 60 of the so-called "pokie" machines, which rake in $1.7 million (GBP850,000)-a-year, and aim to cover any fall in revenue by attracting new members. In a letter they say, "We are not moralising here, we just believe that low-income areas like Redfern need less poker machines rather than more. "We believe a club can be successful if it caters for our members and the broad community; is a place where families can gather for conversation and good food; and the distracting din of pokies doesn't stop the conversation or drown out live music." Crowe teamed up with Holmes a Court in March 2006 to buy a 75 per cent stake in the National Rugby League team for $2.2 million (GBP1.1 million).

**December 15**

CROWE'S BIKER FILM TOO RAW FOR RELEASE
(contactmusic)
RUSSELL CROWE once directed a biker film, but it turned out too emotional for him to release it. The actor and a few pals took off on an 18-day expedition shortly after he completed work on Gladiator - and he started filming the whole adventure. Crowe thought a film about tough guys opening up about true feelings would be a winner, but he had no idea how emotional he and his friends would become. He says, "We rode all through Australia, me and about nine friends... It was amazing how much more people opened up the closer we got to the desert. "They would reveal things about their families, their lives. It flows against the popular notion that men don't talk to each other when they're alone." But what was to be Crowe's directorial debut has never been released. He adds, "It was made as a home movie and it should remain a home movie." Instead, Crowe will make his major movie directorial debut on new surfing biopic Bra Boys.

**December 14**

2008 Golden Globe nominations list
(variety.com)
The nominations for the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards are  HERE
No nominations for Russell and this is very strange.


**December 10**

Oscar buzz quiet this year
(floridatoday.com)
LOS ANGELES - There's no Helen Mirren this time around, no Forest Whitaker. Unlike last year, when clear front-runners already had emerged in key categories, this awards season looks wide open.
About a dozen films could be considered viable nominees for best picture at the Academy Awards. The competition for best actor is even more crowded.
Actors with nomination potential are Philip Seymour Hoffman, Russell Crowe, and Casey Affleck.
"Last year we had distinct front-runners in Helen Mirren ("The Queen"), Forest Whitaker ("The Last King of Scotland") and "The Departed" for best picture, simply because everyone in the industry was saying Marty Scorsese was so overdue," said Tom O'Neil, columnist for the awards Web site TheEnvelope.com.
But O'Neil added one film could emerge as an Academy Awards favorite over the next few weeks: "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," Tim Burton's screen version of the blood-soaked Stephen Sondheim musical starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.
Oscar nominations aren't set until Jan. 22.
A breakdown of possible nominees, in top categories:
Best picture
"American Gangster," "Atonement," "Charlie Wilson's War," "Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "Gone Baby Gone," "Into the Wild," "Juno," "Kite Runner," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men," "Ratatouille," "Sweeney Todd," "There Will Be Blood."
Best director
Ridley Scott ("American Gangster"), Joe Wright ("Atonement"), Sidney Lumet ("Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"), Julian Schnabel ("Diving Bell and the Butterfly"), Ben Affleck ("Gone Baby Gone"), Sean Penn ("Into the Wild"), Marc Forster ("Kite Runner"), Tony Gilroy ("Michael Clayton"), Joel and Ethan Coen ("No Country for Old Men"), Tim Burton ("Sweeney Todd"), Paul Thomas Anderson ("There Will Be Blood").
Best actor
Russell Crowe ("3:10 to Yuma"), Denzel Washington ("American Gangster"), Brad Pitt ("The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"), James McAvoy ("Atonement"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" or "The Savages"), Tom Hanks ("Charlie Wilson's War"), Mathieu Amalric ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"), Viggo Mortensen ("Eastern Promises"), Casey Affleck ("Gone Baby Gone"), John Cusack ("Grace is Gone"), Richard Gere ("The Hoax"), Tommy Lee Jones ("In the Valley of Elah"), Emile Hirsch ("Into the Wild"), Ryan Gosling ("Lars and the Real Girl"), George Clooney ("Michael Clayton"), Josh Brolin ("No Country for Old Men"), Johnny Depp ("Sweeney Todd"), Daniel Day-Lewis ("There Will Be Blood").
Best actress
Keira Knightley ("Atonement"), Julie Christie ("Away From Her"), Amy Adams ("Enchanted"), Ellen Page ("Juno"), Marion Cotillard ("La Vie en Rose"), Tang Wei ("Lust, Caution"), Angelina Jolie ("A Mighty Heart"), Laura Linney ("The Savages"), Helena Bonham Carter ("Sweeney Todd"), Halle Berry ("Things We Lost in the Fire").
Supporting actor
Ben Foster ("3:10 to Yuma"), Josh Brolin ("American Gangster"), Russell Crowe ("American Gangster"), Casey Affleck ("Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Charlie Wilson's War"), Max von Sydow ("Diving Bell and the Butterfly"), John Travolta ("Hairspray"), J.K. Simmons ("Juno"), Tom Wilkinson ("Michael Clayton"), Javier Bardem ("No Country for Old Men"), Tommy Lee Jones ("No Country for Old Men"), Paul Dano ("There Will Be Blood"), Robert Downey Jr. ("Zodiac"). Supporting actress
Saoirse Ronan ("Atonement"), Olympia Dukakis ("Away From Her"), Julia Roberts ("Charlie Wilson's War"), Amy Ryan ("Gone Baby Gone"), Cate Blanchett ("I'm Not There"), Catherine Keener ("Into the Wild"), Allison Janney ("Juno"), Tilda Swinton ("Michael Clayton").

