>> from our studios in new york city, this is "charlie rose." charlie: russell crowe that are remarkable career as an after. he was nominated for his roles in ron howard's a beautiful mind and the insider. he then his hand at directing. the movie trailer.

>> you can find water but you can't find your own children. >> my boys. >> harry up --hurry up! >> we are not leaving our brothers behind. we all stick together. and we die together. they should be buried at home like their mother. i will find them and bring them home to you. >> there is nothing there but ghosts. >> you walk off your form, turn up in this place, for what?

>> my family was killed in one day. >> you know what the chance of winding these boys are? >> he is the only father who came looking. >> they are right here. >> we found your sons. how on god's earth did you know they would be there? >> if this is your son they will take him prisoner. >> he is alive? >> i don't know. it is a necessity where i come from. you cannot stay. >> this is not your world. go home. >> it is my job to steer my boys to manhood. i failed them. >> i know you.

charlie: i spoke to russell crowe earlier this week in new york and here is that conversation. he said this movie shows you rather than you choosing it. russell: yeah. it is the truth, really. i was in the middle of a really. -- of a really busy time. i had taken a break from robin hood and i read a bunch of stuff that did not interest me. in 2011, i kind of -- it was like a run. i'm into that, i am into that. i said i'm interested in these five things. normally, they would cannibalize each other and you would end up doing one, maybe two. for some miraculous reason, the juices of all five movies got

together and worked out. i essentially did men of skill broken city, les miserables without a break. it also the year i got separated. that was complicated. all beastly come i have kids and my football team. it was extremely overwhelming. the script arrives and i wasn't really looking for it. i was developing other things, i had the intellectual concept of being a director for a long time. i probably directed 30 video clips of bands, three full-length documentaries. i have been educating myself. charlie: looking for a property. russell: i had things i was developing. when i agreed to act, it is because i have such a visceral

connection with the piece that i cannot say no. i don't base my decisions on pedigree or money, it is always the individual character. i call it the goosebumps factor that is what i am looking for. i find myself reading this script and having that visceral reaction i look for as an actor, making notes. ross referencing pages where the dialogue wouldn't do. you get the goosebumps and the sweat on the forehead. i had this other thing happening. when i meet directors to work with them, i am never going to be attracted to the guy who really doesn't know what he wants to do. he just wants to have a casual chat. i'm attracted to peter weir or ron howard and they go, i am going to do it like this, this way. and they have part of the tone

of what they are talking about is they are the only person in the universe who can tell the story the way it needs to be told. so i'm reading this script and this voice said you must take with possibility for this story. only you can read between the lines, read through the shadows, make this culturally important. i have never had that before. i basically finished reading it once, made a phone call, and said i want to do this movie but only if it is my responsibility. charlie: what was it about this script and this story that made you feel that way? russell: it is such a big answer. it is culturally really significant. the battle is a huge cultural stone for all stallions and new zealand. it is the first time they

engaged in warfare under their own flag. they fought in the crimea. but now under their own flag. it is a group of volunteers. britain was out the call, says we need help in our defense. they asked volunteers and hundreds of thousands of men go. is a story about a man with three children who go to war and don't come back. i am a dad of two boys so that gets me on a level. the other thing was there also. this may be the most important thing. it felt to me there was no opportunity to make a war film or a film that talks about war with a level of honesty that other people haven't really taken it to. i know there is a bit of a

cliché that every war film as an antiwar film but that is not true. we quite often get these actions of terms of bravery and courage and we leave it at that. we'll talk about grief, that moment between engagements when the wounded men are lying in the field calling for their mothers, god. we don't see it in that way. it comes with a huge responsibility. responsibility to a contemporary audience to not speak down to them, to actually take them to a place where the geopolitics and the history of the time are not necessarily completely on top of. it has a responsibility to the men and women who are actually in service for our country. and what they are really facing. it is a life and death situation. i have two little boys and i

want them to know if this comes up in their life, what the truth of the situation is. war is not about bravery and courage, it is most often about grief. charlie: and dying. what is interesting about this in addition to what you say is how the story was discovered. a letter. mentioning it. russell: there is an incredible guy. he was on the battlefield three different times. he kept getting removed from the battlefield but not for being wounded, for this entry or influenza -- disentry or influenza. he kept coming back and all of his friends were dead and he would make new friends, be taken

