"People think of Westerns as being quintessentially American," says New Zealand-born actor Russell Crowe. "But they're quintessentially frontier stories. They're integral to anywhere with a frontier. Like Australia. I think the Westerns I've done could just as easily have happened in Australia."
Crowe is referring to "3:10 to Yuma," a remake of a 1957 classic starring Glenn Ford. But he also costarred, before rising to Hollywood superstardom, in "The Quick and the Dead" with Sharon Stone and Leonardo Di Caprio (also not yet an A-list star).
Crowe, now 45, is said to have mellowed, even chastened, in recent years, following widely publicized confrontations — some violent — that many say cost him a second Oscar, when he followed up his winning role in "Gladiator" with "A Beautiful Mind."