Apology: Russell Eats Crow After All

By Stephen M. Silverman

03/04/2002 at 11:00 AM EST

Last week's major brouhaha involving Russell Crowe's cursing out the BBC producer of the British Film Academy Awards has peacefully concluded with a phone call that the "Beautiful Mind" star placed this past weekend to the executive, Malcolm Gerrie, reports Reuters. The previous weekend, Crowe had taken Gerrie to task at the post-awards ceremony party when the actor learned that part of his acceptance speech had been edited for time before being broadcast on TV. "He said his language had been excessive and yes, he was still a bit sore (that his words had been cut)," a rep from Gerrie's production company told Reuters, "but he understood that Malcolm had a job to do." Crowe, 37, also offered to buy Gerrie, 55, a drink on his next visit to London, the spokesman told Reuters. In return, Gerrie, who harbors "no hard feelings," said the rep, suggested that they might meet at the producer's local pub for a pint of Guinness stout. Crowe additionally apologized to Gerrie's family for the press intrusion that occurred after the incident. "He asked if he could make up for the door-stepping (reporters at his door) and spoke for 15 minutes to Malcolm's son, Oliver, who was thrilled," the spokesman told Reuters. Immediately after the incident, Reuters reported at the time, DreamWorks, one of the movie companies that produced "A Beautiful Mind," apologized to Gerrie for Crowe's behavior, which included the threat to Gerrie that he would never work in Hollywood. All last week, speculation was rampant over whether or not what happened might affect Crowe's shot at this year's Oscar. He won Best Actor honors last year for "Gladiator."