When Rebel met Russell
<p>Rebel Wilson has stolen the show at the 2021 AACTA Awards, as she recalled her hilariously awkward first meeting with Russell Crowe. </p>
<p>The 41-year-old actress began telling the story when she took to the stage to present an award, after being handed the microphone by Russell himself. </p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">"I have to tell you guys a story about the very first time that I met Russell," Rebel said to the audience in the Sydney Opera House. </p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">"I was a young actor. I was like 19. And, um, he was sitting there having dinner with Nicole Kidman at STC [Sydney Theatre Company]."</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">"I was like, 'Oh, my God' and I went up to them and I was like really nervous, and he turned to me, and he looked me right in the eyes, and he just said, 'F*** off'."</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">With the audience of Australia's entertainment industry bursting into laughter, Rebel insisted, "It's a true story."</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">She continued, "Many years later, Nicole Kidman gave me a scholarship to go to America and study comedy."</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">"Um, Russell didn't give me anything. No Rabbitohs merch - nothing," the comic actress quipped.</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">She added, "You know, he did, though, a few years ago, give me a hug, and then he, like, sweetly whispered in my ear, 'I thought I told you to f*** off'."</p>
<p class="mol-para-with-font">Russell, the AACTA president, opened the formalities of the night and kicked the award ceremony off with a political stance. </p>
<p>“I’m supposed to now tell the winners to be as time-efficient and as apolitical as they can be in their acceptance speeches. But this is the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts - that last word ‘arts’, to my mind, is your licence to be as political as you want to be,” he said.</p>
<p>“As artists, you have the licence to overthrow empires. To hold mirrors to hypocrisy. To shine lights into dark corners and bring humanity into political discourse in a way that other professions simply can’t. Respect that. Use your voice efficiently.”</p>
<p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>
