RC: Nothing personal but sitting around all day blabbing about this thing (Gladiator), saying the same thing over and over, is a very strange process. It is inhuman.

TG: How has your life changed in view of all the nominations for The Insider and your heavy workload?

RC: I’ve become the king of frequent flyer miles and I don’t get to spend enough time with the people I love, however, I am an actor and there’s a certain level of the gypsy in the job. But, in order to complete the fantasy of my life, which is to work at the highest level of my art form that means I’ve got to keep getting on planes and spend x amount of time away. But look at the people I’m getting to work with; look at the diversity of characters I’m getting to play! I don’t have any complaints.

TG: Actors often appear in an Academy Award nominated film and follow it up with something less exciting, yet you have followed The Insider with what I believe will be the role that will establish you as a movie star as well an actor. Is that fate or good planning on your part?

RC: It’s a combination. I’m proactive in the choices. And in this experience (Gladiator), proactive in the narrative. When they (DreamWorks) came to me they didn’t have a script that I could care about. We have a concept: Director Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien, Thelma & Louise), Rome-185AD and you’re a Roman general. Do you want to talk to Ridley? Yeah, Yeah, that caught my imagination. And they were right about the script. It was too modern, too cynical. This was a leap of faith. I don’t usually do that. I like to have a script, I like to know where the story is going. But I decided to take the leap because the money that DreamWorks spends is up on the screen. Because Ridley is a director, who for better or worse, finishes on time and on budget- and he’s a straight talking bloke. So am I. If you’re gonna take this leap of faith, that’s the kind of people you do it with.

TG: How did you prepare for the role of Maximus?

RC: I just filled my head with things I thought Maximus would know: The structure of the military. A certain dexterity with available weaponry with both hands because if you’re a sword fighter there will be times when you can only do it with one hand and if someone comes at you from the wrong side you’ve got a problem. I read a lot of books. A Day in the Life of Rome was particularly helpful. It covers everything from systems of banking to the social graces. But even though Maximus is a fictional character he was connected to Marcus Aurelius whose Meditations reflected his Stoic philosophy. That was an invaluable clue to my character.

TG: In your next film, directed by Taylor Hackford, co-starring Meg Ryan, you play a hostage negotiator. What factors went into that decision and what will govern your future decisions to make a particular film?

RC: I loved an Officer and a Gentlemen; I really loved a documentary about Chuck Berry, called Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll; and I really loved the Academy Award cut of When We Were Kings and I sensed he was ready to really tear a film apart. So you gotta pay the guys who gave you the thrills. I don’t want to work with someone just because they did something cool in the past but because they are passionate about the project we are about to work on.

TG: You are remarkably direct and honest compared to most people in this business. Has that hindered your career?

RC: I auditioned for The Shawshank Redemption but I never got to meet the director. It was a small role but I really liked the script. So I’m sitting there talking to the casting director and the producer and I’m stating my case. And I left the room and this producer pursued me down the corridor and said ‘You gotta get smart kid. You can’t come into meetings like this and be this honest. Because no one is gonna care. Listen, here’s my advice. When you go into a meeting here in LA, go in with an American accent, talk like an American and never let the director or producer question that.’ And I said, look lady, I’m an actor. If I walked into a room and played the game to that level and conned the director into giving me a role I wouldn’t be able to get up in the morning and go to work with him because I’d believe he was too stupid. So I am going to do it my way and when I meet a director who understands what the job of an actor is; then I’ll work in America!

Maximum Crowe: First of all, how does a history/sociology major end up in investigative reporting? [Bergman, 54, graduated with honors with a bachelor's degree in history and sociology from the University of Wisconsin in 1966.]
Lowell Bergman: I minored in "revolution." Seriously. By the time I got to college [in 1963] the civil rights struggle was in fast forward. Then Kennedy got assassinated. Before that I had gone on a peace demo [demonstration] to D.C. in '62. I must say that the sexual revolution and the drugs that would follow kept me headed in a direction whose momentum was unstoppable. After getting deeply involved academically in the quest for a "new revolutionary theory" [e.g. Marcuse], I also began to try and figure out what I should do to change things. Then in 1968, students in Rome, Frankfurt, Paris and Berlin demonstrated, struck and shouted the names 'Mao, Marx & Marcuse!" Now the old professor was 70 years old and living in La Jolla, Calif., where he walked to UC-San Diego every morning. Local right-wing vigilantes cut his phone lines, shot at his house while the daily paper editorialized that he should be fired.

Yours truly was one of his graduate fellows in the ph.d. program getting a migraine reading Hegel in the original. One hundred pages an academic year in the seminar. After doing some bodyguard duty and general scheming with my colleagues we joined with some locals in San Diego and started a weekly newspaper.

