Joe Rogan Experience #2406 - Russell Crowe

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast.…

   1. RCRussell Crowe0:00

      (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out.

   2. NANarrator0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience. (drums)

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (rock music plays) Joe, ladies and gentlemen. How are you, sir? Good to see you.

   4. RCRussell Crowe0:15

      Joe Rogan.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      Yeah, good to see you.

   6. RCRussell Crowe0:18

      Nice to see you, man.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:19

      Your movie's great. (smacks lips)

   8. RCRussell Crowe0:20

      Thank you very much.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:21

      When does it come out?

   10. RCRussell Crowe0:22

       Uh, in the United States, it comes out November 7th.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:25

       Okay, so it's-

   12. RCRussell Crowe0:25

       And then, uh, various dates over the next month and a half or so around the rest of the world.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:31

       It's a fucking heavy movie, man.

   14. RCRussell Crowe0:33

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:33

       It's a heavy movie.

   16. RCRussell Crowe0:34

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:35

       The, um, the trial, that footage, was that all real footage, the Holocaust footage?

   18. RCRussell Crowe0:40

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:41

       Real footage of the-

   20. RCRussell Crowe0:42

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan0:42

       ... the plows and-

   22. RCRussell Crowe0:43

       I was one of the, one of the reasons that, that inspired Jamie to go ahead, that he was given access to that footage, some of which has never been seen since-

   23. JRJoe Rogan0:51

       Oh.

   24. RCRussell Crowe0:51

       ... 1946.

   25. JRJoe Rogan0:53

       Oh.

   26. RCRussell Crowe0:54

       Yeah, uh, it's a very interesting way that he makes the subject matter accessible, because it's such a dry topic from the outside, right? "Here's a court case."

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:04

       Right.

   28. RCRussell Crowe1:05

       You know, "Here's yet another courtroom drama-"

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:07

       Right.

   30. RCRussell Crowe1:07

       "... procedural or whatever." So I can imagine that people would see that and go, "Well this, uh, you know, might not be an exciting watch or something." (laughs) But he sort of puts the audience in this position where he allows them to start to be amused by some of the things that are going on and the interpersonal relationships, and, you know, when the commandant of the, um, prison has to call up his two, um, top mental health experts and dress them down for getting into a fistfight. (laughs) You know, things like that. Kind of, it's, there's a charm to it, and then he gets you into the courtroom, and he locks the door.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Oh, boy. …

   1. RCRussell Crowe15:00

      out that 50% of ownership of all the major gambling things are, uh, in the hands of sports teams.

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:06

      Oh, boy.

   3. RCRussell Crowe15:07

      So, what's going on? (laughs)

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:09

      Well-

   5. RCRussell Crowe15:09

      Yeah, I think- I think what we have as opposed to corruption is natural bias because guys come out of the game. So there's, you know, s- 17 clubs in the- in the NRL at the moment, and guys who are in positions like referees or video refs or whatever, they have a club, you know, they grew up associated to one particular geographic area, and that's their club. So, i- it's very difficult for anyone to- to truly objectively see their own natural bias.

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:39

      Mm. But also, there's gotta be some corruption if there's gambling. If- if it's so subjective that you can make calls that you would- that didn't- that someone got in trouble a week before and then this week nothing, like, that kind of subjectivity where it's up to the referee to make a decision, if I was a corrupt person, a gambler, especially if I was a mobster, I would reach out to that referee and say, "You know, it's within our best interest..."

   7. RCRussell Crowe16:04

      (laughs) To work together on this.

   8. JRJoe Rogan16:05

      "... Yes, let's, um, let's make something happen."

   9. RCRussell Crowe16:07

      Yeah, I- I- I would hope w- we're in all innocence.

   10. JRJoe Rogan16:12

       Ah. Well, you have to say that, you own a team.

   11. RCRussell Crowe16:14

       Yeah, and- and you've gotta sort of, uh-

   12. JRJoe Rogan16:16

       Yeah.

