Russell Crowe names his most unappreciated movie: “Kind of dead for a while”
He may have spent the last few years making low-budget B-movies, but there was a time when Russell Crowe seemed like the greatest actor in the world, and a true peer to other prominent stars like Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, and Daniel Day-Lewis.
Although he first made a name for himself with a few independent productions in his home country of Australia, Crowe’s run of successes in Hollywood was downright remarkable, and within a three-year-span, he starred in The Insider, Gladiator, and A Beautiful Mind, all of which earned him Oscar nominations, but Gladiator nabbed him the win, and the latter two were named ‘Best Picture’.
Beyond the fact that Crowe had pulled off remarkable performances within such a short stretch of time, he proved that he could adapt to different styles and genre: The Insider was Michael Mann’s intense psychological thriller, Gladiator was Ridley Scott’s tribute to classic sword-and-sandals epics, and A Beautiful Mind was Ron Howard’s probing analysis one of the most brilliant men of the 20th century.
The actor’s name was so hot that it seemed inevitable that his subsequent project would be a similarly event-sized hit, apart from the fact that, on paper, Master and Commander: Far Side of the World seemed like another guaranteed success. Based on the legendary series of Napoleonic maritime novels, the epic war drama came from Academy Award-nominated director Peter Weir, and had the potential to become a franchise based on its performance.
The feature also looked to introduce the naval adventure genre, as Weir had focused on an inordinate amount of detail while making the film as historically accurate as possible. Unfortunately for all involved, it was released only months after Disney unveiled Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, another naval adventure that was based on the beloved theme park ride.
Although they had nothing to do with each other, they ended up being compared because of how rare it was to see maritime adventures, with Crowe admitting that it was hard for Master and Commander to be taken seriously after Pirates of the Caribbean had presented a more comedic and whimsical take on the budding genre.
“People had been to the theatre that had that big boat experience, and it was a joke,” Crowe said to ABC, “Once you take the piss out of something that heavily, it’s kind of dead for a while as a dramatic story.”
Master and Commander was a critical success that received rave reviews and many Oscar nominations, including ‘Best Picture’, but Crowe was notable for being placed outside of the ‘Best Actor’ race, seemingly replaced by Johnny Depp, whose performance as Jack Sparrow had become an instant popular culture icon, and helped to launch one of the biggest franchises in recent memory.
Despite the cool audience reception at the time, Master and Commander still has a lot of fans, and considering the minor comeback Crowe has had thanks to his stellar performance in Nuremberg, there’s always the possibility that a sequel could be on the horizon.
