Russell talks about Twitter at 3:20 in

Russell Crowe was on The Today Show this morning promoting his new thriller The Next Three Days, with Elizabeth Banks. This is actually the first I’ve heard of this film, by director Paul Haggis, and it looks pretty good, although familiar. Spoilers follow that are also in the trailer. They weren’t entirely clear on The Today Show what the film is about, but I looked up the trailer afterwards and Crowe’s wife, played by Banks, gets arrested for a murder she claims she didn’t commit. He then tries to break her out of jail several years later when she becomes suicidal. It has Liam Neeson in it too!

Crowe was good natured and humorous with Matt Lauer, particularly when Lauer said he was surprised that Crowe has been spending so much time on Twitter. I didn’t know that Crowe tweeted either, and like Matt I didn’t think he was the type. Big Russ explained that he’s been a stay-at-home dad while his wife tours with her band and that he’s had some time to kill without the longer stretches that would allow him to be creative. He then added a few obligatory sentences about how it’s cutting edge technology that allows him to talk directly to fans. You know he’s just bored. Russell also said he’d quit coffee and cigarettes – at the same time – and admitted that it took him a couple of months to feel normal again and be able to concentrate.

Russell Crowe, tweeter? That was one question Matt Lauer had during Monday’s interview with the actor on TODAY.

“I’m in this place at the moment where I’m basically being Dad,” said the man behind @RussellCrowe. “I’m at home, my wife’s doing gigs and stuff with her band, she’s promoting a record (‘Calling all Magicians’). I take the boys to school in the morning, I pick them up in the afternoon, and then there’s the bedtime, and stories … I find there’s not a long length of time to get involved with anything creative,” Crowe said.

A recent tweet revealed that Crowe had given up two habits: “Blue Sky in NYC today. Haven’t slept a wink. It’ll make the interviews interesting, no cigs, no coffee and no sleep. Good luck Journalists,” it read. Lauer joked, “Do you realize there was a time when someone like me wouldn’t sit across from you while you’re giving up cigarettes and coffee at the same time?”

“I got cranky for some time,” Crowe conceded.

[From MSNBC]

Russell explained that he had the impetus to quit smoking when he “got caught smoking a cigarette by my eldest boy, Charlie [6]”

This guy is a hell of an actor and I like that he has a few pounds on him lately. Sure you can see a paunch when he’s sitting down, but he’s still sexy as hell – he’s Russell Crowe! I’ll take a guy with some weight on him over a skinny smoker any day. You guys can have Colin Farrell! (Kaiser!) After I saw him chain smoking on the In Bruges DVD extras I was pretty much over him.

Here’s the trailer for The Next Three Days, which has a lot of spoilers as mentioned above:

Russell is shown on 7/27/10 and with his wife, Danielle Spencer, on 5/21/10. Credit: Fame Pictures. Last photo below from 5/15/10. Credit: WENN.com