Russell Crowe has given some of the most popular films in his career, which became box office hits. The hard work involved in his acting makes his roles remarkable and iconic. The 69 years old Gladiator star is among the rare gems of Hollywood and the most bankable actors in the industry. He is known for roles in A Beautiful Mind, Noah, American Gangster, Thor: Love and Thunder, etc.
The actor played the role of a boxer in his film Cinderella Man, where he sustained a severe injury that could end his career. However, the actor chose to give his best shot despite the pain.
Russell Crowe was advised not to fight in Cinderella Man after a severe injury
Poker Face actor worked with complete dedication for his role as James Braddock in Cinderella Man. He played the role of a professional boxer, and he trained in the same way. He learned his training regime from the coaches who trained Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard to understand the mindset of a real boxer.
Crowe told NBC News about his coach,
“He built in me the ability to keep going, to keep my head clear no matter how much punishment I was taking, and, you know, no matter how deep you’re dragging for a breath. And that’s the whole key to it. If you can keep your head clear, you can keep going forward.”
But the rigorous training took a toll on the actor and dislocated his shoulder during a sparring session. It was a severe injury, and the accident happened right before filming began for Cinderella Man. Crowe was asked not to do any rigorous action, but that would have meant he had to leave the film.
Crowe recalled in a conversation with Entertainment Weekly,
“The doctors kept saying, ‘If he goes down again, there’s no coming back.’ It was nerve-racking as hell. But what were the options? Not do the movie?”
The film was released in 2005 and was a commercial success.
Russell Crowe opens up on doing Cinderella Man
In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, the actor shared the reason for taking up the biographical film. He said,
”It’s rare to come across something you can connect with on an emotional level. The trend has been for everything to be big and splashy, but this was just a pared-down story about the human spirit and unconditional love.”
Director Ron Howard added,
“I looked at this story. I thought it had so much heart. I thought it said, you know, a lot about what it was to be … a great man who wasn’t necessarily driven by ego and pride to try to be a champion, but instead by this desire to try to take the very best care of his family that he possibly could at a moment in our history when that in and of itself was a next-to-impossible task for a guy like Braddock.”
”We wanted to dramatize what it’s really like to live inside a fairy tale when you don’t know there’s a happy ending. That became the guiding principle.”
The film was titled after the nickname of world heavyweight boxing champion James J. Braddock. It was inspired by the boxer’s life story. The star cast included Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, and Paul Giamatti. The film grosses grossed $108 million worldwide.
Also read- Greatest Boxing Movies Ever Made, Ranked
Source- Entertainment Weekly
