Guy Candy: ‘American Gangster’s’ Russell Crowe

A leather-clad Russell Crowe stomps his ways into theaters this weekend as one of the good guys in “American Gangster.”

In tight fitting jeans, sharply cut 1970s leather jackets and a five o’clock shadow, Guy Candy lovers will drool as Crowe plays real life hero, Richie Roberts, the cop who worked to take down Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington).

Though his regular muscles are disguised for this role, Guy Candy’s favorite Crowe feature – his gorgeous, over grown locks run wild. It is his cerebral performance, however, that gets pulses racing, to cheer on the actor.

Crowe cared so deeply enough about portraying Richie’s life story properly that he worked hard to develop an understanding of the man.

“You get the opportunity to sort of look at these things and [there’s a] certain responsibility that comes when you are playing somebody who has had a real life,” Crowe explained. “There is even more responsibility when that person is still walking around and those memories that you are supposedly reliving are actually real things in their life.”

Crowe told Access, playing the part and learning about the man, had a profound affect on him. And that affect translated intensely on camera too.

“To understand [his journey], it means you begin to carry it with you, and if you carry it with you then somehow there is that osmosis effect. Because you know about it, you know it’s transferred to you and because you are holding it, you transfer it back to the camera,” he said.