Russell Crowe says that, for years, he would get prank calls from Michael Jackson, even though the two had never met in person.
Crowe said that the calls went on for “two or three f*****g years,” and that the King of Pop always seemed to be able to find out what pseudonym Crow was staying under in any given hotel.
The calls were generally joking, and Crowe gave one example: “Is Mr. Wall there? Is Mrs. Wall there? Are there any Walls there? Then what’s holding the roof up? Ha ha.”
Crowe did say that, occasionally, Jackson would call him and, in his best authoritative voice, inform him that there was an emergency and he needed to leave the building. When Crowe would ask who was on the other line, the response would be: “Do not worry Russell, just kidding, this is Michael.”
Crowe also related the story of the 2001 Oscars, in which he was apparently targeted by terrorists who wanted to kidnap him and lived with a large FBI presence for some time. He had 16 security guards at the Golden Globes.
“I don’t even know why. They wouldn’t give me any details. And of course, people were like: ‘Look at him, he thinks he’s f******g Elvis.’ And then one day they just weren’t there any more,” he recalled, noting that he still does not know what the fuss was all about, not entirely, even after over a decade.