Now it’s Marco the movie, with Russell Crowe as celebrity chef
MARCO Pierre White has signed a lucrative deal for Hollywood A-lister Russell Crowe to star in, direct and write the movie of his life, the Sunday Independent can exclusively reveal.
Speaking this weekend, the chef said: “I have just signed the deal. Russell has written the script, Russell’s company is producing it, Russell is directing it and Russell is playing the third or fourth Marco.”
He explained: “When they do a movie on your life, you don’t just have one Marco —I am nearly 60 years old.”
Delighted with the actor chosen for the role, the three-Michelin-starred chef said: “If there was anyone in Hollywood to play me, it would have to be Russell.”
Recalling first seeing the actor in an in-flight movie several years ago, he added: “I didn’t know Russell then.
“I had never met him because [the idea for the movie] all started with Ridley Scott, not with Russell.
“But I thought to myself, ‘Actually I think Russell Crowe should be playing me, not Michael Fassbender’,” he added, in reference to the Irish actor originally tipped for the role.
But the chef said he thought twice about sharing his views with the award-wining director, saying: “I can’t tell Ridley Scott how to suck eggs.”
He said: “Shortly afterwards, Ridley came on board with Russell so it was purely coincidental.”
The three have already talked at length about White’s roller-coaster years.
At 24, he became head chef and joint owner of Harveys, with kitchen staff that included the young Gordon Ramsay.
The movie will be based on White’s best-selling autobiography The Devil in the Kitchen, which tells how the former bad boy of haute cuisine grew up on a Leeds council estate and left at the age of 16 to pursue his culinary dreams.
The chef, who celebrated his 58th birthday on Wednesday, also spoke about becoming a grandfather for the first time,
Asked how he felt about his new granddaughter, Arabella, he said: “Life is a very beautiful giant jigsaw, made of lot and lots of little pieces.
“This is another piece for the jigsaw and when it is all over the jigsaw will be completed.”
Now on a pre-Christmas health kick, the celebrity chef turned hotelier and restaurateur has stopped drinking and has shed two stone in just over eight weeks. Although friends of his have become accustomed to his jaunts in the capital that can last several days, he said: “I stopped drinking two and a half months ago and I have lost two stone.
“I don’t really like drink. I never liked drink. I only started drinking at 41. Last year I stopped for nine months.”
Asked if he has an ‘extremist personality’, he smiled. “That would be fair to say.”
Having mellowed since his days in the kitchen, where he became known for his fiery temper, he says the reputation no longer fits.
“I know the press write about this volatile chef but it couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I would say most of my reputation is a product of exaggeration and ignorance. I don’t remember the last time I raised my voice. It could be about two decades ago.”
Still renowned for his jeu d’esprit, he described what guests should expect from the best restaurant experiences in the world.
“Walking into a three-star restaurant should be like taking a beautiful woman to bed for the first time.
“You are intimidated by her beauty, but you should be intimidated. What dissolves it is the excitement of being there.”
Meanwhile, the group, which operates the two Marco Pierre White restaurants in Dublin, expects to return to profit in the next year.
So say the directors of D & D Premier, commenting on the group recording losses of €262,577 last year arising from significant once-off costs.
The business, controlled by the Fitzers Restaurant Group, runs the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse & Grill in Dawson Street and the Marco Pierre White Courtyard Bar & Grill, Donnybrook.