off the battlefield, and they were now dead. he ended up being connected to those battlefield for long time as a civil engineer and he put his hand up to be the man after the war who would go back to the battlefield and try to identify as many sets of bones as he could. he had befriended australian historian commonly called cw been -- bean. he wrote a memoir of his experience and these experiences of his friends, the soldiers. in it, he quoted a letter. hughes had written him a letter and said one old chap managed to get here from australia looking for his son's grave all-star we looked at him as best we could and we put him on a boat. the writer is researching something really different and he reads that and it exploded in his imagination. who was this man?

in 1919, he traveled halfway across the world to a battlefield for years cold insert of a madman to find someone who is obviously long dead. they researched it and brought in another writer, andrew night. they looked into it for a couple of years and they could not find anything hard and fast. they could find a few -- this could be him, this could be him. then there was an attachment in the writer's mind to the idea of water dividing because his grandfather was a water divider a famous one who found water for mel gibson in the 80's or something when mel had a property in victoria. it is kind of like a feeling. a divider or dowser or wicker.

charlie: they know where the water is located where no one else can see it. russell: it large part of it is topography. in the area, he is sometimes out there for 3, 4 years at a time. he can go out and see by the markings in the ground where the water fell last time, where it ran. then, through a series of logix, go to a place where it most likely pulled here. this would be the area. the next bit is the bit not available to all of us. whether it is by using wood or metal or purely as an station in the hand, to feel the water under the ground. that is a real thing. i will tell you, 90 8% of the people who say they can do it are probably charlatans. i witnessed my dad do it when i

was 14. that is why i had another connection. when i was talking about is in australia doing some press, he called me up and said, you have to stop saying that. i've never found a body of water in my life. but i set, 1978, we were living in a house and we are on the way to sport and we come out into the street and all of these council guys are there looking for a leak in the water pipes. my dad went inside got an old metal coat hanger, i did it formed it into a wire, went out to be straight, stuck it in the grass and said the break is here. three hours later, that is exactly where they were digging. my dad goes well, yeah, i can find broken pipes. charlie: what is the significance of joshua being a water divider? adding to the dimension of the

character? russell: giving his journey through a basis as well. that it is not necessarily just about luck that there is spiritual aspects to it. more correctly, and intuitive aspect. i just went through -- it is mainly a practical job and when it gets to the battlefield, he has his son, a hand-drawn map. the entire battlefield where 9000 people died in four days is the size of two championship tennis courts. because he knows which battalion his sons were in, he knows which end of the battlefield they are on. now you have cut it down to a very slim tunnel of where they could be. he has got that practical information but on top of that he has the four years that he has spent wondering about what

happened to his boys. he has that inside him and when i talked to people some people reject the idea that somebody might be able to do that. we use intuition in our daily lives all the time. lisa for social interactions, business. we talked to -- we use it for social interactions, business. we talked to parents -- women in particular and you say, has there been an boyfriend in your life who became an ex-boyfriend because of an intuitive process? and they say absolutely. it is a real thing. charlie: did you want to start a movie you directed or did you like this character so much that you wanted to? russell: i was perfectly happy to give up the character just to

have the opportunity to direct. but it was given to me in a clear equation. it was independent. they said they were prepared to give you this budget. other director, you want as many assets as you can. giving up a massive amount of budget seemed like a bad idea. i love the art form. i have been working since i was six years old. composition, color, texture, the difference between music and silence. charlie: control. russell: control but not in the way that everything has to stop

while you work out what you need. it is not that. it is having the ultimate say because what you want to do as a director, the brad lidge is that you can bring the smog -- the privileges that you can bring the smartest hearts and minds. you can say, i love your work as a production designer, i need you at your best. i love the way you did this in this movie and i need this because it is going to be complicated. the dp won the academy award for the lord of the rings. we knew on a film set we worked well together. i went to him and said, can we expand this and make a future? he said, i would love to. you get this amazing responsibility to bring these people toward you. i no problem stealing from anybody. the same way they have no