Our first thought was to use our academic skills and dig into who ran San Diego. The rest is history. . . .

MRC: What was your initial reaction when you learned Michael Mann was going to film a movie based on your experiences with Jeffrey Wigand?
LB: I knew of Michael's interest in January 1996 when I was about to quit "60 Minutes." I thought it was a nice idea but was well aware that of those projects that go into development, only one in 2,000 are ever made. Michael got serious in the fall of '96 and so I negotiated with CBS to be released from the confidentiality clause in my staff contracts. At the time I thought that it might be a way to stop the spin my bosses had already given to events: 'This was an anomaly and in the end we ran the story so what's the problem?'

MRC: When did you get involved in the film project and how much input did you have in the making of the film?
LB: I started meeting with Michael and [co-writer] Eric Roth sometime late in '96 and early '97. They debriefed me for over a year on the phone and about a half-dozen times in person. I never saw a draft of the screenplay until early '98, I think. I was not allowed to have a hard copy of the script until March of '98. My input shaped a lot of scenes but there is quite a bit of interpretation and emphasis that is Michael and Eric.

MRC: Although 60 Minutes' on-air correspondents are famous, the people behind the scenes are usually anonymous. That all changed with The Insider. So, what's it like going from someone reporting the news to someone being written about? Did it change your perception of reporting?
LB: There is a line in the movie during the scene where Pacino is talking with his wife [played by Lindsay Crouse], where he says that if you take the 60 Minutes out of "I am Lowell Bergman from 60 Minutes," no one will return phone calls. They return phone calls.

As for perceptions, it has given me a new appreciation of the roles played on network television news by the various people in a production unit. However, it has reinforced my prior conclusion that the role and "class" division created by the current system distorts the news we present.

MRC: How do you respond to criticism -- most vocally from Don Hewitt and Mike Wallace -- that The Insider misrepresents how they and others at CBS handled the Wigand situation?
LB: In Hewitt's case it distorts [it] because it does not reveal the nature, tone and seriously flawed way he conducts himself in a crisis where the issues at stake are more important than his personal success and position. My sympathy is with Mike. It is true that for the month following the "tortious interference" meeting he was docile.

It is true that once he realized everything was coming out [after Oct. 16] he went along with reporting the financial interest[s] of the executives at CBS. But then he really caved when that was made an issue internally and the Nov. 9 edition of the New York Times unfortunately documents that. It just will not go away.

After Nov. 9 Mike made a sea change. Now everything was out in the open. That is not portrayed in any detail in the film in part because of the flipping of the chronology for dramatic effect. And in part because Mike could not talk rationally with the filmmakers about the script or the process.

Finally, Mike and Don have every right to complain and be critical. They just have to be willing to allow others to have opinions, too!

MRC: Is there anything you think the film got wrong?
LB: Hewitt's real role and personality.

[Also], the other issues surrounding the CBS decision: ABC's cave-in to Phillip Morris; the DOJ [Department of Justice] investigation of the tobacco executives including Larry Tisch's son; and the fact the Tisch family owned CBS and Lorillard Tobacco.

It also did not present the roles of the many people, some in the acknowledgements in the credit role, other than myself who made contributions to the story.

MRC: The movie implies you left "60 Minutes" disillusioned about its power position at CBS and its role in investigative journalism. Any regrets about leaving the show or the network's news division?
LB: I regret not being able to access much of the work I did over a 16-year period and being able to work with some of the people. But if there was going to be change, this was the time.

MRC: What did you think of Al Pacino's performance in the film?
LB: That's the hardest one. It was an out-of-body experience. The first time I saw a nearly final roughcut, I could focus on Crowe as Wigand and [Christopher] Plummer as Wallace, but not on Pacino as me. The second and third screenings let me appreciate the clarity and feeling he brought to the part. It worked!

MRC: What did you think of Russell's performance?
LB: Incredible. He delivered the real everyman quality of this person caught in a personal moral cunundrum. Brilliant.

MRC: Any Russell anecdotes you can tell us?
LB: He really is Australian! I have a number of Aussie colleagues and it is just incredible that Russell is one, too, and does these roles! No particular anecdote other than his devotion to get down partying. Here is this megastar who I can see walking coolly into a party with three bottles of beer tucked in between the fingers of one hand. Fosters!

MRC: What do you think the film's ultimate impact will be, on journalism or Big Tobacco, or both?
LB: Dunno. Seems to be inspiring a lot of students and others if I read my mail right.

