Tuesday, May 26, 2009

RUSSELL CROWE & RIDLEY SCOTT, fiery collaborators.

After I posted about the association of Tom Hanks and Ron Howard (here), commenter Laura was kind enough to suggest I look at some other combinations of actor/director. So, actor Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott now come under scrutiny. These two have collaborated in movies such as "Gladiator", "A Good Year", "Body of Lies", "American Gangster", and one reportedly due for release next year, "Nottingham" - a re-working of the Robin Hood legend.

Russell Crowe was born on 7 April 1964 in New Zealand (Astrodatabank says in Strathmore Park, Wikipedia says Wellington - my software doesn't offer Strathmore Park, so I used Wellington). Nobody offers a birth time, so the chart illustrated is set for 12 noon. Crowe's Moon will be somewhere between 1 and 13 Aquarius, depending on time of birth.



Ridley Scott was born on 30 November 1937 in South Shields, UK - again, no time of birth, but his Moon will be in Scorpio, between 5 and 17 degrees.


The two men have natal Suns in Fire signs (Aries and Sagittarius). The Sun's element is often a reliable yardstick for general compatibility. Tom Hanks and Ron Howard shared softer, Watery Suns; Crowe and Scott are a Fiery pair.

Both charts are quite well balanced, with no one element or quality strongly dominating or completely absent. Crowe's Mars, Sun and Jupiter all in impetuous, occasionally aggressive Aries, manifest in his reported temperamental outbursts, pounced on with glee by gossip writers. Scott's natal philosophical, generally good-humored Sagittarius Sun, strong in its conjunction with North node of Moon, along with Mercury, form a worthy counter to Crowe's impulsive moods.

Their natal Moons are not in harmonious signs. Crowe's in cool, Airy Aquarius and Scott's in passionate Watery Scorpio: both fixed and stubborn signs, square to each other in the zodiac, challenging. Who would be likely to emerge better from a disagreement between these two? I'd bank on Ridley Scott, whose more mature, philosophical Sagittarian input allied with passionate and determined Scorpio Moon, would likely beat impetuous Aries/Aquarius to the (metaphorical) punch, but only after some interesting jabs had taken place.

More important than their occasional upsets is their understanding and appreciation of each other's style.



Ridley Scott says he likes to "move fast" - Crowe's Aries bits will love that. Aries is impatience personified!

"He'll complain about things always for the right reasons, which are always the script; he doesn't have a problem with my process. He loves the fact that I move really fast and know exactly what I'm going to do."
Scott claims that, as a director, he can walk into a room without having prepared and still know "exactly what to do within four minutes". He says, "I can just go, 'Okay, I know I can do that'. And they seem to buy it. With someone like Russell, he's the best, so he doesn't want more than that."
(See here)

Scott's Mars at 13 Aquarius and Crowe's Moon somewhere between 1 and 13 Aquarius could well be near conjunction - we cannot be sure without accurate time of birth. Both have this spot of Aquarius in their natures, which will add to their ability to understand one another.

They are from different generations, but Virgo features in both charts generationally via the slow-moving, outer planets: Neptune in Virgo for Scott, Uranus/Pluto in Virgo for Crowe. There's a streak of Virgo perfectionism running through both men.




Ridley, has Russell mellowed at all since Gladiator?
SCOTT Not really. He's still feisty —
CROWE [Cutting in] When the situation demands it.
SCOTT Russell expects people to be ready, and I expect people to be ready, and if they're not, they sometimes get an ear-bashing.
CROWE The other half of that story is that I have to work out the moods and needs of the guy I'm working for as well. In any creative relationship, that's valid. And if you're a creative person, most of the time it's effortless. We both have on certain days a take-no-prisoners approach when we really believe in something. But that's f---ing valid, and I respond to Ridley's passion, and Ridley responds to mine. We're really lucky.
(See here)



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Twi,

I'm a little late getting here to let you know about your Lemmy, as you already saw! But would add that your further participation is entirely optional; making lists means we must leave too much out, an unfortunate side effect of this award process.

Just wanted to steer as many readers your delightful way as possible!
jd

Shawn Carson said...

Your articles on relationships always allow your readers to draw good insights into the inner workings of them. Ridley's Scorpio Moon always knows what it wants on a feeling or instinctual level and is practically impossible to sway. Scorpio only respects power and strength and this is why Crowe is sometimes able to get his way.

anthonynorth said...

I've never really taken to Russell Crowe, but Ridley Scott is an excellent director.

Twilight said...

Julie~~~ Thank you very, very much.
Yes, I saw your post about this. I had already decided to pass on an award someone else has given me to you before I read your post.
:-0
My post for tomorrow should sort it all out, I hope. things are getting a tad complicated. :-)

Thank you, once again.

Twilight said...

Shawn ~~~ thanks, that's what I hope for, but am not always sure I hit the spot. :-)

Yes, I think they are fairly equally matched and each respects, and is a little wary of, the other's strengths (and weaknesses).

Twilight said...

AN ~~ Crowe isn't one of my favourites either. I usually feel his looks don't fit most of the parts he plays. But that's just me!

In interview he seems like a nice guy though.