problem stealing from me. charlie: you talk to ron howard. none of them in this film. he didn't go to any of them and say -- russell: my agent thought it would be cool to call ridley for a message of support. he said, russell is about to start shooting. anything you want to tell them? he said, he will be fine. [laughter] the two people i got practical advice from were two guys i had never been on a set with as a director. one of them was then stiller who happen to be in australia -- then stiller -- ben stiller. he said, one thing to keep in mind, you are still lead role. make sure you shoot what you need. or you get in to post and your story won't have a spine. the other great piece of advice

came from eli roth. i love him dearly as a person but his movies creep me out. he said is not the fact you are in front of a camera since you are six nor is it the fact you have made feature films of the lead role for 25 films that will assist you, it is the fact you are a father that will make this easy. charlie: because at the heart of the story is being a father in the search. russell: because on a set, you need to listen to people and communicate and you need to communicate with them in the voice that that individual needs , just like you did with your kids. your children have different personalities and you talk to 11 way and another the other way. that is the way you have to be on a set. i put an emphasis on preparation with crew and cast. i let everybody know at the beginning that i understand that

every single truck and peace of equipment is a platform for performance and that is our attitude that is our priority on a daily basis. i create an energy around me. charlie: the preparation was essential for you. how do we prepare to make this movie? some have described it as you want through a kind of boot camp. part of that i assume it make sure they are where you are. what else? charlie: what i'm doing is taking a group of young australian actors and showing them how i do it. how i prepare. this may be your first film or whatever, your 40th film. this is what i do. physically, i prepare. emotionally, intellectually. i taken to a situation y and filling them up with the information so in a -- in 10

days, every day is long walks, yoga, horse riding, weapons skills training. we might do some things like archery which is about focus. we might do a 50 kilometer bike ride, a lecture from a history professor about the geopolitics about the history of the ottoman empire. filling them up with things. once i have had that come all i need from them is to be consistent. what happens when they arrived if i don't have an open eyed surfer boy anymore, i have a young man because he is confident knows who this character is, knows he is part of the story, knows about the history of the part everything that would be a natural piece of knowledge. he has the skill set on board to ride a horse, use the weapons and he is confident and ready to

go. not a single minute of time is wasted on my set for an actor trying to recall a line. my emphasis is setting a standard from the beginning and encouraging them to rise to that standard. charlie: how many takes dd? russell: very low number. average three or four. charlie: how do you get it in so little takes? russell: preparation. a lot of directors will bs you about how prepared they are. when they realize it doesn't work, they will change it and try it and change it and try it. i'm on a little come independent film with a little budget and i don't have the time. i have to know what i'm looking at and what i'm trying to get. also, seriously, it is a more interesting day if you move fast. it is more interesting for the crew, the cast.

charlie: other directors want to give the actors room to be what they can be because of what they have learned. russell: i'm not going to move on if somebody is not getting some more or if somebody feels they still have something else to do. charlie: how do you direct your self? russell: a lot of the things you do on a film set from my point of view is you try to do what the director wants. that is what you are there for. charlie: you know what the director wants here. russell: they compose the shot certain camera movements. compose the shot, certain camera movements. through questions to be director, you say, now i know what you're trying to get out of this particular set up but if i have set the composition of the shot then i can cut out the middleman. ♪

charlie: this is what charlie: this is what the telegraph said about you.

russell: that is the example of a press winker -- wanker. how am i still here after all of the things that have been said about me and the way i have been painted? if i am thin-skinned, how do i manage to keep doing my job? some part of that is complementary. charlie: you get the kind of performance you got as a director. charlie: but it comes with a lot of pretentiousness. why would some right or right that kind of thing? what is the idea you might be thin-skinned come from? russell: if you are giving me - -i will give you an answer immediately. i will talk to you and have a

natural conversation with you as i would if we were talking at a party or on the street or whatever. a lot of guys in your position will use the fact that their job is a bill of protection for themselves so they do more "corageous" things because they feel they are protected because of their job. if you are rude to me, i will be rude back. if you ask me a nice question, i will give you an honest answer. charlie: that has always been my experience with you. let me push forward. when you took what you had shot to the editing room, did you have the film you wanted? russell: my first comp was i think two hours and 45 minutes.