MRC: The film portrays your relationship with Wigand as starting out as one between journalist and subject, but growing personal -- not exactly a friendship, but certainly a relationship built on mutual respect. How would you describe your relationship, past and present?
LB: The same. Just spent a day with him in the Midwest and was moved by his personal presentation to a large audience of students. It was moving for me because it was his story from beginning to end coming out of his mouth.

MRC: The film shows how the Wigand case just sort of fell into your lap, and that initially it was curiosity that drove you to meet this man and hear his story. How do you usually pick subjects to investigate?
LB: By my gut and some knowledge of the subject, if I have any. In this case it was his prior employment as an executive of a Fortune 500 company that reall drew me. Just do not see those types willing to step forward, much less talk about what goes on inside.

MRC: How and why did the Center for Investigative Reporting come about? What is its purpose? [Bergman co-founded the San Francisco-based center in 1977 and is a former president.]
LB: Long story. First, a group of us had experience working collectively in the old "underground press" and there was no real work in the San Francisco area doing that. Two of us had just been laid off by Rolling Stone, which moved East at the end of 1976. So it was necessity and a desire to do stories that "established" publications shied away from, and alternative outlets could not afford.

MRC: As well as being a reporter and documentarian, you're also a visiting professor at UC-Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. What are the most important lessons you strive to teach your students?
LB: How to get in trouble -- story selection -- and how to get out of it -- preparation.

MRC: Thanks to the Internet, the public now has easy access to more information than ever before. Is that a good thing or bad? How does traditional news media have to change to stay viable?
LB: The Internet needs a system to develop credible sources of information. The traditional media have to regain credibility by living up to their stated standards.

Sylvia Nasar

Maximum Crowe: When did you first hear about John Forbes Nash?
Sylvia Nasar: While working on an economics piece for the Times, about a year and a half before Nash got the Nobel. I heard a rumor that a mathematical genius who had suffered from schizophrenia for three decades might be on a short list for the prize. I thought, "Oh my God, this sounds like a Greek tragedy, Shakespeare play and fairy tale rolled into one."

MRC: What made you decide to write his biography?
SN: Because I was sure other people would find his story fascinating, too. Nash’s miraculous remission is so inspiring. After my New York Times article, "The Lost Years of the Nobel Laureate," * ran in the fall of 1994, I got a letter from a former editor on the paper’s metro desk who -- as it turned out -- had been living on the streets of Berkeley for the past 25 years. Saying that he suffered from the same illness as Nash, he wrote, "Nash's story gave me hope that one day the world would come back to me too." I’ll never forget that.

MRC: What was the biggest challenge?
SN: Just finding out the facts of Nash's life. He just dropped off the radar screen in 1959. There wasn’t a paragraph about him in print. The Nobel committee didn't have so much as a one-page vita for him until the 11th hour. People were understandably reluctant initially to talk about the illness because of the stigma. And there was the veil of secrecy around the Nobel Prize deliberations. Getting a picture of the life required some 1,000 interviews, letters and e-mails with people who had known Nash at different points.

MRC: How long did you take to write the book?
SN: The New York Times generously gave me a two and half year leave of absence. I was still doing interviews when the book was already at the printers. Working on a biography of a creative genius is one of the most satisfying experiences imaginable.

MRC: What was the Nash family's response when they knew you were writing the book, and were they cooperative?
SN: While I was working on the book, Nash adopted a stance of "Swiss neutrality." It was against his principles, he told me, to seek "personal publicity"; he wouldn’t sit down for a formal interview. But we had a number of chances to meet and talk informally, and he didn’t prevent those who were close to him, including [his wife] Alicia, from cooperating.

MRC: Have you spoken to the family since the book was published?
SN: After the book came out, Nash made a friendly overture, and since then, we’ve seen him and Alicia fairly regularly. In fact, we took them to "Proof," the wonderful Broadway play by David Auburn that has a character loosely inspired by Nash. And Nash finally did give me a terrific on-the-record interview for a fun Times story about how economics Nobel laureates spent their prize money.

MRC: What was your initial reaction when you learned there was going to be a film based on your book? Do you have any reservations about the project at this time?
SN: How could I be anything but thrilled? Ron Howard is an incredibly sensitive director. Russell Crowe as Nash will do more to raise public consciousness about schizophrenia than a dozen books. It’s lovely, too, that the Nashes are enjoying the benefits of being the subjects of a major movie.

The movie will also make more people aware of Nash’s ideas. Princeton University Press is planning to publish a beautifully illustrated volume of his papers -- including the Ph.D. thesis that won Nash the Nobel and a photograph of the game he invented -- this December, and American Experience is making a documentary that will air on public television in mid-2002.

