Recent Dublin visitor Russell Crowe has been complaining about his difficulty in securing Australian citizenship despite being one of the country's most popular and lucrative figures.
Crowe, who made quite an impact on the Late Late Show last Friday and who spoke to RTÉ TEN on the red carpet premiere for The Water Diviner, moved to Australia from New Zealand in 1968 but still can't become an official full-blown Aussie.
“They changed the law for New Zealanders,” he tells the new edition of The Radio Times. “No matter how long you’d been in the country, if you weren't in Australia for the majority of 2000 to 2002 - when I was particularly busy filming overseas - you can’t become a citizen.”
He added: “I've been voted one of Australia’s 50 national treasures. I've even had my face on an Australian stamp, the only non-Australian to do so, apart from the Queen, of course. It’s so, so . . . unreasonable.”
We reckon Russ should apply for Irish citizenship.
Click on the video links to watch Russell talk to TEN and rock The Late Late Show.