charlie: your first composite? russell: yes. i worked with many directors whose first comp was seven hours. i already in my mind as i was shooting had a good idea that that thing i shot on that day probably i wouldn't use. here's the thing with directing -- it is like being in the country with no light sources around you on a clear night. you look at at the sky, 15, 20 points of light. in minute goes by, 1000. you can see the interconnection of galaxies and the milky way and everything. that is what directing is like. the more you stare at it, the more you can see. charlie: was it all you wanted it to be? the experience of directing? russell: oh yeah. charlie: so you cannot wait until you director next bill? russell: it is a substantially more interesting job. charlie: then acting?

russell: i used to think acting was a greatest job in the world and then i did this added a somewhat more suitable. as a 51-year-old father of two with a massive accumulated onset experience, i know the rules of filmmaking detail collaboration. i can apply them easily. i know the nature of filmmaking, i know how to meet it with an equally relentless energy. i know what to say to accrue first thing in the morning to make my day more efficient. i is the intimacy -- i know the intimacy any to talk with the actors. i don't think without my experience is that i would be any kind -- have any sort of validity as a director. i might have, like many young people coming out of film school, have a concept of what it is but if you have not done it, you don't know. charlie: and you got everything out of russell crowe you wanted? russell: everything i asked for.

once more, he slept with me every night also. charlie: how is he? russell: he could probably go to the gym more often. charlie: you are looking for the next to direct. russell: i have a fair idea of what i want to do. in this business, as soon as you say it out loud come all that happens is -- i started talking about it openly a few months ago and realized i was doing myself a disservice. i have a couple of things but like this project, i could say any number of ideas. it is probably going to be something that comes out of the blue. charlie: four uss by this volume are doing it? russell: yes. charlie: anything to do with the ending of your marriage? russell: i would say you know, once you become a parent,

everything in your life is seen through the prism of parenthood. that comes along with that, the same sort of experience as a married man. i was so proud to wear that ring the charlie. every now and then come i look and it is not on my finger anymore and i don't feel balanced. to this day, everything i do is still connected to that. we had not done the deal yet. so you never know. i'm a very persistent person. you never know. charlie: you have never done the deal yet means what? russell: we are not officially stamped it with divorce. charlie: you are hopeful? russell: i did not marry to get divorced. i have a great example with my mom and dad.

they were married 53 years and at parties, they are still the one sitting in the corner having a snog. charlie: you have an idea of what a great marriage is. russell: yes. i will admit freely that i'm a little bit of a workaholic. i do love my job. charlie: imagine my surprise. russell: as much as i realize my presence is an important thing in my son's life, i know from examples of my friends and people i know that the one legacy i have got to give my boys is my work ethic. they are going to be facing big tough lives themselves shortly. they have a privileged lifestyle that i never had growing up as a boy. where i can teach them that that is not magic that comes from hard work, rising at 4:00 a.m.

and from being the last person left working. charlie: that is what being good is about. russell: they both have that thing which they get from their mum as well -- she will record something 100 times if she feels it is not right. it has taken me three years to make this movie and there are two things that play -- i had picked my number on the table and the wheels are spinning. if i get a commercial result, my investors will let me do it again. that gives me creative control but it also gives me control of geography. i have been a gun for hire after for 20 years. i want to be where my kids are so i'm making my own films so i'm in control of my creative life and i do my preproduction

in australia and my post somewhere else. i flipped my schedule around. instead of being home 25% gone 75%, it is switched around. being a parent is the greatest privilege i can think of. charlie: can you imagine transitioning out of acting or will acting have the same appeal and will make your films do better at the box office? russell: at the moment, it is more sensible that i do both jobs because as a director, it gives me a larger asset. hopefully, there is a time in the future when somebody who is like an a-list male orlike an a-list male or female, watches the film, says i love your eye, what do you think of this project? it is a vehicle for them. charlie: why was it you started

acting at six? russell: my mother was a caterer. my grandfather was a cinematographer. he was part of the new zealand film unit. he did not want to sign up as a soldier but he became a war photographer. he wants to every theater of war new zealand troops were in and was highly decorated. through the rest of his life, he was also an editor, a director a lot of his friends were producers. we had that kind of slight association to the business and one of his friends was my mother's godfather and he was a producer. commonly known as the cheapest producer and the business. also a pretty smart guy.

