Crowe: Good stories give me goose bumps

Russell Crowe judges scripts by whether or not they give him “goose bumps”.

The 50-year-old actor has starred in multiple box office hit films, including Gladiator, Les Misérables and more recently The Water Diviner. Now Russell’s explained his secrets when it comes to selecting which projects he should sign up for.

“I have always been very much a narrative-based actor. I choose my projects very carefully,” he told the Korea Herald. “I call it the goose bump rule. If I’m reading a script and if I have a physical reaction, then that’s usually the movie that I do. For me, it’s always about the story.”

The Water Diviner is an historical drama film, which follows the life of an Australian farmer – played by Russell – who goes to Turkey to find his three fallen sons after the war. The actor was captivated by the script on many levels, one of which left him feeling driven to convey the story to audiences.

“When I read [The Water Diviner] script I had that essential, physical reaction to it; there was one other layer as well, and that was the desire and responsibility for that particular story,” he told the publication.

Having directed the movie, Russell now enjoys a career as a multi-faceted filmmaker. He recently noted that helming a feature helps because it means he can decide where it’s filmed, and try to work close to home.

“People go: ‘You are a movie star – surely you can call those shots,’” he told British newspaper The Guardian on the topic of the director picking the location. “But I am not that kind of an actor. I look for the role that excites me and work with whoever that director happens to be, wherever he wants to shoot the film.”