"I think it's coincidental," says Russell, who took on the role of LAPD detective Bud White. "I don't think that when Curtis approached me he realized I was Australian. He'd seen my American work."

While Russell is a bag name here, after such film as Proof and Romper Stomper, in the US he's only known for his Hollywood films, Sharon Stone's The Quick and the Dead, and Denzel Washington's Virtuosity, both of which were box-office failures.

But you get the idea Curtis had some firm ideas about casting, by choosing Russell and the even more unknown Guy Pearce to co-star with Oscar winner Kevin Spacey and Kim Basinger.

"Either that, or (the producers) were looking for something cheap." Russell says, laughing. "Guy and I felt a bond
with Curtis because he'd taken a big risk. Actually, risk is the wrong word. We maybe unknown, but we both substantial careers. Certainly he'd taken a punt."

Whatever Curtis was thinking, he was right. Russell is completely convincing as LA Confidential's Bud White, a man who, though ruled by obsessions, is the dark knight of Ellroy's brutal novel, LA Confidential, which was the basis for the film.

"Ellroy's a gold mine," Russell says. "My initial conversation with him was the basis for the Bud I created. The first thing he said to me was 'Bud's achievement was based on a brilliantly sustained rage.' That's a line from the book.

"Later he told me, 'In my world of tarnished people, Bud's the only one I consider a hero.' I said, 'He's got to assassinate people and he's a hero?' I had to find ways in which you might like Bud - because you have to."

Russell knows LA Confidential is his first worthy Hollywood effort, but he's remarkably upbeat on the subject of his previous Tinesltown films. Virtuosity may have been a loathsome film in which Russell played a distasteful computer-generated killer, but he insists: "The director was a wonderful bloke. (But) no matter what I wanted to bring to my character, he was living in a cartoon world."

Of Sharon Stone, who picked Russell to be her leading gunslinger in the misfired The Quick and the Dead he says:"A great lady - very talented. But it's the same thing there - you're dealing with an extreme fantasy world."

Russell seems genuinely affected by LA Confidential. It is maybe the first real adult film I've made," he says earnestly. "This was definitely a journey to go on."

So where to next? Russell still lives in Australia, where he's been a star since Proof, and where he's been paying the price for success for some time now.

"When you're young in Australia, you learn about the Tall Poppy Syndrome," Russell says.

Yet, he is decidedly wary of Hollywood as an alternative. "People in this town will 'nice' you to death - say what they feel you need to hear. I've watched Australians come over and simply implode, because they believe everything they hear."

Following LA Confidential,Russell has had several US film offers. "One for a ridiculousamount of money," he says. "It would solve a lot of problems. But I don't operate like that. Sometimes the route to the top is not the obvious trail, if in fact you're aiming for the mythical whatever." And for those who may have missed that particular point Russell ends by saying. "I'm a great burner of any pedestal anyone tries to put me on."


Contributed by: Joshua Money in Los Angeles