he made this show called spy force in australia when tvs were in black and white and he shot it in color. when we got color television his show that already been on starting again so he got another check. he managed to convince my mother by being very complementry to her cooking. charlie: so you are hanging around the set. russell: weekends, school holidays. charlie: did you love it when you first did it? russell: it scared the hell out of me. the first time i had a line of dialogue to deliver, i cannot get it out. i couldn't talk to matter how many times they did the take. i was working with a famous actor, jack thompson. he later on played my father in a movie i am there with jack and

they say action and he does his line and i can't talk. take two. what is it? he just gives the director a bit of a knot. take three. he said it looks like it is your knee and i said, no, it is my ankle. at the time i didn't realize the manipulation. when you think about it later on, you think how kind was he that instead of saying you stupid child or whatever, he actually just worked out a way to allow me to still give my line. ♪

charlie: what i love about you is you have done all of these interesting things with your life. you had your band. russell: a new album coming out in august or september. charlie: you own a football team. it is part of a league. russell: it is the national rugby league of australia. charlie: how much time does that take? russell: nine years ago, i sort of took some of my games and

bought the football team -- gains and about the football team. charlie: what kind of dream is that? to buy the football team of your childhood? it is like growing up in boston and trying to buy the red sox. russell: i know a bloke who had the chance to buy the red sox and he blew it. it is not like here where you have franchises. the geography is the franchise. it is a very complex. you have the highest urbanized

aboriginal population of the country and some of the most expensive real estate in the country. it is a complex area and they have fallen into a state of disrepair but you guys have that phrase giving back. we call it community penance. that is how i saw it. it has been nine years of my life and for probably 4-6 of those years, it took so much time it was a full-time job. there was a fellow who eventually became a partner in what i was doing. charlie: he comes from huge well. russell: and his father i was very -- wealth. and his father and i were very close. we got together and he sort of realized the qualities his dad enjoyed in me. charlie: he was also i think a

famous gambler. russell: he was. and the biggest tip are on record. he asked a waitress in vegas one night -- he said you are very good at this. i have seen the way you operate. but i think you are a nice person. she said, thank you. he said, what is your situation? married, kids, mortgage? she said yeah. as he was leaving, he gave her 100 and $50,000. -- $150,000. charlie: he probably got more out of it than she did. russell: wherever i go, people who knew him or back to visit -- or benefited from his generosity led to tell me the story. it mounts up after time.

the amazing things he does. he had a heart attack one-time and he miraculously driving past his property was one of three and alliances that had a defibrillator on board. his life was saved or he would have died at 57. when he realized how lucky he had been, he asked, why aren't these machines in every templates? they said it is costly. -- in every analyst? in his typical manner, he said that's -- and he bought a defibrillator for every ambulance. charlie: what i love about the story, it is just asking the right questions. russell: right. it seems obvious.

particularly when he found out the cost, it is not like they are $1 million each or something. he did a lot of great things in australia. jamie has come on board with the team. he asked me a few years ago and i thought about it and i said at least 46 hours a week. that is when i started to think, this is unreasonable. i could have taken this thing on as a side project but it took over. but, we got it rolling. we took them from being competitive to dominant. last year on the fifth of october, for the first time in 43 years, we want the national rugby league championship. charlie: how many years? russell: 43. it was brilliant. in that moment, what would i do

if we were to win these to think. -- i used to think. will i scream with joy drop to my knees? in the moment, and they were shooting me on tv and just quiet and deep sense of satisfaction came over me. when it was obvious it was our day and we couldn't be trapped down, i didn't yell scream. i turned to the guy i started the process with nine years before, ship his hand, and -- shook his hand and said congratulations. we stood there and let everybody else celebrate. it is about the players those warriors. the weekend warriors, the

members of your club comedy fans of your club but give up their time every weekend -- your club the fans of your club that give up their time every weekend. they go through the ups and downs with you every week. it is about everybody else at that point. i stepped back and everybody else have a party. charlie: charlie: i know how hard it is to reach that moent. russell: we want the grand final. we are the champions of all scalia. in our sport, you get the opportunity to go on and play whoever wanted european league. we go to england, nervous. we are now playing a champion team of another league altogether and we have to play

