Family man Russell Crowe talks to Steve Pratt about the appeal of re-making the western 3.10 to Yuma which allowed him to 'ride horses, play iwth guns, speak in a funny voice and wear pointy boots'.

A LIGHTER role in the French-set A Good Year didn't endear Oscar-winner Russell Crowe to audiences. Nor did his turn in ring as boxer Jim Braddock in Cinderella Man. Neither performed well at the box-office.

Not that Crowe - back on screen this week in the western 3.10 To Yuma - much cares about that. "I just do things that appeal to me," he says.

"I don't think I've become more selective over time. I think I came into this business being selective. Things I do are not always going to be things which will appeal to the head of the studio.

"My primary focus when I read a script is the same as it's always been. What's the story and what's the character?"

Post-Gladiator, the New Zealand-born actor began to get a reputation for what he did off rather than on-camera. There was the business with a telephone and an alleged assault on a New York hotel employee, and almost coming to blows with producer Malcolm Gerrie at the 2002 Bafta Awards about part of his speech being cut from the TV transmission.

These days Crowe is just as happy back home with wife Danielle Spencer and their sons, Charlie, three, and one-year-old Tennyson, at his ranch in New South Wales in Australia, as being in front of the cameras.

Good characters, as far as he's concerned, are hard to come by. "It's always been that way, especially in my life in the movies," he says.

"You get a lot of opportunities that come with a big pay cheque and all that sort of stuff that doesn't necessarily appeal. You've got to stay true to yourself in that way. If I read a script and I get goosebumps - if I like its potential - then that's the thing I do."

The western 3.10 To Yuma was one script that did appeal and the film put him back at the top of the US box-office last weekend. He stars as outlaw Ben Wade being escorted to the prison train by hard-up farmer Dan Evans (played by Christian Bale).

Crowe says he liked the script and it looked like it was going to be fun. "I don't like Wade and I wouldn't want to hang out with him, but I liked playing the guy," he says. "I liked his forthrightness, this attitude to life - and his hat. His trousers weren't bad either, especially the leather inserts.

"It's a good list - ride horses, play with guns, speak in a funny voice, wear pointy boots, you know? It's all fun because it's skillsets that I've already taken on board in previous roles, so I can just focus on the character and the way this particular guy is in his environment. So there's absolutely nothing about this job that was really hard work."

Working with horses was no problem as Crowe has been riding since he was nine. He's comfortable with them, so it's good to be on a set where horses are.

"I have a cattle farm with my own horses, so it was a pleasure. Being actually able to be on horseback for nine or ten hours a day wasn't worrying me at all. The more the better."

He was rumoured to be the quickest draw, if not in the west then on the set of 3.10 To Yuma. Coming from Australia, he doesn't have much experience of gun culture, he says.

"I'd never actually held a handgun until I was on the set of The Quick And The Dead back in 1993/94. It's a very specific skill which you don't get to use very often. So it's good when a western comes around and you can use it.

"Preparation is just a standard part of the gig. The more you look into things, the more you bring to the job you're doing. Just ask Christian Bale. He understands that. That's what made us click the way we did because we worked the same way. "It's not an effort. People write articles saying, 'look at all this stuff you did in preparation', like it was an effort. It's actually a pleasure. It's a privilege to prepare with that level of detail."

He's next re-teaming with his Gladiator and A Good Year director Ridley Scott for a 1970s-set gangster drama, American Gangster, opposite Denzel Washington. Whatever the reaction, the chances of him repeating his three consecutive best actor Oscar nominations in the early Noughties, must be unlikely.

"It's always nice to get a pat on the back," he says. "It's funny because I look back on that time with a sort of affection. It seems like such a long time ago.

"But in the middle of those nominations, I was just working continuously on different things and doing a lot of stuff. In a way, it's more satisfying now to look back on it than it was at the time when it was a bit of a surprise."

These days, he's a family man. "Me and Charlie take a soccer ball back to the park and kick it around every now and then," he says.

"I don't want to make him focus on contact sports just yet, he's too little for that. But I do have a game with him and chase him around the room and tackle him every now and then, and he enjoys it."

* 3.10 To Yuma (15) opens in cinemas tomorrow.