RUSSELL CREATES A BUZZ

‘I like villains because there’s something so attractive about a committed person.’

– Russell Crowe

While Love in Limbo saw Russell showcasing a lighter side – and cast members enjoying a lighter side of Russell on set – there were still moments of unease. In this particular case, the cause was Russell relaxing between takes with a copy of Nazi reading material.

‘It was funny actually, because halfway through that film I started preparing for Romper Stomper, so Aden Young [who played Barry] has all these photos of me in Arthur’s silly old suits and ties reading Mein Kampf.’

He said, ‘There’s a sort of a filing system that you fill up and you empty. But stuff like reading Mein Kampf, it’s nothing. I’m not reading it to take it in and believe in it, you know? I’m just reading it out of interest, and it focuses me, and through the act of reading I’m considering other aspects of the character as well.

‘It kept me in an odd place. It kept me slightly unbalanced, and that’s where I wanted to be while I was doing that role. A guy like [Romper Stomper skinhead] Hando is abhorrent to me. The philosophy that governs his life is something that disgusts me completely, so that was an interesting learning experience.’

Hando was a role that would burn into the consciousness of Australian film critics, cause an almighty fuss in the news media and create a buzz about Russell being one to watch in Hollywood. ‘I didn’t think they were going to make another movie like that in Australia for a long time,’ he said.

Russell knew about the part for nearly 18 months before he landed it. The film’s director Geoffrey Wright had been impressed after seeing his performance in Proof. ‘I didn’t know anything about Russell at the time. But I thought he was the most menacing gentle dishwasher I’ve ever seen. There’s always something threatening about him on screen. Right after I’d seen Proof I called my producers and said, “We may have our boy.”’

Up to that point, however, it looked as though Russell would miss his chance. Another actor had been cast – prompting Russell to phone the director repeatedly, insisting he had the wrong man. In the event, his casting was actually due to the original actor not looking fierce enough when they shaved his head. That wasn’t the case with Russell. His already imposing frame, coupled with his hair shaved to the bone, was exactly the intense look that Wright was after for Hando, the leader of a group of Australian Nazi skinheads.

Typically, it was a part that he would immerse himself in. ‘Every role has different things that speak to you. With Romper Stomper, I was afraid of delving into the darkness of the neo-Nazi ideology on one hand, but on the other hand, I could tell that it was going to be a very important social document. That was the imperative behind my doing it.’

To HQ, he added, ‘The scary thing about my character, Hando, is the marriage of ultra-violence with ideology. Plus the unpredictability of it being just plain fucking mad. Racism is one of the most evil and heinous thought patterns that a human can get into. For that alone, it is important for me to do that character to demonstrate how wrong it is.’

Initially, while Russell liked the visceral energy from the script, he needed to make sure the film would capture the screenplay’s tone. He even phoned the film’s director, Geoffrey Wright, to ensure this wouldn’t be a Nazi propaganda piece. ‘He satisfied me. He’s a very intelligent man. I could see the positive aspect of exposing this stuff to the public eye. National Socialism gets strength from being underground.’

In a revealing interview about his character, he said, ‘What Hando is doing is standing up and saying, “I am strong enough to look after you. If you give me your loyalty I will solve all your little problems. Hang out with me, you’ll never want for food, for money. I will organise the lot.” He’s the archetypal patriarch. And he loves these guys. People say a guy like that can’t love – what a load of shit. He is creating a family, but the bottom line is the people who aren’t in the family have to be wiped out.

‘The perfect world for Hando is a situation where everyone is of the same mind. It’s the idea that society would be more balanced and more easily controlled if everyone is the same. That’s National Socialism. That’s Hitler. That’s racism.’

It was time spent in the UK that would prove to be a main source of inspiration for the character. Heading to Wrexham in Wales, where some of his relatives came from, with an English pal, he stopped off in Cardiff to try and perfect the accent for his Love in Limbo character. However, it turned out that his Romper Stomper character would benefit the most.

They stopped off at a pub, which was said to be filled with unsavoury characters. Russell strode in and saw that this was perfect place to do some research. Sitting down near a ‘couple of Neanderthals’ – according to his journalist friend Martyn Palmer – he quickly got into a conversation, ever so gently moving from small talk into more muddy waters. He was desperate for them to open up – and that they did, with ‘spectacularly nasty racist garbage’ coming from their mouths.

It was only later that Palmer realised just how much of a risk Russell had been taking – he’d been secretly taping them on his dictaphone. His recorder was also used when he went to watch Brighton & Hove Albion play Millwall in a football match. A pitch invasion at the end of the game had a clearly jubilant Russell grinning from ear to ear as he brandished his recorder and put it over his head, ensuring that every chant could be picked up – perfect for when he could play it over and over again, sometimes even drifting off to sleep with the lager-soaked hatred churning through his brain. And when he wasn’t listening to football chants or Wagner, he would immerse himself in relevant reading material and surround himself with World War II memorabilia.