MRC: What are your thoughts on the film script of "A Beautiful Mind"?
SN: It really works dramatically. Akiva Goldsman has invented a narrative that, while far from a literal re-telling, is true to the spirit of Nash’s story. By concentrating on Alicia’s loyalty and the kindness of fellow mathematicians, Akiva has focused on those things that really made a real difference in how Nash’s life turned out. It’s a very moving script.

MRC: Did you have any input on the script? Are you involved as an adviser on the film?
SN: No, but I've helped with occasional queries. And the other day, I got to contribute a prop -- my tattered 1922 edition of Alfred Marshall’s Principles of Economics -- for a key scene.

MRC: What are your thoughts on the casting of Russell as Nash?
SN: Somebody once said of Nash that "People considered him a bad boy -- but a great one." Russell Crowe is the perfect choice.

MRC: Have you ever met Russell or Ron Howard?
SN: I had a chance to meet Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman last year. Of course, my children ask me daily if they’re ever going to meet Russell Crowe.

MRC: You’ve just been named the first Knight professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Tell us what you’re working on now.
SN: I left the Times about a year ago to work full time on a new book about great 20th century economic thinkers. I spent the fall working in the archives at Cambridge University in England. Teaching and doing research at Columbia is great. It's such a privilege to have these terrific students and colleagues.

Very special thanks to Sylvia Nasar

'Mystery' Man
By Maximum Crowe

For actor/writer/rapper Kevin Durand, "Mystery, Alaska" proved more than just an opportunity to break into film: It turned out to be the beginning of some beautiful friendships.

Durand, who plays the lovable lunkhead "Tree" Lane, had racked up several years of television work and musical-theater tours before plunging into film. After learning he'd won his first film role two days before Christmas 1997, he had only weeks to prepare and head for the "Mystery" production in Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Once there, "for the first time in a long time," he says, he felt like one of the boys.

"I really felt like I had a bunch of brothers," said Durand, who grew up an only child in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. "Everyone was really tight-knit."

Leading the group both on and offscreen was Russell Crowe, playing team captain John Biebe. Biebe is revered by his pond-hockey teammates, whose playing skills are tested when they agree to take on the New York Rangers.

Durand says Russell immediately fell into the role of friend and protector.

"He was just our captain from the beginning," Durand said recently in a telephone interview with Maximum Crowe from his home in Los Angeles. "He is an incredible actor [so the] fact that he assumed that kind of role was just natural."

"In a lot of ways he would just take care of his boys," Durand continues. "He would have his assistant bring us lunch, he would take us out on the town. . . . He was just incredible that way."

In one of the movie's most memorable scenes, Biebe trains gentle giant Tree to hit like a New York Ranger. The scene showcases the brotherly relationship that developed between the two actors, along with their undeniable screen chemistry. It also led to another part for Durand, this time opposite Mystery co-star Burt Reynolds.

Reynolds watched them shoot the scene, and later approached Durand about a few projects he was working on. One of those projects, the TV movie "Hostage Hotel," was later filmed in LA. and also featured "Mystery" teammate Michael Buie.

Chemistry among the actors was paramount to the film's director, Jay Roach. So much so that, once the Mystery men were cast, Roach made the actors spend a month just practicing together on the ice.

"There was a learning period for all of us to play like a team," said Durand, who's been playing hockey since age 3. "It helped us on and off the screen. We were a true-blue hockey team throughout the film."

When he moved from Canada to L.A. after finishing "Mystery," it was a comfort knowing he'd already established friendships with other cast members based there. He calls co-star Scott Grimes "one of my closest friends," and says he stays in touch with other cast mates as well.

Most well-known is Russell, whom Durand clearly respects as both an actor and a friend.

"He is a fantastic actor and I really look up to him," he says. "From Day One we really just kind of connected. We had a ball."

"I know we both love what we do tremendously, and [being] given the opportunity to work with him was great," he says. "It was like the NHL All-Star [game] of acting."

His friendship with Russell led to a musical collaboration, too. He sings backup on a handful of songs on Gaslight, the full-length CD by Russell's band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts. He also performed live with the band in Australia, his first time on the continent.

"I loved the people the best of all," he says of his experience there. "They just seemed to embrace the important things in life, like friendship. That's a big deal."

A little-known fact is that Durand can be heard performing his own rap on the Grunts' song Nowhere.

He calls the experience "totally fun." It was the first time in a while that he'd done some of his own rapping, a form of music he loved as a kid and which ultimately led to his big break in theater.

Durand says he often felt out of place listening to old-school rap and breakdancing back in Thunder Bay. Always a performer, his professional acting career began at age 17, when he was picked for a five-month tour of Canada as a rapper in the show Spirit of a Nation.

