Actor tries to get to movie set undercover, is willing to do anything for anonymity

Oct 25, 2012 11:53 GMT  ·  By
Russell Crowe, sporting a massive beard for “Noah,” chases paparazzi on his bike in NYC
   Russell Crowe, sporting a massive beard for “Noah,” chases paparazzi on his bike in NYC

Russell Crowe’s relationship with the media has always been a tricky and very difficult one, so waiting for it to change for the better might prove futile in the long run. The actor engaged the paparazzi in a very energetic bike chase through NYC the other day.

Russell is now shooting “Noah” in New York and, as with every other project he boards, there’s a lot of interest in it from fans and the press, too.

Consequently, paparazzi are always stalking him, following him to and from work in the hope they’ll get that “money shot,” whatever that may turn out to be in his case.

Yesterday, Russell had set his mind not to allow them to take pictures, so he got up on his bike and, with a bodyguard, took the paps through a race in NYC worthy of “Premium Rush,” E! News reports.

“It all started at about 10:30 a.m. when I and five other shutterbugs waited outside a Tribeca hotel where Crowe is staying,” one paparazzo recalls.

“The double front doors of the hotel flew open and Crowe and his bodyguard dramatically shot out on a mountain bike and headed south on Greenwich St.,” he adds.

In the end, he and another photographer made it to the end of the race, with Crowe joking with him as he was getting into his trailer that, “You missed the best shot; I just gave you the finger.”

Moments later, the actor came out and actually gave the paparazzo a hug, a reward, we assume, for making it so far at the pace he set up.

On his Twitter, Russell chose to find the humor in the whole situation.

“11.6km [7.2 mile] bike ride to work, meditative peace of the morning ritual decimated by paparazzi... on bicycles... Only in NY folks,” he wrote.

“ride turned in to a bit of fun, certainly upped the speed, did the 11.6km [7.2 miles] in 30 mins, only 1 pap stayed on pace, I congratulated him,” Crowe added.