Russell Crowe donates £60,000 film prop to Scots battle group
Hollywood superstar Russell Crowe has donated a £60,000 prop from his latest blockbuster to a bunch of savages he befriended while filming Gladiator.
Charlie Allan with the battering ram donated by film star Russell Crowe.
- By Lars Niven
- Published in the Courier : 13.05.10
- Published online : 13.05.10 @ 09.36am
Crowe got on like a house on fire with Charlie Allan, of Combat International -- a group that specialises in battle re-enactments for the movies.
That was 10 years ago, but the pair were reunited last year as they filmed scenes for the Ridley Scott epic Robin Hood, which opened in Cannes this week.
Combat International is part of the Clanranald Trust, which is building a medieval fortified village in a forest to the west of Falkirk.
Crowe paid to have a huge battering ram used in the film shipped to the village, Duncarron, which will serve as a tourist attraction, film set and craft centre.
The battering ram will be one of the fort's main attractions and was transported by road earlier this week from Surrey to a secret location in central Scotland.
Crowe has promised Charlie he's looking forward to seeing it on site.
The pair first met when Combat International provided around 20 barbarian warriors for Gladiator.
Charlie, who lives in Kincardine, was astonished when Crowe told him he had arranged for the battering ram called Rosie to be given to the trust.
Generous
"Russell's the only guy on the planet I look up to," said Charlie. "He's pleasant and generous and a great laugh.
"He's really interested in what we are doing.
"Russell bought a rugby league club in Australia and handed it over to the people. It's in south Sydney, a poor part of town where there's a lot of poverty and drug and alcohol problems.
"He sees the club as his contribution to making things better for folk there, and he sees the same in what we are doing at the fort," he added.
The medieval village is gradually taking shape thanks in part to muscle power provided by young offenders doing community service and to groups of long-term unemployed people.
"We are giving these people something worthwhile to do," said Charlie. "I know it's helped turn a lot of people around."
Charlie's life has certainly changed since the day in 1994 when he and a group of biking buddies met in an Edinburgh pub and came up with the idea of building a fort to help educate Scots about their heritage and culture.
He may not have realised it then but the fort he and his pals started designing on a beer mat was to become a massive challenge that's involved scores of professional people, hundreds of volunteers and a £650,000 price tag.
Money for the project has come largely through the trust's own band, Saor Patrol, and from film work.
Braveheart, King Arthur, Valhalla Rising and The Eagle Of The Ninth are among the films to have used Combat International.
For more on the Clanranald Trust, visit www.clanranald.org
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