Years later, he was touring with a production of Forever Plaid when he told his agent to start sending him on auditions for feature films. For "Mystery" -- the first film he auditioned for -- he flew to L.A. to play hockey with Russell and others in the cast. His run in Forever Plaid ended Dec. 17, and less than a week later he learned he'd won the part of Tree.

Durand gained 25 pounds for the movie, attracted to the idea of making Tree physically imposing yet "he didn't want to hurt anybody." He used a French-Canadian accent to flesh out the character.

He is grateful to director Roach for casting "Mystery, Alaska" based on the actors' chemistry, not their film experience.

"Jay was awesome," says Durand, who had a cameo as an assassin in the Roach-directed Austin Powers sequel, "The Spy who Shagged Me." "He took some big risks with this ensemble. He could have easily put name actors in some of the parts," including Tree.

Since Mystery, Durand has added several projects to his resume, including a recurring role on the Showtime series "Beggars and Choosers." But it's clear none of them has touched him as much as the quirky, feel-good "Mystery, Alaska."

"We all really loved each other," he says of his "Mystery" cast mates. "It's always going to be my first baby, my first opportunity."

Maximum Russell Crowe: What was your initial reaction when you learned that a film was being made about your life? Did you have any reservations about the project?

Dr. Wigand: My initial reaction when I learned that a movie was to be made was a certain degree of apprehension -- as I was uncertain as to how Hollywood would portray my experiences. Of utmost concern was the manner in which my children would be portrayed and how the truth and events in recent history would be dealt with in dramatic terms. My first reaction was one of admiration for all involved in the making of "The Insider."

During the writing and production of the film, I was unable to participate actively in any aspect of the movie making . . . this in part was due to a TRO (temporary restraining order) issued by a Kentucky court that was in effect as a result of the Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation (B&W) litigation. B&W was suing me for breach of a confidentiality agreement and theft of trade secrets. That lawsuit was reluctantly dropped by B&W as a condition of the historic June 20, 1997, settlement between the states attorneys general and the tobacco industry.

MRC: Was there an actor you initially had in mind to play you? When you learned Russell Crowe got the job, had you heard of him before? Did you think he'd be able to pull it off?

Dr. Wigand: I never gave any thought or input into which actor would portray me in the movie. The selection of Russell Crowe by director Michael Mann was insightful. During the filming, in Louisville, KY, I had the opportunity to meet briefly with Russell during some golf and dinner, and then again several months later in Pascagoula, Miss., during the shooting of a scene at Dick Scruggs' home.

MRC: What do you think of Russell's performance?

Dr. Wigand: The movie and Russell's performance have done a remarkable job of capturing the emotions, psychology and philosophy of that period of time in my life and that of others. The movie was sensitive to the privacy of my daughters and the essence of the truth... and this was very important to me.

Russell's performance was outstanding, the physical resemblance, movements, subtle habits, diction. And the first thoughts that came to mind? Surreal . . . and well deserving of all the honors and accolades that have been conferred on him. His performance was superlative in all aspects and truly did me honor . . . as he said he would.

MRC: When you first saw the film, was it strange watching someone depict such painful moments in your life?

Dr. Wigand: In June 1999, I saw the movie in its entirety at a prescreening in Los Angeles with my 13-year-old daughter, Rachel. Since then I have seen the movie with my other daughters during the premieres in Los Angeles and New York City. Michael Mann and all those involved in the movie have done an exceptional job in maintaining fidelity with the actual events encompassing over three years into a two-and-a-half-hour movie.

While the movie is a drama, it deals with the truth of the issues during a very tenuous period of time for others and me and has enormous social relevant implications.

MRC: Have you gotten much feedback about the movie? Do people come up to you and ask for your autograph now?

Dr. Wigand: I have received numerous calls, letters and the like from many viewers from around the world. The comments have been very positive and supportive. On numerous occasions, I have been asked for autographs when I speak to groups of children and adults around the world, and I enjoy sharing with them the events that led up to making the movie. The enhanced public image helps me bring the message to thousands of children about the perils of tobacco and how the industry targets and manipulates them.

MRC: Can you tell us a little about your work now with Smoke-Free Kids?

Dr. Wigand: Smoke-Free Kids Inc. (SFK) is a non-profit "grass roots" educational organization formed in April 1999 to capitalize on my assets as a former tobacco industry scientist and an experienced educator; and bring these unique skills into the classroom. It is believed that these assets will give children enabling knowledge to understand the truth and make healthy responsible choices, in particular as it relates to tobacco addiction.

The philosophy of SFK is to make a difference with one child at a time each day.

MRC:What does it feel like to be called a hero?