   13. RCRussell Crowe16:17

       ... re- remain a little impartial in- in-

   14. JRJoe Rogan16:19

       Yeah.

   15. RCRussell Crowe16:20

       ... these things.

   16. JRJoe Rogan16:21

       Um, what was that scandal in America, Jamie, the most recent one, the basketball one? It- it had to do-

   17. JVJamie Vernon16:27

       It's still ongoing.

   18. JRJoe Rogan16:28

       It's still ongoing?

   19. JVJamie Vernon16:29

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan16:29

       Yeah. Um, what did- what are they accusing these guys of, though?

   21. JVJamie Vernon16:33

       Uh-

   22. JRJoe Rogan16:33

       I know there's- they rig poker games, but there's also-

   23. JVJamie Vernon16:36

       Yeah, that was separate.

   24. JRJoe Rogan16:36

       ... accusations about the basketball games itself.

   25. JVJamie Vernon16:39

       Yeah. Uh, most of it would've been, like, based off of player props. So like, uh-

   26. JRJoe Rogan16:43

       Oh.

   27. JVJamie Vernon16:43

       ... they're n- they know that they're not gonna take themself outta the game, so they just take the under on "I'm not gonna score 20 points, I'm only gonna be there for 10 minutes."

   28. JRJoe Rogan16:51

       Mm.

   29. JVJamie Vernon16:52

       Wink, wink. Or like, you know, "These players aren't gonna play in this game that- against us." That sort of what that is.

   30. RCRussell Crowe16:57

       This is players gambling, is it?
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Right. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      so much time between age 23 and, you know, into my 30s, I was in pool halls all the time.

   2. RCRussell Crowe30:06

      Right.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:07

      And, uh, I played a lot of pool and I was around a lot of addicted gamblers. And I never got it. It never hit me, but I was always just fascinated by the grip that it had on people. It was like they would be, th- their eyes would be going back and forth. Their fucking skin would be pale. It gripped them like a drug. It dr- it gripped them-

   4. RCRussell Crowe30:30

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:30

      ... like crystal meth.

   6. RCRussell Crowe30:31

      I- I really dislike the way, in Australia, we have normalized it. You know, they're doing a sports report on the news, the national news, and they'll tell you-

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:43

      The odds.

   8. RCRussell Crowe30:44

      ... the odds.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:45

      Well, we do that with the UFC. The UFC will give the odds. They, they even, I don't know if they announce, uh, round by round odds, but the, I think they do, but the, I don't, I try not to pay attention to it 'cause I don't vote, uh, uh, excuse me, I don't, um, gamble on the UFC, but I used to.So, I used to gamble in the UFC when I first started working for them, and then I was like-

   10. RCRussell Crowe31:06

       Mm-hmm.

   11. JRJoe Rogan31:06

       ... "I don't think I should do this anymore."

   12. RCRussell Crowe31:07

       Probably not. (laughs)

   13. JRJoe Rogan31:08

       This is a long time ago, though. So, what I started doing is giving my friend, Aubrey, uh, who's my business partner at Onnit, I started giving him tips.

   14. RCRussell Crowe31:16

       Mm-hmm.

   15. JRJoe Rogan31:17

       And he was like 84%.

   16. RCRussell Crowe31:19

       Right.

   17. JRJoe Rogan31:19

       'Cause I know the sport, and a lot of these guys would be coming from Japan or coming from Russia, and I'd be like, "Oh, this guy, um, from Brazil, Anderson Silva, bet the fucking house."

   18. RCRussell Crowe31:29

       Right. (laughs)

   19. JRJoe Rogan31:30

       I go, "Bet the fucking house," 'cause people do-

   20. RCRussell Crowe31:32

       Not my house, though. Your house.

   21. JRJoe Rogan31:33

       Not my house. (laughs)

   22. RCRussell Crowe31:36

       (laughs)

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:36

       But there's people that were coming across from other organizations that I was a giant fan of, and the bookmakers were woefully uneducated about especially-

   24. RCRussell Crowe31:45

       Right.

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:45

       ... foreign fighters.

