Hot-headed 'Gladiator' Russell Crowe is 'offended' by rumors that he will play Steven Irwin in the Crocodile Hunter's biopic. Crowe, a close friend of Irwin who died earlier this month after becoming a stingray's victim, said he was angry at suggestions that he would cash in on his friend's tragic death.
“(The idea is) appalling to me. It offends me very deeply, so awful that I have to deal with millions of people thinking I would dance on my friend's grave,” he said in a TV interview. “There's no truth to that whatsoever. That's one of those appalling pieces…that come out of the press. While my friend's body is still warm, I'm being accused of doing commerce over his grave, and it absolutely disgusts me,” he added.
Asked if he was against a biopic on the late wildlife expert, Crowe said: “Should there be a movie about Steve? For sure. What an incredible and unique life he led. His childhood growing up with his mum and dad in a reptile park, but his ambitions turning that simple reptile park into the greatest zoo in Australia, and from my individual perspective, the place that really cares about animals.”
He, however, added that the emphasis should be on the fact the Irwin was a conservationist and not just another comedian or stuntman. “What people really don't understand about Steven is…Steven was, first and foremost, a conservationist, probably the most individually active conservationist in the world. What he stood for was far more than being the funny guy on TV. Serious people at serious universities realized who he really was,” he said.
Irwin died on September 4, when he was pierced across the heart by a stingray while snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. The environmentalist was at the Batt Reef, off the coast of Port Douglas in Queensland, when he went too close to a stingray, a normally calm animal that felt threatened by Irwin's proximity and stabbed him in the heart. As
The Crocodile Hunter star was filming a documentary at the time, his death was captured on film. The footage might be released by his family in future.
