Crowe joins attack on his film's critics
March 13, 2002

By Oliver Poole in Los Angeles

RUSSELL CROWE, the star of A Beautiful Mind, last night attacked negative campaigning at this year's Oscars as the nominees gathered in Los Angeles for a celebratory lunch.

His film has been criticised as an alleged whitewash of the life of its subject, the schizophrenic mathematician John Nash, by leaving out his homosexual relationships and anti-Semitic remarks at the height of his mental illness.

Crowe, nominated for best actor for his performance as Nash, said: "We have to examine the amount of money we're spending on these campaigns. This is supposed to be about the joy of filmmaking. It's supposed to be about celebration."

Ron Howard, the film's director, said he took particular exception to the attacks on Nash. "He's a noble figure," he said. "For anyone to report behaviour that was reported to have occurred at the absolute height of his delusions is not doing the world, or John Nash, or themselves, any kind of service." It is not known who is behind the attacks, which were picked up by newspapers nationwide from an internet news website, but it is widely believed they were released by the film's rivals to try to persuade the American Academy's voters to ignore the film.

Among those present at the Beverley Hilton were the British performers Kate Winslet, Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Sir Ben Kingsley and the director Ridley Scott.

Wilkinson, who has been nominated for best actor for his role as a father whose only son is murdered in the drama In the Bedroom, said he hoped to repeat his success in the Golden Globes.

Winslet, nominated as best supporting actress as a young Iris Murdoch in Iris, said she intended not to get too excited after being disappointed before.

Other nominations for the award include Mirren who plays a housekeeper in Gosford Park, from which Dame Maggie Smith is also a candidate.

The Oscars will be broadcast live on Sunday, March 24, on BBC2 with highlights on BBC1 the next day.

Source: The Electronic Telegraph