   26. RCRussell Crowe31:45

       Right.

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:46

       And there's a thing, like if you are gambling on MMA and you don't know how to fight, you're just guessing. You don't really... We're all just guessing when we... two guys get into the cage together, but you're really guessing. Like you really don't... You can't recognize, like, how fast a person is. You can't recognize how good they are at countering. You just know stats-

   28. RCRussell Crowe32:08

       Right.

   29. JRJoe Rogan32:08

       ... and you know... But you don't know how to do it, and if you don't know how to do it, you can't really see it. You don't really know. So, at a certain point in time, I stopped, um, just on my own, gambling, 'cause I would, like... I don't... 'Cause I was... People were accusing me of being biased one way or the other anyway-

   30. RCRussell Crowe32:24

       Right.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Oh, wow. …

   1. RCRussell Crowe45:00

      You know, I'd texted my agent and I'd said, "You know what? I maybe need to talk to these guys 'cause I'm not sure if I..." I've... I don't have any juice here. Uh, I don't know what I'm gonna be bringing, you know? And I'm sitting in these meetings and everybody's talking, but it's all just bouncing off my face, you know? I'm not really taking anything in. And that same night, I get a phone call around 10:30. And it's so unusual 'cause m- I have everything turned off on my phone, it never rings. But for whatever reason, it did ring and it was the director saying, "Look, I'm so sorry to tell you that Henry's, uh, injured himself. He's, he's, uh, ruptured his Achilles, so we're gonna have to push the film." Now, I love Henry. I've known him for a long time. I've known him since he was a schoolboy.

   2. BSBrian Simpson45:38

      Oh, wow.

   3. RCRussell Crowe45:39

      And, uh, um, uh, like, I met him at a place called Stowe School in England. I was doing a scene in a movie called Proof of Life, talking to my son in the movie, and in the background a, a rugby game's going on. And, you know, we're doing the scene and everything, but I've got my eye on the field and this one guy on the field who is just displaying he's got a great brain for the game. And as it happens, we finish the scene and they break up the, the, the... What's going on behind us, and that one kid is walking towards me, and he's the kid that I've been watching, and he wants to have a, a chat. He introduces himself and, you know, uh, he just asks me, "How do you get into acting?" And so we had this very, very brief conversation, then we got swamped by these other kids. Couple of days later, I was doing a present for the kid from that school who'd played my son. It was a boy called, uh, Merlin Hanbury-Tenison, his name was. And so I was doing a thing for him, and then I had some other things left over and I was like, "Oh, what was, what was that other kid's name? Oh, Henry." So I wrote on a photo of Gladiator, of Maximus, which was a movie that had not actually been released yet, "To Henry, the journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. Russell."

   4. BSBrian Simpson46:55

      Wow.

   5. RCRussell Crowe46:56

      He kept that photograph with him for wherever he lived or place to place, and he kept his dream alive and burning. The next time I see Henry Cavill is in a gym in Illinois, the outskirts of Chicago, and I'm working one side of the gym, he's working on the other, and I'm thinking to myself, "Well, I'm Superman's dad. I reckon that must be Superman over there." (laughs)

   6. BSBrian Simpson47:23

      (laughs) .

   7. RCRussell Crowe47:23

      Kinda looks like it, you know? So we worked in the gym a week or s- more together before we talk, you know? And finally one day he comes over, puts his hand out, and we start talking, and I just... At one point I went, "Do I know you?" And he goes, "Yes, sir. You do." And he remind... And I went, "Henry? That Henry? Is this Henry?" It was crazy. So...

   8. BSBrian Simpson47:48

      That's wild (laughs) .

   9. RCRussell Crowe47:50

      Absolutely wild, right? And so now we have this-

   10. BSBrian Simpson47:54

       That's so crazy.

   11. RCRussell Crowe47:54

       ... other situation where, you know, he's kind of in the position of, of being the Highlander and they asked him who he wanted to be Ramirez and he said, "I've only got one option and you gotta get him." And so, uh, you know, that's fantastic. It'll be a lot of fun when we do eventually get around to making it.