Dr. Wigand: I am reluctant to accept the moniker of hero, which I think belongs to many others who supported me and made all that happened happen during a remarkable period of time. Like the 153 high school students at du Pont Manual High School and the school's principal that stood by me during many of the real-life events, my attorneys, old friends, Lowell Bergman of CBS, and most importantly, my own children. . . for without these visible few and many more this movie would have never been a reality.

MRC: What do you hope average filmgoers get from the film? What do you think is its overall message?

Dr. Wigand: This movie has many socially relevant messages that are worth reflecting upon after watching it:

*The sum of the individual parts is always greater than the whole.
*The tobacco industry has gone to great lengths to suppress and obfuscate the truth. Its targets are    the children of the world, for their mantra is "if you hook ‘em young, you hook ‘em for life."
*That everyone is capable of making a difference and we all have imperfections.
*Stand up and be counted for what you believe in. 'Live in a closet, you die in the dark.'
*The truth will always win out in the end; it is a constant of time.

Tomas Arana stars as Quintas in Gladiator.

Tomas Arana is an internationally acclaimed actor of both theater and film. Tomas (pronounced Toh-MAS) has appeared in such high-profile films as The Hunt for Red October, The Bodyguard and The Last Temptation of Christ while also choosing roles in smaller, independent films in the United States and Europe. The California native, who studied classical theater at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, was a player/producer with the famed Falso Movimento theater company in Naples, Italy, during the late 1970s-80s. In 1997, he appeared with Russell as fellow corrupt cop Breuning in L.A. Confidential. The two now co-star as Roman soldiers in Gladiator. Below, Tomas tells MAXIMUM CROWE about working on the epic film, and discusses his decades-long career.

Maximum Crowe: Can you give us a little bio about yourself? What sparked your interest in acting? How did you get involved in the theater?

Tomas Arana: I grew up in San Francisco — I was a star athlete in American football and baseball, making the San Francisco All-City All Star team, etc. I played guard/ linebacker in football and catcher in baseball. When I realized it would be unlikely that I would become a pro, I was lost until a friend recommended I try acting and I loved it immediately. It is very similar to sports; you are with a group of people in a very close way for a concentrated period of time, you perform in front of hundreds or thousands of people and you get an incredible adrenaline rush that is the best "high" in the world. I then studied at City College of San Francisco and subsequently the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) in San Francisco.

MRC: You were born in the U.S., but you also have Italian citizenship.

Tomas Arana: I have dual citizenship, U.S. and Italian. The Italian I acquired when I lived in Italy for almost 12 years, through residency and my first marriage and son. I am of Spanish Basque (Arana is a typical basque name), German, Latvian and Swedish origin, your typical American.

MRC: Where does your affinity with Europe, particularly Italy, come from?

Tomas Arana: My interest in Italy started with my first job, at 10, when I started to work at the Arguello Supermarket near our apartment on Fulton. My family was poor, five kids raised by a single, saint-like mother, so we each had to work for spending money, etc. The market was run by Italian-Americans, Lenny and Ray Barranti and Pete Busellacchi.. I was sort of an adopted son, along with my brother Dave, and I was always touched by their warm sense of family and their typical Italian emotions and passion. I saw Billy Wilder’s "Avanti," set in Ischia, Italy, when I was about 17 and swore I would go to Italy to find that joie de vivre [joy of life] that he captured so well in the film. I was there within six months.

Over the years I traveled through London, seeing great theater — one production in particular astounded and inspired me: No Man's Land, by Harold Pinter with John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson. I fell in love with Europe and especially Italy, England, Spain and Amsterdam. I moved there when I was very young, by extending a hitchhiking trip to Naples, stopping there for a weekend and staying 12 years. Needless to say it changed my life.

MRC: What was it like being so young in Italy and hanging with such prominent members of the art world like Joseph Beuys and Andy Warhol?

Tomas Arana: When I started working at the Lucio Amelio Art Gallery in Naples, Italy, I had the great luck to be constantly surrounded by most of the important contemporary artists in the world. It was a revolution in my mind, body and soul to be influenced by them. I was particularly influenced by Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, Nino Longobardi, Gilbert & George, Jannis Kounellis and Mario Merz.

Warhol and Beuys were both extremely nice to me, they both helped me to look at everyday life and appreciate it. They knew I was in the theater also. Andy came to see a few of my shows in New York and Beuys gave me a phrase to use in Tango Glaciale, the first big show by my theater company, Falso Movimento. The phrase was "Leise komm, Leise Geh" - Silence Comes, Silence Goes.

They both impressed me with their insatiable curiosity towards life, everything and everybody. Beuys believed that every human being is an artist and influences life and the people around them. He wanted people to always stimulate their creativity.

