NRL 2022: Russell Crowe may be forced to miss South Sydney Rabbitohs if they make grand final
Russell Crowe’s movie commitments in Ireland look likely to prevent the Hollywood star returning to Australia, should South Sydney qualify for the grand final.
The bright lights of movie-making could prevent South Sydney co-owner Russell Crowe personally witnessing his beloved Rabbitohs make historic back-to-back grand final appearances.
As Souths prepare to face Penrith in the preliminary final on Saturday night, News Corp can reveal that Crowe will be watching in Ireland on Sky Sports due to his commitments with making his latest blockbuster.
The Oscar winner is filming ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ in Ireland, where he has set up camp in a mansion formerly occupied by fellow Oscar winner Matt Damon. According to the Sunday World, Crowe is outlaying more than $20,000 per week to stay in the seaside digs, a three-storey villa which was built around 1840 and is considered to be one of Dublin’s finest homes.
That’s not the only price he is paying for his decision to film in Ireland. Crowe has been prevented from watching Souths stroll through the final weeks of the season and could yet miss a premiership if the Rabbitohs can make it past the Panthers at Accor Stadium.
If Souths can overcome the competition benchmark in Penrith and advance to the grand final, it would be the second year in succession he has missed the club‘s most important game due to work commitments.
Crowe confirmed in an email to News Corp that he would be in Ireland this weekend and planned to watch the game on Sky Sports.
The chances of him heading back for the grand final are slim to none given the prohibitive cost it would take to halt filming. Industry experts claim the average cost of making a feature film is between $100-150 million.
Crowe would no doubt love nothing more than to make a fleeting trip back to Sydney but the chances of that happening would appear slim.
Souths chief executive Blake Solly said it would pain Crowe not to be inside the stadium to cheer on his beloved Bunnies. “He‘s so passionate,’’ CEO Blake Solly said.
”I know he was also filming last year and with lockdown he wasn‘t in the country when we made the grand final.
“But he‘s so passionate about the club and he always wants to stay in touch and where his work schedule permits, he’s always at the games to watch and cheer the boys on.
”Crowe missed last year‘s grand final loss to Penrith due to filming commitments in Thailand of The Greatest Beer Run Ever, a recently released movie of which he co-stars alongside Zac Efron.
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Covid-19 travel restrictions between Thailand and Australia also scuppered any hope of him making it back for the grand final, which was played in Brisbane.
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Returning from Ireland would be an even bigger logistic nightmare for Crowe, not to mention filmmakers on the set of his latest blockbuster.
Filming would need to be halted for nearly a week. The flip side is that Souths haven’t played in back-to-back grand finals since 1970-71, when they won both.
They head into Saturday night’s grand final qualifier as the underdogs. Crowe, meanwhile, will be playing the role of Vatican-based Fr Gabriele Amorth, who carried out over 100,000 exorcisms before he died in 2016.
Originally published as NRL 2022: Russell Crowe may be forced to miss South Sydney Rabbitohs if they make grand final
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