Russell Crowe says the studio behind 'L.A. Confidential' stopped paying for his hotel and rental car to get him to quit

I like this story because it shows Crowe's tenacity.

Acting is a hard profession to be in because of the constant rejection. It really fucks with your head.

But certain people like Crowe, and Lukas Gage is another one who comes to mind, do not let the rejection get to them. They just forge ahead.

I love that about them.

If they wanted him to drop out, they could have just replaced him. What a load of bullshit.

Ellroy is such a loser with his hep cat jargon. He’s like Stephen King with Kubrick’s The Shining — he should be grateful that a better movie was made out of his book than it deserves, but instead that’s a source of resentment, for that exact reason.

Bassinger was unnecessary to the film but Crowe was excellent. He worked hard to suppress his Australian accent and convincingly speak and behave as American.

Russell Crowe is actually from New Zealand.

It's too bad he's such an asshole, he's a great actor.

Same with Alec Baldwin, wasted talent on such a cunt.

If this happened it was probably New Regency that did this, not Warner Bros. New Regency was run by former Israeli arms dealer Arnon Milchan.

Why would he have to sneak out every day? Isn't the bill due on the day you check out? I don't believe him, but I also don't get why he would make this up.

[quote] Why would he have to sneak out every day? Isn't the bill due on the day you check out?

The studio might have contacted the hotel and told them that they weren't going to pay Crowe's bill.

That's probably why he was running away from the manager.

Ohh, OK. Thanks.

He was perfect and sexy as hell in that role. The combination of him and Guy Pearce was perfect. (If you could cannibalize both, you'd have the makings of a perfect cop.)

DeNiro would have been wrong for an LA cop (he can't suppress his NY accent).

Sean Penn is too physically small and would have chewed the scenery. (Crowe's character was supposed to be a big, dumb-appearing, violent enforcer.)

I think the Kim Basinger role was central to the plot, but somehow she was lackluster in the role.

Michelle Pfeiffer would've been better in the role played by Kim Basinger.

I think Michelle Pfeiffer would have played the role similar to Kim Basinger, kind of cold and boring.

I think it was a terrific movie and perfectly cast all around.

Russell Crowe got the last laugh.

OP/R1 Lukas Gage, really??

Yes, R16.

Lukas Gage.

R17 Still amazing he spun a career out of that audition.

Exactly, R18.

He didn't cry or whine about what that asshole director said.

He took it and ran with it.

That's tenacity.

[quote] wasted talent on such a cunt.

Why do you care? They’re never hanging out with you.

Poor Guy Pearce had to dodge the advances of creepy Kevin Spacey

From an interview with Ellroy:

What made you turn on the film adaptation of L.A. Confidential. It seemed like you were a public champion for it for quite some time and then at some point you turned. What happened?

Well, Curtis Hanson was alive and more than anyone else he made the movie happen so at first I was enthusiastic and then through repeated viewings I became ever more conscious of the flaws of the movie and the fact that it’s about as deep as a tortilla. The film is caught between wanting to be a social statement, though it’s very namby-pamby in that way, and with its other pole, wanting to be a crowd pleaser. I think the performances are god awful. I think Russell Crowe is impotent. Guy Pierce is like a good looking, blinky-eyed male model. The 6’8 James Cromwell is just a slimy villain with a bad brogue. And the 4’9 Danny DeVito is just a jabbering midget. And Kim Basinger, the big Academy Award winner, floats through the movie like a fucking zombie. It’s awful! It’s done on the cheap, the plot doesn’t even make sense and Curtis Hanson, God bless him, has left us so I just cut loose on it now. It’s a turkey.

Are there any adaptations of your work that you’ve enjoyed? Did you like De Palma’s The Black Dahlia?

No. (laughs) They give you some money brother. They give you some dough for work you’ve already done. And it may or may not sell books. The Black Dahlia movie sold me a shitload of books. L.A. Confidential did not.

I’m surprised to hear that seeing that L.A. Confidential was a far more successful film than Black Dahlia.

Well, and this is just off the top of my head, looking at royalty statements over the years, the Black Dahlia movie, universally reviled, sold in about seven weeks three hundred times the books than the universally revered L.A. Confidential would in twenty odd years.

This is a bit of a random question but I have to ask you about this because I just read about it and I’m a fan of both of yours. What ever happened with the film you were brought on to write for William Friedkin to direct? How did that fizzle out?

He fired me. He didn’t like me. It was about the mob lawyer Sidney Korshak. A provocateur and power player. Friedkin didn’t like the work I was doing. He didn’t like me and I didn’t like him. You know something interesting though? I never liked Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection. Too midwestern. Too Protestant. Not a New York guy at all. And when I told Friedkin this he totally agreed that he was wrong for the role. Do you know who he wanted for the role?

Who?

Jackie Gleason.

Ellroy's an idiot. The screenplay is brilliant. The move was brilliant. His book, however, was practically unreadable. That Helgeland and Hanson were able to distill it into a coherent narrative was a miracle.

And some of the acting moments were memorable, even Kim Basinger was perfect in that role.

I love 💕 when Russell Crowe grabbed hold of his ass in the middle of that restaurant while he was talking to that girl. Better than any movie he ever made!