Crowe's journey to the dark side

Ben Affleck and Crowe in State Of Play. Photo / Supplied

Russell Crowe is renowned for his fiery encounters with journalists so I am a bit concerned when something comes hurtling across the Dorchester Hotel table towards me.

Fortunately, it only turns out to be the South Sydney Rabitohs cap that was formerly perched upon his head. "We've got the best part of the New Zealand forward pack in our side," he says of the NRL side that he owns. "And it's funny, but there are more Queenslanders in the Warriors' starting XIII than New Zealanders."

The Mount Roskill Grammar School old boy is in London to promote State Of Play, the Hollywood remake of the critically acclaimed 2003 BBC miniseries to be released here May 28. Crowe stars as Cal McAffrey, a veteran journalist forced to reconsider his loyalty to his old friend Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) after the politican's pretty young researcher dies in suspicious circumstances.

Despite keeping the gathered members of the worldwide press waiting for nearly three hours, the 45-year-old is in a buoyant mood, joking and cheerfully answering questions. He is happy particularly because the film, directed by The Last King of Scotland's Kevin McDonald, gave him the opportunity to take on one of his biggest bugbears, the fourth estate. "I told Kevin early on that if you're expecting me to play a journalist as a hero, you're talking to the wrong man," says Crowe, who has shorn the long locks that he grew for the part.

"But I will if you want me to play a journalist as a human being with all the foibles, quirks, preferences and predilections that we all have as humans and in that find a way through this journey to possibly rediscover the set of ethics that this man once had." Crowe drew on observations that he has made during his numerous meetings with reporters over the course of his three-decade career.

"The fact that I harbour disappointments and anger about journalists in certain situations I've been in or certain things that have been said to me does not preclude me from having a deep, personal opinion that it is a noble profession," he says. "But it has to be ennobled by the people in it. It's like anything; if you want to make a great film you've got to have elbow grease, focus and commitment. These things don't just pop out of the microwave."

Crowe was a last-minute replacement for Brad Pitt, who pulled out just before filming was about to commence after failing to resolve his creative differences with McDonald. As well as Affleck, State Of Play also stars Helen Mirren as McAffrey's editor Cameron Lynne and Rachel McAdams as young blogger Della Frye. "I wasn't predisposed to this film in any shape or form," admits Crowe. "I had just gotten back to Australia from Europe.

The sun was shining and I was looking forward to a very long summer at home. I got a call from Universal Studios, who explained the situation that they were in and 'would I please look at this project'." Initially determined to continue his holiday, Crowe was compelled to reconsider by the quality of the screenplay. "I have a rule that I've always used since I was a kid," he reveals. "If I have a physical reaction to the script, if I get goosebumps, if I shed a tear then that's the job I have to do. It's respecting the gods. It's why I got into this job in the first place: to explore the emotional journeys of human beings is very important to me and if I start making decisions in another way then I really should stop making films.