How Russell Crowe inspired a boy who’d grow up to be Superman
CROWE. Serendipitous first meeting.
LOS ANGELES—Talk about serendipity. More than a decade ago, a 16-year-old extra in Russell Crowe’s movie, “Proof of Life,” dared to walk up to the star and asked him questions about acting. Russell ended up sending an inspiring note and a package of goodies to that teenager in the UK boarding school where they shot that sequence, sensing that the eager young boy was a member of the “acting tribe.”
Cut to 2011 when Russell began training alongside an actor, Henry Cavill, who would play his son in “Man of Steel.” The Australian actor had a nagging feeling that he had met Henry before. Henry said yes, he was that extra in the boarding school.
Here’s Russell’s account of his fateful meeting with Henry during a recent interview at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California:
“It was a funny little experience. I was on the set of ‘Proof of Life’ in 2000. There’s a scene at the beginning of the movie where I go to the private school that my character’s son is attending as a boarder to explain to him that, yet again, my character is not going to be around for him, because he has another job to do that’s taking him overseas.
“The kid playing my son in the movie is Merlin Hanbury-Tenison. The scene was me watching a game of rugby union, and there was one kid on that field who was very fluid and quite a dominant player. So, he caught my eye.
“In between takes, we were all just standing around. This kid who was the dominant player took it upon himself to come over and start a conversation. All his questions were about acting. I answered them.
“A few days later, we finished that sequence. We were about to fly to Poland. I put together a little package for the kid who played my son, Merlin. I decided to put one together, too, for that kid who had come over and talked to me.
Package
“In the package was a Wallabies jersey, which is always a good present for Englishmen (laughs). There was also, if I remember correctly, some Vegemite and sweets. Anyway, it was just a little care package, like a Red Cross parcel (laughs). I gave him a photograph from ‘Gladiator.’
“And I wrote, ‘Dear Henry, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,’ because all his questions had been about acting. He’d come at it from such a serious perspective. That’s what touched me. I knew in that moment that I should talk to him straight. I’d been that kid many times when I’d asked a person, and I needed that person to give me an honest answer. So, I told him that it was a very difficult gig; nobody would do him any favors; no matter how ludicrous he thought his dreams were, if he wanted to achieve something, he should pursue them.
“Lo and behold, we’re in the gym in Naperville (Illinois) 12 years later. We were together for months, working out side by side every day. He never said a word that we had met before. But, there was a thing nagging at me all the time.
“So, one day, I said, ‘Have I met you before?’ And, the whole conversation came out.
“I asked him what I had said to him. I knew absolutely that this was the kid, because one of the questions that he asked was, ‘I want to be an actor. What’s it really like?’ I said, ‘Well, they treat you like s–t, but they pay you pretty well.’ So, when he repeated that back to me in the gym in Naperville…”
Henry, for his part, described what he says to kids who approach him and ask questions, like he did with Russell one serendipitous day years ago: “Generally, the focus is enabling them to be themselves. And not to fear because, often, we fear making the decision we want to make. We are worried what people may think or say.
“I encourage them not to worry too much about that—and to focus more on being themselves, and follow their gut and instinct!”
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