   12. BSBrian Simpson48:12

       How cool must that be for him to have been a kid and met you and got you to sign that and then working with you when he's Superman?

   13. RCRussell Crowe48:21

       Superman.

   14. BSBrian Simpson48:23

       (laughs) .

   15. RCRussell Crowe48:23

       (laughs) . Yeah, it was, uh-

   16. BSBrian Simpson48:25

       Oh my God, that's amazing.

   17. RCRussell Crowe48:26

       Yeah.

   18. BSBrian Simpson48:26

       What a great story.

   19. RCRussell Crowe48:27

       And so now we've got... You know, we've got the, the third stage of our, uh, our connection and, um, w- when we get to do it, it's, it's gonna be great. But, and I know this sounds really weird because I love Henry and I... The last thing I want is for him to be in a... Under any pressure or injured or whatever, but it was an... A prayer answered (laughs) .

   20. BSBrian Simpson48:48

       (laughs) .

   21. RCRussell Crowe48:48

       And I'm talking to the director expressing that I'm so... That it's terrible, but I'm also shaking my girlfriend going, "We get to go home." (laughs) .

   22. BSBrian Simpson48:57

       (laughs) .

   23. RCRussell Crowe48:58

       You know? It, it... As I said, it's been a big year. I, I, I have never done that many individual films in that space of time, and I-

   24. BSBrian Simpson49:05

       What caused you to say yes to that kind of a schedule?

   25. RCRussell Crowe49:07

       ... well, it, but that's not what you do, 'cause most of these are independent films.

   26. THTony Hinchcliffe49:12

       Mm.

   27. RCRussell Crowe49:12

       So, for example, I agreed to do Nuremberg in 2019, but we don't shoot it till 2024.

   28. THTony Hinchcliffe49:18

       Oh, wow.

   29. RCRussell Crowe49:19

       Set up and collapsed three different times before we actually made it, because it's a, you know, there's, there's a lot of variables in independent film. So, a bunch of these things that I did, you know, I agreed to do two years ago and they never got together. And then suddenly, they all just started landing (laughs) one after the other.

   30. THTony Hinchcliffe49:37

       Oh, wow.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:15:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:00:00

      the, the footage in the trial was just... People should see that, you know?

   2. RCRussell Crowe1:00:05

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan1:00:05

      And the fact that it's never been released before, you know? That, just to cement into our heads. You know, that's the thing. It's like, that war was one of the first wars where we got regular footage.

   4. RCRussell Crowe1:00:19

      Mm-hmm.

   5. JRJoe Rogan1:00:19

      You know? I mean, if you think about people going into World War I, they're going blind.

   6. RCRussell Crowe1:00:23

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:00:23

      They have no idea what to expect, what they're gonna see. And then by the time Vietnam comes, and now it's on television, and it, that, seeing horrific things, it least cements into your head, like, "This is where this all could go."

   8. RCRussell Crowe1:00:40

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:00:40

      "This is where this all can go."

   10. RCRussell Crowe1:00:41

       Yeah. Well, just think about that, because, you know, in my lifetime, you know, I, when I was a little boy and I'm watching the news at night with my parents, there's Vietnam footage. Um, you know, I see the Anzac Day, which is Australia ver- Australia/New Zealand version of Memorial Day. I see those marches every year, the old soldiers getting together. Um...... that history is so fresh. I'm surrounded by older people who fought in the war, in WW1, you know, and then there's another generation of guys who still appear to be young, and they fought in World War II. And now I'm watching Australia at war 'cause we've been through Korea, and now Australia is at war in Vietnam, and I'm seeing that on the nightly news. So at the age of six, seven, eight, I believe I'm gonna be a soldier.

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:01:31

       Really?

   12. RCRussell Crowe1:01:32

       And everybody at school believes they're gonna be a soldier, because that's what we do, you know? 'Cause the- our parents generation are connected to the Second World War, our grandparents generation's connected to the First World War-

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:01:44

       Yeah.

