Crowe ‘threatened Gladiator Producer’
By WENNWednesday, April 28, 2010
RUSSELL CROWE allegedly threatened to kill one of the producers working on his blockbuster GLADIATOR over a pay dispute, according to a new tell-all book.
The actor was the star of Sir Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic, which raked in more than $450 million (£300 million) at the global box office and won five Oscars.
But Crowe was left fuming when he discovered assistants working on the film were receiving paltry wages - and allegedly threatened producer Branko Lustig with violence unless the issue was resolved.
In Nicole LaPorte’s book The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company called DreamWorks, Lustig alleges Crowe told him, “You motherf ker. I will kill you with my bare hands.”
And the threat left Lustig so shaken, he considered calling DreamWorks boss Steven Spielberg to resign from the project.
He adds, “(I said,) ‘Steven. I’m leaving. Russell wants to kill me. I’m leaving.’”
Crowe’s spokesperson says of the claims, “I’ve been told that (online retailer) Amazon already has the book discounted.
Go figure.”
LaPorte’s book goes on sale next month (May10).
