Russell Crowe Spotted Sporting Extra Weight, But It May Be for an Upcoming Role

Russell Crowe was spotted at an airport in Australia this week, and he looks completely different [...]

By Chris Mottram

Russell Crowe was spotted at an airport in Australia this week, and he looks completely different than the man we once knew as Maximus in Gladiator. The 55-year-old actor put on weight for his role as Roger Ailes in Showtime's The Loudest Voice, and it seems he kept it on. It's unclear if the weight is for a current or upcoming role. He is currently filming The Georgetown Project, in which he plays "a troubled actor who begins to unravel while filming a supernatural horror movie."

He was spotted at the airport with 29-year-old Britney Theriot, who played a small role in his 2013 movie Broken City. It's unclear what the nature of their relationship is.

A source told In Touch Weekly that Crowe is not thrilled with the ongoing comments about his weight. "Russell is getting annoyed with the focus on his weight," the source said. "He considers it part of his job. He's no Christian Bale, who seems to gain and then lose the weight overnight, but he's told his friends not to worry; he'll get back down to fighting weight eventually. He'd really like to tell people to mind their own business. He's in no rush."

"Russell loves acting," the source continued. "He loves transforming mentally and physically into a character. For him, it's part of the craft — but there are some down-sides to changing your physical appearance so drastically in such a short amount of time. "He's learned that the older you get, the harder it is to get your old body back."

The source went on to say that Crowe is willing to sacrifice whatever he has to in order to accurately portray any given character. "Russell has famously gone from a sexy, buffed out gladiator to having the ultimate dad bod in his last few films. He's really unrecognizable. He likes to joke that he'll sacrifice whatever it takes for a good character, like eating more to play the late Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, but the road back to leading man status — on or off the screen — is a battle. The older you get, the harder it is."

Crowe appeared to be larger than normal over the summer while filming Unhinged, which is currently in post-production. It's believed he was wearing a fat suit for that role, however.

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