MRC: What did you think of "I Shot Andy Warhol"?

Tomas Arana: I never saw "I Shot Andy Warhol" because Andy was dead already and I was sure it would upset me and be hard to look at an actor portraying him. Andy and Fred Hughes, his manager, described the shooting and the aftermath to me. Fred said the most absurd thing was afterwards in the ambulance while they rushed to the hospital to save Andy’s life. The ambulance driver said something like: "If you want the siren on, it will cost you 30 bucks more." It affected Andy and his life in so many ways, not just for the health problems he had as a result of the injuries. I am against publicizing these crazy people who hurt, kill or try to invade the life of the famous people whom they are obsessed with. At least the film was made by a good director, Mary Harron.

MRC: What was it like to work with Martin Scorsese in The Last Temptation of Christ?

Tomas Arana: It was a dream come true to work with Scorsese. He, like most great directors including [Gladiator director] Ridley Scott, is open to trying the ideas of the actors without feeling threatened or insecure.

Harry Dean Stanton and I rehearsed by ourselves the scene when [his character Saul] kills my character Lazarus. We tried different ways, as actors will do, before discovering that it worked well if we just played it as destiny, with him killing me in a gentle, matter-of-fact way. This was the opposite of the way the scene was written. We were nervous about showing it to Marty, afraid he would hate it, but he just said: "That’s great guys, let’s do it like that." He creates an atmosphere where the actors feel free and are encouraged to experiment, which is why so many actors give their best performances when they work with him.

MRC: Did the backlash against the film concern you?

Tomas Arana: The controversy was horrible as it drew attention away from the film. People either didn't see the movie or saw it expecting something different. It was a beautiful film made by a director who is a very religious man and he made it in a very passionate and honest manner, completely opposite of the way he was attacked by the press and the religious fanatics.

MRC: Were you surprised The Bodyguard was such a success?

Tomas Arana: I was very surprised. It did over $415 million worldwide and I am continuously approached by people who say how much they liked the movie, etc., no matter where I am —Europe, Zimbabwe, Bulgaria, Tunisia, Venezuela, Brazil, India — it was a hit everywhere. Gladiator is starting to get the same response.

MRC: You and Russell co-starred together in L.A. Confidential back before most Americans had ever heard of him. Any observations on how his treatment on the set changed — if at all — between that film and Gladiator?

Tomas Arana: [During Gladiator filming] I found him the same old Russell, full of energy, fun and as passionate and hard-working as ever. He really challenges you as an actor and is great to work with. We are both fellow Aries, he April 7th and me April 3rd, and have many things in common. I am sick of him talking always about Australian football, which I think they play with a boomerang. (I couldn’t resist that dig).

MRC: What does it feel like to wake up and find you're in the No.1 movie in America?

Tomas Arana: [It's] great. I have been fortunate to be in that position a few times — Hunt for Red October, The Bodyguard and I think Tombstone even was No.1 for a week or two.

MRC: Russell has stressed in interviews that Gladiator filming began without a completed script. Was this stressful on the cast and crew, or did it make it easier to help shape the script and your character, Quintus?

Tomas Arana: Working without a script was a bit stressful at times, but that was the way the project was presented to me by Ridley when I met him in London before the shoot started. I like to go with the flow. It actually helped my character, Quintus, as I discussed some ideas with Ridley and he was able to incorporate them into his vision of the film while we were shooting, which wouldn’t happen normally if the script was locked. I believe in embracing the unique circumstances of each film and going with it.

MRC: What's it like working with Ridley Scott?

Tomas Arana: Working with Ridley was just fantastic. He was the thing that anchored everything. You knew your leader, or "General," was in control and would lead you down the right path. This made the script situation easy. A director is the true artist of any film and we as actors can only enter the head of the director and see his or her vision of the film up to a certain point. This is why it is so important to work with the great ones; you have faith in them and feel free to create and not worry that you are doing something stupid.

MRC: Are there any stories you can share with us about working with Russell, or about those parties and sporting events he hosted for the cast and crew?

Tomas Arana: Russell organized parties, a soccer match and a cricket match. The cricket match was really amusing as Russell and the English contingent led by David Hemmings, who was the only other actor who played, joined Russell’s uncle, brother and father in playing a local Malta team. I had never been to a cricket match before, but I learned to say "Well done, good show, good wicket," etc., in between beers, food and playing backgammon on the sidelines in our various backgammon tournaments. I prefer baseball, but cricket has an Old World elegance to it which is fun.

MRC: Did Russell pass around music from his band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts? He seems to do that a lot with co-stars.

