You Love Pittsburgh; I Love You
I never liked Russell Crowe, but then he came to Pittsburgh and fell in love with Pittsburgh, and I fell in love with him.
It's pretty sad how easy I am.
I never liked Russell Crowe, you see, and I've addressed this before. Yes, he astounded me in A Beautiful Mind, but I never saw any of his other flicks. He had a temper, if the tabloids are to be believed, and if, you know, the police reports are to be believed.
Then he came to Pittsburgh and fell in love with Pittsburgh, and I fell in love with him.
How sad is that? I went from being all, "Wow. You're a pompous jerk who has rage issues, aren't you?" to "You want ... I should kick those kittens out of your path?"
I can't help it. He loved being in Pittsburgh for three months. Gushed about it. Talked to Sally Wiggin about it. Rode his bike all through town. Really truly learned the lay of the land, which in Pittsburgh, isn't an easy feat because the lay of the land looks like God played Yahtzee with it. Shook it up. Threw it down and left it where it laid.
And now, in his interviews as The Next Three Days prepares to open, Russell Crowe is still talking about the city.
“I was away from my own family for 87 days. I couldn’t convince my wife to go to Pittsburgh, which is silly because it’s a beautiful place, and she would’ve really enjoyed it.”
I think I need to have a chat with his wife, or at least e-mail her a PowerPoint slide show of photos of Pittsburgh set to the theme from St. Elmo's Fire.
This from another interview:
“So in this place you have this downtown, you have this high ridge on one side and then a sloping longer high ridge on the other side. So you can get, on a clear day, beautiful perspectives of the city. As a sports fan, the fact that they have Heinz Field, the baseball diamond and ice hockey all within the downtown area, it’s very convenient. On a game day, you can stand up on a highpoint and see the yellow and black stream into town. It’s kinda cool.”
He's not the only one from that film who said nice things about Pittsburgh. Elizabeth Banks plays his wife in the film, and she recently said in an interview with the AV Club:
AVC: Your character spends a lot of time in jail, yet the movie isn’t about her experiences there. How did that affect the way you went about preparing for the role?
EB: I was very lucky, in that we shot most of my scenes at the actual Allegheny County Jail where my character was incarcerated. They were very helpful to us. The whole city of Pittsburgh was very helpful to us. And so a lot of my research was going to that prison and being in a cell. All of my clothes are prison-issue clothes. We got them directly from the prison. We bought their old stuff and bought them new stuff.
I love that she remembered the name of the county jail, and, now, I love her.
That's all it took, but hey, I already told you I was easy.
God help me if Tom Brady ever says anything nice about Pittsburgh.
This article appears in the November 2011 issue of PittGirl
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Humor columnist Virginia Montanez delivers weekly posts on politics, pigeons and all things Pittsburgh via Pittsburgh magazine and her personal blog, 
Reader Comments:
Elizabeth Banks adores Pittsburgh, this is the second film she shot here. On her twitter she talks a lot about missing the city, and Round Corner Cantina Margaritas
Elizabeth Banks filmed Zack and Miri out in Monroeville with Seth Rogen and Kevin Smith about two years ago. I have a feeling her Pittsburgh love runs deep.
Oh and, Flag as Inappropriate. ;)
Russell Crowe also is a part-time musician with a soft side. During his stay, he stopped in Pittsburgh Guitars on East Carson and noticed a young man trying out a banjo, one that he could not afford. Before Mr. Crowe left, he quietly purchased that banjo for the kid. I don't even think he stuck around to be thanked - just paid and left. That's kinda cool....
I like turtles