Russell Crowe does not look back at his Hollywood career and see a carefully executed plan. At the Venice Film Festival, the actor said he had “mismanaged” his relationship with the industry, and that it had worked in his favor.
“I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I’ve mismanaged my relationship with Hollywood greatly, you know, but always to my benefit,” Crowe said, according to The Independent.
The 62-year-old spoke to reporters on Sept. 11 while attending the festival with What Love Builds, a documentary he wrote and directed about his musical life. He has continued performing with musicians throughout the screen career that made him internationally famous.
Asked whether he would go back and become a famous musician instead of a famous actor, Crowe said he would not change his career. Even its darkest periods, he told reporters, had been “incredibly educational.”
Crowe Says Hollywood Initially Assumed He Was American
Russell Crowe talks career freedom ahead of presenting concert doc ‘What Love Builds’ at the #VeniceFilmFestival: ““I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I’ve mismanaged my relationship with Hollywood. But always to my benefit” pic.twitter.com/PQzAQ1pR9h
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) September 11, 2026
Part of the disconnect, Crowe said, began when people mistook him for an American during his first wave of international success. Born in New Zealand, he said he did not necessarily share the motivations of people who had grown up in American entertainment culture.
His sense of humor also caused friction. Crowe said people where he comes from tend to “call things as we see them,” an approach he acknowledged was not always appreciated in Hollywood. He described those differences while explaining the freedom he has had to make his own choices.
“I didn’t have a plan and I still don’t have a plan,” he said, according to Reuters. “I just do what becomes apparent to me and pursue the things that I feel connected to.”
A Script Has to Pass a Physical Test
Crowe said he can read 100 scripts and still choose the one that produces a physical response. That feeling can overturn an earlier decision to avoid a job, including reservations about working with someone involved in the project.
“If I’m physically reading a script, and I start to feel it on my skin,” he said, he has to pay attention. “If I read that script, and I get that feeling, I have to do it.” Crowe acknowledged that this may be an unconventional way to construct a career, but said it remains the right approach for him.
The practical test arrives early in the morning. In remarks reported by Deadline, Crowe explained that getting up at 4:30 a.m. for a film set requires him to know why he wants to be there. He said he feels sorry for actors working on films when they do not believe in the subject or the character they are playing.
‘What Love Builds’ Took 15 Years to Reach the Screen
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Crowe originally thought he could finish the documentary within a year. Instead, he kept recording as new music and performances accumulated. He told Reuters that the archive eventually reached an “excessive” 18 million feet of footage.
The finished film runs 99 minutes and screened in the Venice Open — Out of Competition section. The festival listing traces its story back to 1970, when Crowe first stepped onto a film set and received his first guitar.
Concert recordings, photographs and interviews follow his musical life through street performances, pubs, nightclubs and theater stages. The locations stretch from St Kilda in Australia to Siena in Italy, with stops including Glastonbury and the Whisky a Go Go.
Indoor Garden Party grew out of a gathering in 2009 at a pub outside London owned by television interviewer Michael Parkinson, according to the project’s official website. Crowe describes it as a changing group of musicians and storytellers he brings together to perform, with The Gentlemen Barbers among his collaborators.
On the band’s website, Crowe recalled moving from playing in bands into musical theater, with credits including Grease and Blood Brothers. A film director who saw him perform in Blood Brothers subsequently asked him to audition.
For Crowe, there has never been a clean division between acting and music. “The two things are just completely intertwined for me,” he said in Venice. “There is no difference. Everything comes from the same creative source.”
Live performance gives him an immediate audience response, something a film may not provide until a year or more after shooting. Crowe said that experience informs his screen acting: even without an audience in the room, he thinks about how viewers will respond to a performance.
At the documentary’s Sept. 11 premiere in the Sala Darsena, the audience applauded and cheered during the musical performances, Variety reported. Crowe wiped tears from his eyes during a roughly two-minute ovation, which ended when he left the theater.
Crowe and His Sons Have a ‘Euro Dad Project’
Crowe cited Highlander, The Last Druid and Unabomber among his upcoming projects while telling reporters he was happy with how his work was progressing. He is also considering how much of his time he wants to commit to another film set.
Getting older has made him think about “how many summers I really may have,” he said, particularly when it comes to spending time with his sons, Charles and Tennyson. Crowe already enjoys spending a substantial part of the year in Europe.
“My sons and I call it the Euro Dad project,” he said. He expects to choose more time in the places where his sons are over another stint on a film set, though he left the idea open-ended: “But we’ll see.”
Crowe also told reporters that Indoor Garden Party is planning a major tour of Eastern Europe in 2027.