Russell Crowe defines Battle of Gallipoli as ‘invasion’

MELBOURNE

Russell Crowe.

Actor and director Russell Crowe has spoken out about “the other side” of the Gallipoli story in a candid interview on Australian TV show Sunday Night, defining the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I as an “invasion.”

Russell Crowe talked to Sunday Night about behind the scenes information of his film “The Water Diviner,” his first as both an actor and a director.

“The thing that resounded with me when I read the script was the Turkish perspective, I knew the number of Australian and New Zealanders dead, but I didn’t know the number of Turkish dead,” said Crowe.

“You know, I think, after 100 years, it’s time to expand that mythology. I think we should be mature enough as a nation to take into account the story that the other blokes have to tell. You know, because we did invade a sovereign nation that we’d never had an angry word with.”

The interviewer said he had never heard such a statement before, to which Crowe replied: “I think it’s time it should be said.”

“For all the heroism you want to talk about, you know, for me, a fundamentally more important conversation is the waste of life … we shouldn’t celebrate the parts of that mythology that shouldn’t be celebrated,” he added.

Along with Crowe, the movie also stars Olga Kurylenko and Turkish actors Yılmaz Erdoğan and Cem Yılmaz.

The actor also touched on speculation about his pugnacious personality and work methods.

Crowe had been charged with assaulting a staff member of the Mercer Hotel in 2005 when he threw a telephone, but told talk show host Mike Willesee it had been blown out of proportion.

“I never touched him mate, never laid a finger on him, did not physically hurt him,” Crowe said to Willesee.

Crowe said he became frustrated because he could not place a call back to his family in Australia.

“I am in a fancy hotel in New York … and the only thing stopping me between the line out and the conversation with [wife] Danni and [son] Charlie … was this bloke who refused to make it easy.”
The Academy Award winner said it was his sensitivity that got him into trouble.

“Look, I’m extremely sensitive, and that’s probably where some of my negative stuff comes from. I’m a little bit intuitive, so I know from a handshake whether somebody means me good or ill.”