Crowe flies in for a Roman reunion with Scottish pal

Reporter

Sunday 5 June 2011

OSCAR-winner and Hollywood bad boy Russell Crowe will spend most of today checking out a replica Iron age fort in Stirlingshire as a future movie location with his oldest Scottish pal – a battle re-enactor he met on the set of Gladiator.

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by Rachel Loxton

It will be the New Zealand-born actor’s first trip to Scotland, and Crowe has told fans he is excited about visiting the land of his ancestors.

Crowe touched down in Scotland yesterday and today heads off to DunCarron Fort in the Fintry hills where the Clanranald Trust – a volunteer group set up by his friend Charlie Allan to promote Scottish heritage and culture – is in the process of building a full-scale replica of a mediaeval fort and village.

Crowe has been a long-term supporter of the ambitious £1 million project. It is thought the site could be used as a location in a future Crowe project.Allan, 47, said: “He’s wanted to come for a long time, he’s got roots in Scotland. We met on set years ago and we just got chatting about Harley-Davidsons. We went for a beer and have been friends ever since.“We’re taking him up to DunCarron to the full-sized mediaeval village that we’re constructing.”Although the actor is famous for his bad temper – he was once arrested and charged for throwing a telephone at an employee of the Mercer Hotel in New York in 2005 – Allan says Crowe is “very warm, very generous, very intelligent and well-read ... he uses his wealth and position to make things happen”.The pair first met on the set of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator in 1999 when Allan, 48, had a part playing a barbarian chief and Crowe played General Maximus Decimus Meridius. They have kept in touch ever since and more recently both worked together on Scott’s newest film, Robin Hood.After filming wrapped, Crowe persuaded Universal Pictures to donate a £60,000 battering ram prop to DunCarron and arranged for its delivery to the location near the Carron reservoir.It is hoped DunCarron, which has been 15 years in the making, will progress to become a tourist attraction, as well as a film set and venue for weddings and corporate functions.“Russell has suggested it would be good for the project if a movie was filmed there,” said Allan. “There’s always Robin Hood 2. And when Russell Crowe says something like that he’s usually got an idea in the making .... so this visit will help us get some reality on it.”Father-of-five Allan lives in Kincardine with his Norwegian wife, Malin, who helps run the trust along with their offshoot, Combat International, which provides manpower for battle re-enactments in films.The company was asked to contribute 60 extras for Gladiator and volunteers have featured in films such as King Arthur and, most recently, The Eagle, starring Channing Tatum.The project is mainly being funded by film work as well as Clanranald Trust’s pipe and drum band Saor Patrol which performs and sell CDs around the world. Crowe alerted the world of his trip on the social networking site, Twitter. On May 28 he tweeted: “On June 5th I’ll be at DunCarron to view the Clanranald Trust Medieval Fort. Scottish heritage in my family, first time in Scotland, special.” When the entertainer made it public knowledge – he has 221,449 followers and counting – Allan said there were about 70 visitors who turned up at the site the next day.He is confident Crowe’s visit will raise the profile of DunCarron in Scotland.“It will bring people into the Carron Valley who may well have never bothered or even considered going there,” he said. “It’s the gateway to the Highlands, it’s a beautiful place.” But the visit isn’t all about business.Allan is looking forward to introducing the actor to his family and serving him up some traditional gastro delights.He said: “We’ve got some nice whiskies for him to try and some haggis. He’s going to have a good Scottish hearty meal with neeps and tatties. And a Scottish breakfast – black pudding, tattie scones, the lot.”

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Crowe flies in for a Roman reunion with Scottish pal

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