Good ol’ Russell’s still fightin’ ‘round the world
“Gladiator” star Russell Crowe is taking the blame for his latest battle – a fight with his own bodyguard. The scuffle with Mark “Spud” Carroll, a former rugby star, took place in Toronto, where Crowe is shooting his latest movie, “The Cinderella Man.”
Crowe told Australia’s The Sunday Herald Sun tabloid that he had been talking to a young woman who was an extra on the film as the cast and crew gathered for post-shoot drinks.
Carroll approached Crowe and told him what he thought people might be imagining the pair’s conversation was about.
“I thought he was accusing me specifically of something, and I took offense to it,” Crowe said, adding that he and Carroll “called each other a few ripe names, had a hug and got on with the job.”
Crowe, who engaged in highly publicized brawls before he got married last year, reportedly chomped on Carroll’s ear during the fight, but Carroll denies it.
“That never happened, simple as that,” Carroll said. “He did take a nip at my chest – I was trying to smother him at the time, so I can understand the move.”
So he’ll ape them, and the computer will ape him?
Fresh from his turn as the human model for the creepy, computer-animated Gollum in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, Andy Serkis is tackling a bigger role: King Kong.
Serkis, who will perform the same function for the computer-generated Kong in “Rings” director Peter Jackson‘s remake of the 1933 classic, has been hanging out with gorillas in Rwanda to prepare for the role.
“He’s extraordinary, the amount of research he’s done,” says Naomi Watts, who reprises the Fay Wray role as heroine Ann Darrow. “He brought back incredible tapes of all that (gorilla) behavior that we need to get very familiar with.”
Smits adds red and white to his blue
Former “NPYD Blue” star Jimmy Smits is the latest guest to throw his hat in “The West Wing” election ring.
Smits will play a Texas congressman with aspirations to succeed President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) when the NBC series returns Oct. 20. His competition will include Alan Alda, who’s signed on to play a Republican senator.
Just in case Smits doesn’t win, he has a fallback position. He’s signed a deal with ABC to star in his own series and produce other shows after his “West Wing” commitment ends.
More than Roseanne did, apparently
After failed stints as a talk-show host and a reality-TV star, Roseanne Barr is heading back to sitcoms. She’ll appear in a November sweeps episode of CBS’ “Two and a Half Men” as the sister of Charlie Sheen‘s maid (played by Conchata Ferrell).
The gig reunites her with “Men” creator and former “Roseanne” writer Chuck Lorre.
“I haven’t worked with her since 1992, so it’s exciting,” Lorre says. “I learned a lot on ‘Roseanne.’ It was tough, but I learned a lot.”
‘Commando’ premiere goes up in smoke
The scheduled Sept. 17 debut of The WB’s new sitcom “Commando Nanny” has been postponed after Gerald McRaney underwent surgery Monday to remove a cancerous growth from his lung.
Known as the no-nonsense military man on the long-running sitcom “Major Dad,” McRaney co-stars in the WB show (based on “Survivor” creator Mark Burnett‘s actual life) as a Beverly Hills tycoon who hires a British special-forces commando to baby-sit his three children.
McRaney, 56, is a longtime smoker. “I’m sure that he will plan to quit,” a spokesman said.
The birthday bunch
Actress Yvonne DeCarlo (“The Munsters”) is 82. Comedian-actress Lily Tomlin is 65. Singer Barry Gibb (Bee Gees) is 58. Singer Gloria Estefan is 47. DJ Spigg Nice (Lost Boyz) is 34. Actor Scott Speedman (“Felicity”) is 29.