on their ground. there were like 18,000 people. we are playing the game there so everything is stacked against us. their season is underway, we are in preseason. i think there are 500 of our fans that we knew would be there. that game started and we just couldn't be turned around. we ended up beating them. are you planning to bring rugby to the u.s.? russell: that is something in my mind. there are a lot of rugby unions leaks -- leagues. there are defined periods of offense and defense. that idea i want to expand. i think it is a great idea to

expand. if you were to take the top four teams from australia from the european competition and meet half way and play in vegas if americans are ever going to love this sport, they will not love it because of exhibition games or -- like the new zealand team playing the american team in chicago. they are very different. the americans lie just outside the top 10. if you were to take the four top clubs of australia and europe and put them together in a competition where there is blood on the line because that is the nature of the sport, americans would love it. it is so easy to explain. once they understand a tackle is a down the only thing we don't

do is throw the ball forward. charlie: do you think of yourself as an australian? russell: yes. i got to australia when i was four years old so i didn't know i came from new zealand in that way. my formative years were spent there. my attitude to the world came from there. when i went back to new zealand as a 13-year-old, i was a foreigner and treated as such. i will never forget that, that i wasn't really welcome at home. that was from the boys at school to the teachers. as soon as i could, as an adult i left new zealand and went back to where i was more comfortable. charlie: and that is home. russell: yeah. i have lived there for 39 years. charlie: is any part of that life something you regret?

russell: i am one of those fellows the modern concept. i appreciate my regrets. that is the stuff i've learned from. people say, i will live without regrets. you're not going to take any risk, chances. charlie: you are going to be afraid to fail. russell: you have to cut yourself a bit of slack. you're bound to get something wrong. these blokes trying to live that life -- charlie: in your case, there is someone who will write about it. russell: it fills people's imaginations and it is not ever really factual. they paint even the worst possible light and the next person jumps off of that. before you know it, this more -- monster grew up around you.

a lot of times, it happens because you are not answering their questions. i never chose to be a celebrity. i was an actor who happened to do the job to a certain level. then very luckily, i got into a situation where i'm working with of the best digital artists in the world and being demanded to work at my best and we achieved some cool stuff. i never went to celebrity school. i didn't know about that stuff. i understand same more now at the age of 51 and i accepted. charlie: and you have made some accommodations? russell: some. there is another thing where -- people see you every now and then end you have to ignore someone chasing you down the street. but that is not your average

movie fan. but i don't care about that. i don't care about the parasites . i don't care about the paparazzi . but what i have stopped doing is i used to say you have thoroughly read many times that i hit a photographer. i had never done that in my life. what i have done is i have saved some of the most stinging verbal barbs just for those people. shredded and wounded and bleeding going back to the editor and they tried to put it like a physical thing and set up just ripping them apart emotionally. same -- fame came to me as a

kind of a rush. i probably wasn't ready for it and i had a lot of people around i could have asked but i didn't care about it. you stumble around a bit and you find your way. i have come to grips with it now and frankly, the things i've been able to do for my family based on fame -- there is a lifestyle i give my children that i'm grateful for. they go to the school, my boys that i was so jealous of. there is one particular day that i remember when my wife asked me what school and i said this is where they have to go. there is a thing in australia that if you're a kid growing up and a woman got onto a bus, you stand and give them your seat. it is basic manners.

chivalry. the school my boys go to our famously competitive with another school that is right next to them. i went to a completely different school. i'm sitting on the bus full of boys from this school. we hit a bus stop and now come on board 10 or 12 boys from the school did our competitive with. one by one without a word or a grin or wink, they stood up and offered their chairs. that was weird at a deep level. because they did it with such grace, no animosity was created. the guys being given the chairs or like, that is pretty funny. i remember that comedy spirit of those young men and they were fine young men and that is what i want my kids to be. charlie: congratulations on "the

water divid directeder by and starring russell crowe. " ♪ . . .

' ' spect" to enron, we -- a-rod, we don't need any juice to enhance our performance around here. straight in my thigh. speaking of home runs, happy national babe ruth day. the weekend campaign. the clintons feel their pain. jeb bush makes it rain. the republicans gay righ