Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Peter Weir's 2003 Patrick O'Brian adaptation. Russell Crowe as Aubrey, Bettany as Maturin.
Actor: Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe was nominated for Best Actor three years running, for The Insider, Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind, winning for Gladiator, which almost nobody has done.
The Insider is the best of the three and the least seen, playing Jeffrey Wigand as a man whose defining quality is discomfort. He gained substantial weight for it and plays the character as physically uneasy in every scene.
L.A. Confidential established him internationally, as a violent cop whose violence is the only moral instrument he has.
The later career includes a period of well-publicised temper and a run of films beneath him, and then a genuine late turn into character work, including Thor: Love and Thunder and The Pope’s Exorcist, both taken with obvious enjoyment.
