Russell Crowe Cries at Premiere of Music Documentary — SkimNews
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- Russell Crowe premiered his self-directed documentary "What Love Builds" at the Venice Film Festival's Sala Darsena on Friday, with fans shouting "We love you Russell Crowe!" and treating the screening like a concert throughout the 99-minute film.
- Crowe wiped tears from his eyes and exited early when the screening ended with a rowdy two-minute ovation that he cut short.
- "What Love Builds" weaves together concert footage, archive photos, and interviews spanning 15 years of Crowe's music and acting careers, drawing on his time in bands 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, the Ordinary Fear of God, and most recently Indoor Garden Party.
- The 62-year-old Crowe first gained international fame in the late 1990s with "L.A. Confidential" and "The Insider" and won the best actor Oscar for Ridley Scott's 2000 epic "Gladiator," before making his directorial debut with 2014's "The Water Diviner."
- Crowe's recent roles include portraying Nazi leader Hermann Göring in last year's critically acclaimed "Nuremberg" and the historical drama "The Weight" alongside Ethan Hawke, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year.
Why it matters: Crowe has spent roughly 15 years running a parallel career as a touring musician — fronting three bands across two decades — while collecting an Academy Award and headlining major films, and this Venice slot hands him a platform to surface that lesser-known half of his artistic identity in a venue known for legitimizing directorial debuts and passion projects.
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