Crowe researches to avoid seasickness

Russell Crowe did all he could to avoid succumbing to seasickness while filming the seafaring epic Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World.

To prepare for the six month film shoot he read Sailing For Dummies, which was sent to him by Jodie Foster, took sailing lessons, went to sea in the ocean off Fiji and also sailed from Sydney Harbour north to his farm at Coff’s Harbour.

“I was determined to spend as many hours as it took at sea on whatever vessel I could get on to make sure that when I got on the set, as captain of the ship, I had my sea legs,” he told journalists in Los Angeles.

“By the time I got on the film set I felt fine and I was one of about a dozen members of the cast and crew who didn’t throw up. I thought it was very important not to have the young midshipmen witnessing their captain hurl over the side of the ship because it damages his credibility.”

Crowe plays Capt Jack Aubrey in the film, set during the Napoleonic Wars and based on the books by Patrick O’Brian.