   14. RCRussell Crowe1:01:44

       ... and here it is, we've gone out, got this new war.

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:01:46

       Right.

   16. RCRussell Crowe1:01:47

       So, it- it was very definitely part of a cultural up- I mean, I was in army cadets in high school. So, you know, that was a couple of days a week, you'd dress up in an (laughs) army uniform-

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:02:00

       Really?

   18. RCRussell Crowe1:02:00

       ... and you'd go to school, instead of in your school uniform, in, um, jungle greens, you know?

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:02:06

       Just get you ready.

   20. RCRussell Crowe1:02:07

       Just get you ready, man. You know?

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:02:09

       Fuck.

   22. RCRussell Crowe1:02:09

       They're putting SLRs in the hands, which is like, it's not an unusual thing for this country, but, uh, definitely is for Australia. Put a self-loading rifle in the hands of a 13-year-old and teach him how to use it, so.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:02:25

       Wow. Jesus. Um, that was one of the things about the Iraq war too, th- where they stopped showing people coffins. They were preventing photographers from taking photographs of coffins.

   24. RCRussell Crowe1:02:40

       Right.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:02:40

       Flag draped coffins. Like, that's crazy.

   26. RCRussell Crowe1:02:42

       Mm-hmm.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:02:43

       That- that should not be legal. You shouldn't be able to prevent someone from documenting history, 'cause that's what that is, and that's the consequences of what's going on. You're seeing American people coming home in boxes.

   28. RCRussell Crowe1:02:53

       Correct.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:02:54

       And you're not even allowed to take photographs of it.

   30. RCRussell Crowe1:02:56

       Right.
6. 1:15:00 – 1:16:40

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:15:00

      social quality to drinking. There's- there's a thing to it that I enjoy.

   2. RCRussell Crowe1:15:04

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan1:15:04

      I always enjoyed.

   4. RCRussell Crowe1:15:05

      And bonding. You know, you never really find out about your mates until you've had them on the piss and you see who they really are, you know?

   5. JRJoe Rogan1:15:12

      Yeah, some people, yeah.

   6. RCRussell Crowe1:15:14

      (laughs)

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:15:16

      Yeah. Alcohol is- is weird because it's the only drug that they offer you when you sit down for dinner.

   8. RCRussell Crowe1:15:20

      Right.

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:15:21

      It's the, uh, we've agreed-

   10. RCRussell Crowe1:15:23

       Right.

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:15:23

       ... that this drug goes really well with a good steak.

   12. RCRussell Crowe1:15:25

       That- that everybody can have it.

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:15:26

       Yeah.

   14. RCRussell Crowe1:15:26

       This drug is fully available and- and like I said, we never count the social cost. We don't count... you know, I mean, this- this is- this will be true for pretty much, you know, a lot of countries that- that have a- a focus on sport, but, uh, you know, three to five of the worst nights of any given year in Australia in terms of domestic violence are 100% connected to a sporting event.

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:15:52

       Really?

   16. RCRussell Crowe1:15:53

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:15:53

       So, sporting event connected to alcohol?

   18. RCRussell Crowe1:15:55

       Mm-hmm.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:15:56

       Yeah.

   20. RCRussell Crowe1:15:56

       And then that drives the thing that, you know, brings terror to wives and children. So, it's, uh, you know, it's the same thing with- with all of this stuff. You know, like, we always talk about that, you know, everything in moderation kind of thing.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:16:09

       Yeah.

   22. RCRussell Crowe1:16:10

       But, you know, we always have to remember that we got to move at the pace of the slowest member of our community.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:16:16

       That's a great way to put it 'cause that's the real issue, right? It's not, "Well, I can handle it, so everybody else can too." That's not it. It's like, why can some people handle it? And what could have been done? Like, if you just... in school, you're gonna have to accept that some kids are gonna try marijuana, some kids are gonna try acid, some kids are gonna try alcohol, they're gonna... most kids are gonna try alcohol.

Episode duration: 2:58:15