Music: {allcanada} Is Crowe stressing out Haggis?

Friday, December 3, 2010

{allcanada} Is Crowe stressing out Haggis?

LOS ANGELES -- Has the stress of working with the talented, but often petulant Russell Crowe on The Next Three Days caused Canadian writer/director Paul Haggis to start chain-smoking again?

The London, Ont., two-time Academy Award winner has admittedly been battling the unhealthy habit on and off for years.

Haggis would have been less inclined to light up while working with Clint Eastwood on Million Dollar Baby, Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, all of which Haggis wrote and Eastwood directed, as Eastwood is a health fanatic and doesn't allow cigarettes on the set. (Of course, he could have dashed out to the car to take a puff in secret.)

Yet, smoking on The Next Three Days was allegedly the norm as Crowe is an unapologetic, macho puff machine who likes to talk about how he took up the habit at 10 and is known to light up even in posted no-smoking areas.

During filming, the 57-year-old filmmaker apparently was matching Crowe smoke for smoke.

As the editing was coming to a finish in September, it was a hopeful Haggis (who was probably weary of coughing up all that phlegm) who tweeted he could now put the smokes away, once and for all.

"Quit smoking again," he declared first thing in the morning on Sept. 13. "Been half an hour so far. Not as tough as I thought. Don't know what everyone whines about."

That night, he tweeted proudly: "Made it a day without a smoke ..."

Something must have happened because just a few days later, a repentant but honest Haggis tweeted to his followers on Sept. 18: "Fell off the wagon. Back to a pack a day. Ah, well, made it two days. Will try again tomorrow."

The brilliant screenwriter and director of Crash never did say if he tried to quit again. But spies at the Beverly Hills Polo Lounge say when he and Crowe spent the afternoon at the restaurant doing pre-release publicity interviews for the movie early in November, director and star kept going out back to light up.

According to reports, it was a very stressful day for Haggis. Pre-publicity interviews are key before a film is released because a good interview will help attract crowds to the opening day.

While Crowe, as is his way, openly insulted reporters about what he feels are the banality of their questions, the Los Angeles Times reported that Haggis felt "the need to apologize or offer an explanation on Crowe's behalf."

Although the reviews for The Next Three Days were decent, it went bust at the box office when it opened Nov. 19 and took in only $6.8 million the first weekend, one of the worst starts for any picture released nationwide this year.

Some reviewers say the movie is getting the cold shoulder because Crowe is no longer "likable."

Now the movie is out and over, and Haggis is back onto other projects. Perhaps the filmmaker will tweet some good news about his tired lungs, like: "Still swimming with the sharks, but breath returning -- now off the smokes for good."

OUT AND ABOUT: Sandra Oh, with a mystery date, sitting in the orchestra section of the L.A. Opera's production of Rigoletto. During intermission, The Grey's Anatomy star stayed put in her seat, eschewing the free champagne and mushroom-stuffed crab cakes that awaited VIP guests on the outdoor patio. Said the spy: "She stayed put during intermission, just talking to the guy she was with. It looked like a serious conversation." ... Chanteuse Avril Lavigne hanging with fellow rockers Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Kid Rock and Brandy at the grand opening of the Rolling Stone lounge in Hollywood. It's really time for a new album, a tour and public face time for Lavigne.

The crowd outside didn't seem as interested in getting Lavigne's autograph as they did in getting Perry and Ke$ha's John Hancocks.