Russell Crowe‘s children, like most, love dinosaurs. Scary as they might be in the Jurassic Park movies, prehistoric creatures are incredibly cool. He managed to surprise them with their own dinosaur head one year, and it’s all thanks to Leonardo DiCaprio.
Crowe explained what happened on The Howard Stern Show. “There was a bunch of vodka involved in that transaction,” he starts. “[DiCaprio] said ‘I’ve got this one, but there’s another one that’s come onto the market I really want’, and I said ‘I’ll buy it’.”
There wasn’t much negotiation, Crowe asked the drama movie star his price, and he just wanted cost, which amounted to between 30 and 35,000. Just us, or does that seem reasonable for a genuine skull of a dinosaur that was once actually alive? Crowe notes this wasn’t a popular breed, not like something you’d see in a science fiction movie, so collector’s value is diminished somewhat.
“My kids, particularly my eldest, were fascinated and they were into dinosaurs,” he says, “so here we go, here’s one for the playroom.”
The Gladiator star sold on the fossil some time later, for an undisclosed amount. Given the relative rarity, he probably made a tidy profit. Pleasing his kids without spending a dime – clever. These days, Crowe is more enthused by specters, given his involvement in The Pope’s Exorcist.
It’s his first straight horror movie, and it comes out April 14, 2023. Have a look at our new movies list to see if DiCaprio has anything on the horizon, and our best movies guide will introduce you to more great films.