**December 9**

From Ivani:
American Gangster is in the cover of brazilian magazine SET - December 2007


In Page 5, there is a short interview with Russell, which the translation IŽve posted at Crowe Crossing:
The Face of Law
By Roberto Sadovski (SET's editor)
In his third partnership with Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe embodies an incorruptible policeman.
SET: How do you feel/see the controversial of the supposed glamorization of the criminal life attributed to American Gangster?
Russell: The movie is heavy and shows certain things by having moral responsibility in pointing out the consequences of the operation maintained by Frank Lucas. Ridley did an exceptional job in showing Lucas' life, what he got, his boldness. But also the other side, the lives he destroyed.
SET: How it was building the character?
Russell: I had long conversations with Richie Roberts, who is an attorney in New York. He had a fascinating life. He was a marine, and after he worked with Israel Police, arresting drug dealers of cannabis in the borders. Then he came back, he entered right after in New Jersey Police Department as investigator. Richie was also infiltrated in gangs for years and when he finished the job he entered in the Police Academy to finally become a policeman. It was at this point he began to understand how the police force had been constructed/built, what left him furious - and he channeled this anger for becoming an attorney, a way of putting and end with all corruption. In the Prosecutor's office, he found more corruption, and because of that he decided to be a defense attorney.
SET: He became Frank Lucas attorney...
Russell: I see the matter this way. Richie hunted Lucas for 4, 5 years. He became prosecutor with big satisfaction, once he was able to prosecute the guy he pursued and arrested. Frank made a deal and delivered proofs that took around 75% of the police force to the jail for corruption. That is to say, although he was a dangerous dealer drug, his collaboration allowed that the police department had been cleaned - and even so he went on being haunted by other law agencies. It was when Richie thought Lucas needed a consistent attorney.
SET: Is it very different to portray someone that really exists?
Russell: The responsibility is bigger. If you had asked me 10 years ago, I don't know if I'd face a job like this, but today it seems it is part of what I do.
SET: Do you have some character you would like to retake/portray again?
Russell: I'd love to do another Master & Commander. There are 20 books with fantastic stories, and one of them wouldn't cost too much as the first movie. Even so, the cost is astronomic, but it is a possibility.
SET: You are working with Ridley Scott again in Body of Lies...
Russell: It's true. I am so lucky, uh? I feel very comfortable with Ridley, our communication is precise. Sometimes we are in opposite sides of the same room and we know what the other want with a gesture or a glance/look. We economize a lot of time this way... (laughs).
SET: After Body of Lies, you are going to work once more with him in Nottingham ...
Russell: It's so, things evolve naturally. I don't know, it could happen that after Nottingham we don't talk to each other for... 20 years! (laughs) But in the cinema history we see this sort of relationship frequently. Sometimes I regret of not realizing this chemistry right after Gladiator. But, in a certain way, it was even healthier for us finding the balance of the partnership.
SET: And Body of Lies also reunites you with Leonardo DiCaprio, once you both shared scenes in The Quick and The Dead ...
Russell: Yes, and he was a virgin at the last time we worked together! (laughs).

Also at the same mag, right after when I opened the mag, on its 3rd page a full ad page for Yuma, which in Brazil receive the title "Os Indomaveis/The untamables" SET Magazine December 2007

(Thanks Ivani)



Danielle sings a new tune
(Sydney Morning Herald)
Her husband may be in the spotlight as an Oscar-winning star, but Danielle Spencer hasn't forgotten her own creative career - she is planning to record new songs for an independent album. Spencer, who has two young sons with Russell Crowe, was working on a full-length studio album before she became pregnant with her youngest boy Tennyson, now 17 months. The project was put on hold but it seems the singer is now working on new material. An insider has revealed Spencer has started penning new tracks in the hope of releasing an album early next year. The vocalist, who is warm and charismatic in person, has so far avoided following in the footsteps of her father, Don Spencer, a prolific recorder of children's albums. Despite enjoying singing with her two boys at home, Spencer is likely to make an album for an adult audience. She was once signed to EMI but parted ways with the company because her sales didn't match expectations. To her credit Spencer has always stuck to her own unique musical style - an eclectic pop vibe with Kate Bush overtones. Crowe, who in the past has been a visible supporter at his wife's live performances, has often credited Spencer with being the musically gifted member of the family. It is likely Spencer's new songs will be released on an independent label.



Fantastic interview given by Russell, in here, given to  The Sunday Telegraph today
Australian Sunday magazine, 9 December 2007 issue, features RUSSELL CROWE on the cover and in 4 page "Straight Shooter - Russell Crowe earns accolades for his intense characters and, when the cameras aren't rolling, he's equally ardent about telling it like it is - whether it's family, photographers or that phone incident" story with 5 photos, 1 is full page. This magazine is available only with the Sydney Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
(Thanks Ivani)

  

**December 4**

Russell on german newspaper "IN TOUCH"
(Thanks wizard for translation)
    & 

Russell is the king of shopping!
larger text: Russell Crowe (43)
The Hollywood roughneck more and more discovers his feminine side - and a new favourite hobby: shopping.
Russell Crowe, the Shopinator! Rummage tables, lines at the cash desk, full changing cubicles - things that make other men feel the cold sweat within seconds, make the Gladiator Star one thing: HAPPY! "I love shopping", tells the actor. "Really - I got a black belt in shopping!" No wondering, that the "kamikaze consumer" is a favoured strolling date. "My wife Danielle completely digs it. My motto: What ever you want - Baby, you get it!", the star explains.
But professional shopping ain't easy. Lesson 1: Spending money isn't the most important thing. The perfect system has to be thought out cleverly. " I make a whole supermarket in 6 minutes", so proud Russell. "And I can pick clothes for my wife quasi blind. She always likes them. No joking, I'm serious." These are completely new phrases! Who would have thought that the brawny warhorse with a three-day beard discovers such feminine sides at this age?
"Sometimes I think I might need a shopping therapist", says Russell. "But I get along with it. When I buy something I do it with a smile on my face!"

in the pink field:
According to clothes he's not very inventive...
Three Crowe generations and the proof: taste is genetic and inheritable! According to his own style Russell is not very creative. His all purpose tool: the vest! And because it's so wonderfully practicle, son and mom also get one!



Crowe commits to 'State of Play'
Actor replaces Pitt in Universal film
(variety)
Russell Crowe has committed to star for Universal in "State of Play" in a development that keeps the Kevin Macdonald-directed film on course to begin production this year. Crowe joins Edward Norton, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman and Robin Wright Penn, who were all locked into pay-or-play deals when Brad Pitt abruptly exited the project just before Thanksgiving. Producers are Andrew Hauptman and Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. Matthew Michael Carnahan wrote the script. Crowe will play a politico-turned-journalist who spearheads his newspaper's investigation into a killing that leads to a fast-rising pol (Norton). The journalist faces two conflicts: He once ran campaigns for the pol and was his confidant, and the journo develops a romance with the pol's estranged wife (Wright Penn). Unclear is whether Universal will take legal action against Pitt after issuing a statement upon his departure that it would leave all options open. Pitt's reps at the time indicated he wanted to make the movie but wasn't pleased with the script. The studio immediately went to Crowe, who will have made three consecutive pictures for the studio. He just starred with Denzel Washington in the hit "American Gangster" and will segue from "State of Play" into "Nottingham," a U drama that is a revisionist take on the Robin Hood legend and a reappraisal of the Sheriff of Nottingham, whom Crowe will play. Imagine's Brian Grazer and director Ridley Scott, the team behind "American Gangster," will reunite for "Nottingham" in March. The studio was optimistic that it would keep the "State of Play" cast, even with a November production start pushing to early December in L.A. and D.C. Mirren had an issue in that she needs to finish in time to start production with Joe Pesci in "Love Ranch," a drama being directed by her husband, Taylor Hackford. Expectation is she'll be done in time, and Crowe will be finished in time to make "Nottingham."