Russell Crowe chatted up Jared Kushner at a party because 'nobody else was talking to him'


Russell Crowe surprised his longtime friend Nicole Kidman by revealing for Variety's "Actors on Actors" issue that he shmoozed with Jared Kushner, of all people, at Hugh Jackman's 50th birthday party in New York City in 2018. Crowe, who once described former President Barack Obama as "the light and the future," joked that part of the reason he bothered talking to Kushner at all was because "nobody else" at the party "was talking to him."
Admittedly, Crowe had other motives for having "a very long conversation" with Kushner; at the time, he was preparing to play the late Fox News founder Roger Ailes in The Loudest Voice. Kushner "had a very direct relationship with Roger," Crowe explained, adding that their talk "gave me that contemporary insight that [The Loudest Voice book] could not give me."
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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