Russell Crowe on Nazi Hermann Göring’s Upcoming Role in ‘Nuremberg’, His Music Doc and ‘Gladiator 2’

One day after receiving much love from the crowd at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for his acting and music skills, Russell Crowe on Saturday discussed his future plans, his passion for music and addressed, once again, Gladiator 2.

“The next project I shoot is Nuremberg”, the Hollywood star said in a press conference at the festival without sharing further details, eliciting gasps when he added: “And I play Hermann Göring”. After all, Göring was one of the most powerful figures in Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party. During the Nuremberg Trials in 1946, he was sentenced to death by hanging for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other crimes. He committed suicide before the sentence was carried out. During a recent Irish radio interviewCrowe had also mentioned the film, adding that it would be directed by Jamie Vanderbilt.

Crowe also said on Saturday that he has no fewer than four films completed and ready for release: Kraven the hunter with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Land of Evil with Liam Hemsworth, Sleeping dogs with Karen Gillan e The Georgetown Project with Sam Worthington.

The star’s weekend comments came after he introduced a screening of Peter Weir’s 2003 classic Master and Commander: The farthest part of the world.

On Friday, the festival honored him with its Crystal Globe Lifetime Achievement Award during its opening night ceremony. Later that evening, Crowe and his band Indoor Garden Party swayed Karlovy Vary residents and visitors with a packed outdoor concert, during which the star shared some music and Hollywood anecdotes.

“I’m not some kind of political spokesperson,” he shared during the press conference when asked about the political situation and the repression of women in Iran. The star said her thoughts were very simple to summarize: “Women need to be respected. Women must have the freedom to make their own choices.” And she added: “They are the most intelligent of the species, so they must be respected. And it doesn’t do anyone any good to try to suppress women.”

As expected, he also received a question about it Gladiator 2, directed, like the original film starring Crowe, by Ridley Scott and starring Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen and Paul Mescal. “They should fucking pay me for the amount of questions I get asked about the fucking movie I’m not even in.” He shared, “I don’t know anything about the cast, I don’t know anything about the storyline.” After all, since his character Maximus died Gladiator, for which the actor won an Oscar, “in that world I’m dead, six feet under the ground. And this is that.

However, he stressed that “if Ridley has decided to do a second part… he will have very good reasons”, adding: “I couldn’t think that film is less than absolutely spectacular”. The actor also admitted to “a certain tinge of jealousy” because the film reminds him of “my youth” and what it meant to his life.

Elsewhere in the press conference, he discussed a music documentary he’s been working on since 2011 called The last breath, for which the Indoor Garden Party’s European tour which just ended on Friday evening in Karlovy Vary was filmed. “What that documentary tries to do is just make people comfortable with the idea” that as a creative he can enjoy and make time for film and music as passions. “One person actually said to me, ‘How famous do you have to be, man?'” Crowe recalled, calling it “ludicrous.” He added: “Music is very important to me. It’s a great creative thing that I don’t give up.

He also explained his recent focus on document training. “We needed this last run to really give him a point. AS The last breath it’s really about my connection to music.

This led to a question about the Johnny Cash movie Walk the line, with Joaquin Phoenix, and if it were true that Crowe had turned down the part. The star said she really did, though, “I love Johnny Cash.” But she shared: “I thought it was a scam. I thought it was like, ‘OK, all this stuff like Grammy nominations, all that kind of stuff is going to come with that movie.’ But music is so personal to me that I didn’t want it to come from me because I was pretending to be someone else. That’s what acting is for. But music is, selfishly, about my songs.

Crowe also shared that, in retrospect, “my reasons seem very petty and insufficient why I would have had a lot of fun in that movie.” He went on to point out that Phoenix’s work in the role was “brilliant”.

Crowe is one of many high-profile names grabbing Karlovy Vary honors this year. Alicia Vikander, Ewan McGregor and Robin Wright are the others. The festival also pays tribute to veteran independent film producer Christine Vachon.

The 57th Karlovy Vary Film Festival, widely regarded as the biggest film festival in Central Europe, will run until 8 July. The main judging panel of the competition this year includes Patricia Clarkson.