Russell Crowe Reveals Heated Exchange on Set of New WWII Movie ‘Nuremberg’

Russell Crowe’s new WWII movie has been circulating recently following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and now the man himself has pulled back the curtain on a heated exchange that happened on the set of the film. Crowe stars alongside Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) and Michael Shannon (Man of Steel) in Nuremberg, the WWII movie telling the story of the Nuremberg trials. Crowe plays Herman Göring in the film, one of Adolf Hitler’s closest confidants. Crowe recently sat down for an interview to discuss Nuremberg ahead of its November 7 release date, and he confirmed some turmoil that occurred behind the scenes.

One of the most anticipated scenes in Nuremberg is the courtroom scene, which is expected to take place near the end of the movie. According to Crowe, “It was probably one of the most challenging, thrilling, and resonant days I’ve ever spent on a film set. Michael [Shannon] and I knew each other from Man of Steel. The courtroom scene was originally scheduled to be shot over four days, but Michael and I discussed how there didn’t seem to be natural stopping points.” This drove the two to come up with an unprecedented idea — filming the entire scene in one day.

Crowe continued, “The scene was written like a duel, a fight sequence with concepts and philosophies as weapons. We had a chat with Jamie [James Vanderbilt] and put forward the suggestion that we could play it as written. Seventeen pages in a day. No responsible production company is going to plan to hit a page count like that in a single day. As excited as he was about what we were suggesting, I think Jamie made some kind of joke about how 17 pages in a day ‘Isn’t even humanly possible.’ I deadpanned in return, ‘Michael and I are from Krypton.’” The two previously starred opposite each other in2013’s Man of Steel.

Michael Shannon Wanted To “Live and Die in the Moment” on ‘Nuremberg’

Shannon backed Crowe on this stance, saying that “The thing about a scene like that is that we’re both trying to catch each other off guard. So there’s an advantage to not knowing entirely what the other person’s going to do beforehand. I think it’s a perfect opportunity to not rehearse and let people kind of live and die in the moment.”

Director James Vanderbilt confirmed that it became a “verbal gunfight” on set over this request, but as a group of consummate professionals, they ultimately smoothed it over. Sony Pictures is expected to push for both Crowe and co-star Rami Malek to be nominated for Oscars for the film, and it currently sits at a 59% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage of Nuremberg.