`BEAUTIFUL MIND' MINDFUL OF SURVIVAL.Russell Crowe was still having bad dreams about making his new movie ``A Beautiful Mind'' long after filming had ended and the Oscar-winning actor had returned to his ranch in Australia. Director Ron Howard faced his own nightmare: How do you make a movie about something as abstract as mathematics and turn it into a compelling film? Of course, it helps to have a great story, and Akiva Goldsman's screenplay about the life of mathematician John Forbes Nash John Forbes Nash, Jr. (born June 13 1928) is an American mathematician who works in game theory, differential geometry, and partial differential equations, serving as a Senior Research Mathematician at Princeton University. Jr. has been a hot read around town for years. Nash developed trailblazing trail·blaz·ing adj. Suggestive of one that blazes a trail; setting out in a promising new direction; pioneering or innovative: trailblazing research; a trailblazing new technique. scientific formulas in the 1950s before suffering from schizophrenia. He recovered, however, and went on to win a Nobel Prize Nobel Prize, award given for outstanding achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, peace, or literature. The awards were established by the will of Alfred Nobel, who left a fund to provide annual prizes in the five areas listed above. for his work. ``It's kind of a survival story with the pursuit of a balance between the mind and the heart at its center,'' Howard says. ``John Nash has lived through and continues to live through an amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. journey. These mathematicians Mathematicians by letter: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z See also
Crowe began work on the film 36 hours after winning an Oscar for ``Gladiator gladiator (Latin; swordsman) Professional combatant in ancient Rome who engaged in fights to the death as sport. Gladiators originally performed at Etruscan funerals, the intent being to give the dead man armed attendants in the next world. .'' The actor brought his usual intensity to the set, but Howard expresses nothing but admiration for his leading man. Howard says Crowe never complained about nightmares, but he's not exactly surprised to hear the news. ``He gives every scene his all and doesn't go for the easy choices,'' Howard says. ``And this character is so difficult and challenging, a very complicated man who was constantly trying to break into the unknown. Getting inside that mind was not an easy thing to do.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: A day and a half after winning the Best Actor Oscar, Russell Crowe jumped into the role of troubled mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. in ``A Beautiful Mind.'' (Dec. 25) |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion