Russell Crowe Back in Awards Race as Nuremberg Receives Standing Ovation

Russell Crowe received a hero’s welcome as he premiered his new film Nuremberg at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, Sept. 7.

The Oscar-winning actor was greeted with a rousing standing ovation as he joined his costars Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, John Slattery, Leo Woodall, Richard E. Grant and writer-director James Vanderbilt onstage following the world premiere of the historical drama, based on Jack El-Hai’s 2013 non-fiction book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist.

For Crowe, his performance as Hermann Göring, one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, could land the New Zealand actor back in the awards race for the first time since he scored his third Oscar nomination in 2002 for A Beautiful Mind. He won the previous year for Best Actor in Gladiator and was nominated for the first time in 2000 for The Insider.

During the post-screening Q&A, when asked how he approached playing one of the most challenging roles of his career, Crowe joked to the moderator, “I thought it was a short Q&A.”

“We’re going to have to get together tomorrow morning,” he continued, speaking to the audience. “It’ll probably take about two hours to answer that question, so bring some sandwiches and something to drink. And if you have toilet problems, please go before we start.”

Crowe then likened acting in the film to “walking into a Wild West saloon” where “every single person in the room is a gunfighter.” “Everybody’s waiting and willing to do exactly what they need to on their day to make sure that they get through it,” he continued. “And that was an exciting energy to be around.”

As for the success of Nuremberg, which Deadline hailed as “fascinating and urgently important,” Crowe credited it to screenplay, written by Vanderbilt and Jack El-Hai.

“The writing was magnificent,” Crowe said. “People kept saying, ‘You know, but the money dropped out three times, how did you stay with it?’ It’s like, you know, I’ve been around long enough to know that when something’s written really well, it’s a good f—— start. So you hang on to that s—.”

“Nuremberg chronicles the true story of the eponymous trials held by the Allies against the defeated Nazi regime,” reads the official synopsis from Sony Pictures Classics. “The film centers on American psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (Malek), who is tasked with determining whether Nazi prisoners are fit to stand trial for their war crimes and finds himself in a complex battle of wits with Hermann Göring (Crowe), Hitler’s right-hand man.”

The film will be released in theaters nationwide on Nov. 7, ahead of the 80th anniversary of the trials.