Tomas Arana: Yes I heard music from his band and Russell gave me a band shirt on my birthday. But the best music I heard from Russell was a tape of him singing with an orchestra in a live performance with words written by a wonderful writer whose name escapes me right now. It was fantastic.

MRC: In just a few words for each, how would you describe these co-stars or your experience working with them:

Joaquin Phoenix.
Tomas Arana: Zany, very disciplined actor who sleeps little and is an excessively good backgammon player. (I lost money to him.)

Connie Nielsen.
The world’s most intelligent actress who did a great amount of research on Roman times and is a fabulous dancer — we had a few boogies together in the Maltese discos.

Djimon Hounsou.
A poetic soul who created such a noble character, loves his cigars and learned to be a good backgammon player and who was easily the best soccer player on the set.

Oliver Reed.
I had worked with him 10 years before in another movie. A true professional. No matter how late he stayed up the night before, [he] was always a pro on the set.

MRC: The great thing about Quintus is that, though he at first may seem to betray Maximus, we get the sense that he's still a moral man and only wants to act in the best interests of Rome. What's your take on this?

Tomas Arana: Quintus does not betray Maximus. He is a soldier loyal to Rome who sees his commander and friend Maximus refuse loyalty to the new emperor. He is then ordered by Commodus to arrest him and have him killed and does it, albeit reluctantly.

I read Marcus Aurelius' Meditations and decided to play him as a Stoic, based on the ancient philosophy that all things are governed by unvarying natural laws and that the wise man shall follow virtue alone, remaining indifferent to emotion or passion. My first loyalty is to Rome — I do not betray Maximus, I merely follow the orders of my emperor, not knowing that there has been foul play in the death of Marcus Aurelius. I don’t give Commodus the sword in the end because I am again loyal to Rome and realize that Commodus . . . is not true to the Roman Ideals and also because I have been the only person to have witnessed his [deceitfulness] to weigh the fight in his favor.

MRC: A lot of the characters' relationships are hinted at but never really explained. What was Maximus' past relationship like with Quintus? Were the two ever really friends or just, in a sense, colleagues?

Tomas Arana: Russell and I talked a bit and left a bit abstract, which I like to do and I think he likes to do also, leaving each of us to create the majority of our characters' back stories. We did agree that Quintus and Maximus had been through many battle campaigns together, were close and loyal friends, but that Maximus was a bit wilder with Quintus being more conservative, which is why he is the general (or Legate) and I would be his vice-general (or Tribune).

"Strength and Honor" is a phrase Russell came up with and I think that captures our ideals — with honor meaning to each other, our fellow soldiers, our traditions and, above all, to Rome.

MRC: What do you think is the film's message?

Tomas Arana: I don’t believe in speaking of a "message" in a film or a painting or book or music, etc. I think the beauty is always in the different interpretation that each spectator brings to a movie or a work of art. Therein lies the importance of the audience: their reaction to what you do is what is important. You make it to provoke the audience to think.

MRC: What makes people want to see it over and over again?

Tomas Arana: I believe people connect to this film, despite the obvious great scenes of spectacle and action, etc., because the characters are very human: the working man who just wants to be with his family and whose life is destroyed when his wife and son are killed; the son who wants to be loved by his father; the father who realizes he has failed as a father; the mother who wants to protect her son. . . . Every person watching can identify with someone on the screen.

Rome also fascinates people because it was the dominant power in the western world for about a thousand years, a democracy (more or less), it was very civilized — running hot and cold water, toilets, sewer systems, etc. — it had a great deal of culture in the everyday life and nothing has ever been like that since. Ridley Scott then creates this magical atmosphere, unlike any Roman movie ever made and with a modern, year-2000 influence, and that is simply powerfully seductive. This is Hollywood at its best, a highly commercial movie that is also an "art" movie. Ridley and DreamWorks, especially Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald along with the producers, Doug Wick, David Franzoni and Branko Lustig, should be complimented for finding the proper balance between commerce and art, which too often is completely ignored in Hollywood, when they produce big commercial and entertaining films, but that are empty and devoid of substance.

MRC: Any upcoming projects you'd like to promote?

Tomas Arana: I just did a great movie in Naples, Italy, with a wonderful young director, Pappi Corsicato. It is about relationships between couples and how they try to renew their partnership after things become "stale". It is a surreal movie in a sort of Bunuel style and, in addition to me, stars Iaia Forte, Tommaso Ragno, Marit Nissen, Branko Tesanovic and Franco Nero.

MRC: Anything you'd like to add?

Tomas Arana: TA: I became an actor to make movies like Gladiator and to work with people like Ridley Scott and my wonderful fellow actors. That is what it is all about.

Very special thanks to Tomas Arana