THE next starring role for Russell Crowe, who was robbed of an Oscar for “A Beautiful Mind,” could be titled “A Beautiful Brawl.”
It seems the legendary video of the hot-tempered star allegedly biting a chunk out of a bouncer’s neck is going to be aired in a Sydney, Australia, courtroom next month.
The video was supposedly made two years ago, the night Crowe got into a fight outside a Down Under pub.
It seems security cameras caught Crowe punching and biting the guard before leaping into his car and speeding off into the night.
Crowe-watchers have been waiting ever since for a bootleg copy of the tape to surface on the Internet, but so far there’s been no sign of it. That’s because, Australian prosecutors allege, the owners of the bar tried to use it to extort money from Crowe. If he paid them a large sum, they allegedly promised, the video would be burned and no charges of assault would be filed by their injured employee.
Crowe, who doesn’t give a damn what anyone thinks of him, apparently reported the extortion attempt to the police and charges have now been filed.
At next month’s hearing the video will be an important piece of evidence – and the first example of reality TV with an Oscar winner in the starring role.
Off to see the ‘Wizard’
FILMMAKERS Michael Mailer (Norman’s son and Marla Maples’ ex-beau) and Carolyn Baron are just back in town from Kabul, where they introduced hundreds of Afghan women and children to the delights of movies and television.
Michael and Carolyn went into the war-torn country representing their Film Aid International, toting 600 pounds of projection equipment, knowing that downtown Kabul doesn’t run to a multiplex. They rigged up a screen and proceeded to show some classics to people who’d never seen film or TV, thanks to the cultural repression of the Taliban.
Mailer reports that the big hit of the “film festival” was “The Wizard of Oz.” The audience was dumbstruck when Dorothy landed in Oz and the picture changed from black and white to color. “To bring smiles, hope and joy to an audience – that’s what a filmmaker dreams about,” says Mailer, who is writing a magazine piece about the experience.
Here comes the Sun
THE invitations just went out for the April 2 party Tina Brown and Harry Evans are giving in their East 57th Street maisonette to “welcome the editors of the New York Sun,” the slim new daily that due to debut in the next few weeks. The involvement of Tina and Harry, still among the most potent media couples in New York, is intriguing. Is Tina (whose diary was a big hit in her defunct Talk magazine) going to write for the new sheet? Is Harry, former editor of the Times of London and the New York Daily News, going to be on the masthead? Probably not. Tina wants to expand her writing, but with its tiny projected circulation, the Sun doesn’t seem the place to do that. And Harry has a whole bunch of books he’s working on. I think the party is probably a gesture of friendship to Sun part-owner Conrad Black, a media baron in Tina and Harry’s homeland who last year tried to buy the New York Observer.
L.A. state of mind
MAYBE Woody Allen will get to like Hollywood. The shy director seemed quite at home Monday, lunching with his agent at the star-packed Grill in Beverly Hills, and graciously accepted congratulations for his pro-New York speech at the Oscars. Others in the restaurant included Sting and Bruce Springsteen and their wives (it was so crowded, they couldn’t get a table), Rita Wilson, Nikki Haskell and Gary Winnick, who looked very relaxed for a fellow whose Global Crossing empire is shaping up as the next Enron. Winnick wasn’t saying, but the players in the room all wanted to know what’s going to happen to the old MCA building in Beverly Hills, which he just finished refurbishing as headquarters for his troubled communications company.
Simon on the mend
BROADWAY’S legendary comedy writer Neil Simon hasn’t had much to smile about lately. Neil had major back surgery five months ago and is having great trouble taking even a few steps. Fans at Zocalo restaurant report that Simon’s doctors say it will be another five or six months before he can expect any improvement. Simon is doing his best to be patient and, who knows, he may even get another classic comedy out of his ordeal – something like “Hospital Suite.”
This charity’s kosher
RABBI Marc Schneier is just back from a mercy mission to Argentina, where the Jewish population has been hard hit (along with all the other citizens) by the economic crisis and the attendant riots. Schneier and the North American Boards of Rabbis, along with the World Jewish Congress, will mark the start of Passover this evening by launching a drive through 32 American synagogues to provide kosher food for the upcoming holidays to their counterparts in the troubled South American nation.
Too right for Rudy
I DON’T think Rudy Giuliani will be asked to campaign for Libby Dole in her bid to hold Jesse Helms’ North Carolina Senate seat for the GOP this year. Mrs. Viagra’s recent statements make it very clear she’s going to wage a hard-right campaign, which would seem to rule out the pro-choice, anti-gun, pro-gay, occasional drag-donning, soon to be three-times-married Giuliani. “I want to continue the tradition of conservative leadership that Jesse Helms started 30 years ago,” Dole says. “We need leaders in Washington who have strength of character, core values and a common-sense conservatism.”
Movin’ on down
THE GOP faithful who’ve been putting on their black-tie best for so many years to attend Roy Goodman’s Lincoln Day receptions better check their invitations carefully for the April 2 bash. New Republican county chairman Andrew Eristoff is switching the gala from its old Midtown location to the Wall Street Regent in a gesture of confidence in downtown’s future. Andrew will welcome Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Mike to the evening, along with a host of other pols.