Tues "The Australian"
Crowe verging on Branson film role
By Sophie Tedmanson, Entertainment reporter
January 13, 2004
RICHARD Branson's Australian connection may be cemented even further, with Russell Crowe a possible contender to play the Virgin boss in a movie based on his life.
Crowe is one of a few big-name actors, according to speculation, being considered for the celluloid adaptation of the English tycoon's autobiography Losing My Virginity.
While Crowe in the past has transformed his appearance for movie roles, there is no word yet whether he will need to sport a neatly trimmed beard and fake teeth to perfect Branson's famous grin.
If he signs on for the role, it will be the fourth time the New Zealand-born Australian Oscar winner will have portrayed a real person on the big screen.
Crowe received his first Oscar nomination in 2000 for playing the US tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand in The Insider and was again nominated in 2002 for his portrayal of the Nobel prize-winning American mathematician John Nash in A Beautiful Mind.
In March he will step into the boxing ring to play another American, the Depression-era boxer and folk hero Jim Braddock, in Cinderella Man.
Crowe's English co-star in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and A Beautiful Mind, Paul Bettany, has also been mentioned as a possible Branson, as have Brad Pitt, Colin Farrell, Jude Law and Kenneth Branagh.
Crowe verging on Branson film role
By Sophie Tedmanson, Entertainment reporter
January 13, 2004
RICHARD Branson's Australian connection may be cemented even further, with Russell Crowe a possible contender to play the Virgin boss in a movie based on his life.
Crowe is one of a few big-name actors, according to speculation, being considered for the celluloid adaptation of the English tycoon's autobiography Losing My Virginity.
While Crowe in the past has transformed his appearance for movie roles, there is no word yet whether he will need to sport a neatly trimmed beard and fake teeth to perfect Branson's famous grin.
If he signs on for the role, it will be the fourth time the New Zealand-born Australian Oscar winner will have portrayed a real person on the big screen.
Crowe received his first Oscar nomination in 2000 for playing the US tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand in The Insider and was again nominated in 2002 for his portrayal of the Nobel prize-winning American mathematician John Nash in A Beautiful Mind.
In March he will step into the boxing ring to play another American, the Depression-era boxer and folk hero Jim Braddock, in Cinderella Man.
Crowe's English co-star in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and A Beautiful Mind, Paul Bettany, has also been mentioned as a possible Branson, as have Brad Pitt, Colin Farrell, Jude Law and Kenneth Branagh.
