It's baby talk rather than fighting talk for Russell Crowe as he looks forward to parenthood. Steve Pratt reports on the taming of the Oscar-winning actor.

Russell Crowe plays a tough 19th century sea captain in his latest film, but he seems to be a changed man off-screen. He's given up drinking and is looking forward to changing nappies.

His abstinence from alcohol is good preparation for his next film role, playing legendary 1930s boxer Jim Braddock in Cinderella Man.

As for impending fatherhood, the 38-year-old New Zealand-born actor and his wife Danielle Spencer are expected their first child, a son, early next year. "I've wanted to be a father for a long time and I'm really looking forward to bringing him up," he says.

"What I've really enjoyed is watching my wife flower with the advent of motherhood. I feel, as a couple, that Danielle and I are getting closer and we have a deeper understanding.

"I'm enjoying having conversations at three in the morning because she can't sleep because the baby is kicking."

The Oscar-winning star of Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind has become a serious shopper for baby things. "It's fun that we know we're going to have a boy because now I know what clothes to buy. You ask any of the shops in Beverly Hills that deal with clothes, I've been there getting all the cool things that I can find," he says.

His other new role as swashbuckling Captain Jack Aubrey in Master And Commander finds him aboard HMS Surprise during the time of the Napoleonic War and being attacked by a superior enemy. The film is based on the books by Patrick O'Brian.

Director Peter Weir says Crowe was the only actor he considered for the role. "He's a rare combination of movie star and consummate screen actor. There aren't many of them," says Weir.

Crowe returns the compliment, feeling that Weir's previous films such as Gallipoli, Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show have always focused on detail and the humanity of the situation. "Actors really want to work with him and I was no exception," he says.

Despite growing up in Australia, Crowe admits he doesn't have much experience as a sailor, and his mother suffers from bad sea sickness.

"I considered that I'd be bothered by it too and I knew that a captain shouldn't be heaving on a regular basis," he says.

Fortunately, he found his sea legs quite quickly, whether he was filming at sea or aboard the replica ship in the high-tech water tanks in Mexico that had been built for James Cameron's Titanic.

Crowe went to great lengths to find out about being a commander in that era. "The reality of the situation for a man like Jack is that it's a very lonely job," he says.

"Every ship's captain I spoke with before we began this film discussed that loneliness and to be prepared for that. One shared with me a saying, 'Not always right, but always certain', meaning that as captain you can't transmit any doubts you have in the middle of a life-threatening situation."

He studied the nautical history, lore and skills required as a British Royal Navy captain of the time. He also learned the ins and outs of the ship, and became quite adept at climbing the rigging to the tops.

The really hard part was trying to coax a decent sound out of the violin the captain plays, he jokes. Even though he has played guitar in rock bands, Crowe wanted to look like the real thing on the violin, which on the film track is played by virtuoso Richard Tognetti.

"I made a pact with myself that I would know in my heart that I could make a beautiful sound out of it," he says.

"Taming the instrument was a big part of being able to play the complications of this character. I know the movie is full of running up and down the rigging and sword fighting and giving out orders and that sort of stuff, but there's also this sort of art inside of Jack."

With high profile hits behind him, Crowe's now firmly established in Hollywood's $20m a role A-list. But, having come up through small independent Australian films like Romper Stomper, the actor maintains it's not about the money.

"I'm not here for the money or kudos or awards, it's about telling people a really good story. I simply see my job as telling stories."

His screen characters tend to be very different individuals, and that's quite deliberate. "A really important part of the responsibility of being an actor is respecting the audience enough to not just do drivel or the 75th serial killer film because it's available to you at your top rate," he says.

He doesn't intend to lessen the pace when his son arrives. "I'll work as much as I can for the next five years so when my son is in school I can be there for him. That's when I'll start cutting back."

* Master And Commander opens in cinemas today.

Published: ??/??/2003