IT’S BEEN A WHILE since we’ve been able to use the word ‘jacked’ to describe Russell Crowe. Even now, you might think it’s an overreaction. But in new post-training photos with WWE wrestler Drew McIntyre, Crowe is looking legitimately jacked.
Two years removed from filming Nuremberg, during which Crowe says he was at his heaviest weight, the actor has shared a glimpse of the training going into his upcoming film, The Last Druid. The behind the scenes look has come in the form of a gym selfie with WWE star Drew McIntyre, who will feature in the film alongside Crowe.
Set in the mountains of Caledonia in Scotland, The Last Druid will see Crowe play a Celtic elder who runs into trouble after a Roman emperor discovers a hidden Druid settlement. Set at some point between the years 100-400 CE, Crowe’s character will be forced to defend his family and community – and it seems he’ll need some muscle to do that.
“In the gym with Drew McIntyre. Good lad. Salt of the earth,” Crowe wrote on Instagram. “Just finishing up the shoot on The Last Druid. We have been shooting in Spain since May. It has been two years now since playing Hermann Goering in Nuremberg. The long sweaty days in the beautiful Spanish sunshine have definitely been a great motivator.”
Always one to impart a few words of wisdom, Crowe finished his caption with some advice: “As I always say, it’s one layer of tissue paper at a time. Consistency is your friend.”
In 2025, while appearing on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’, Crowe revealed that when filming for Nuremberg wrapped in May 2024, he was at his heaviest ever weight. “I was 126 kilos when I finished Nuremberg,” he said. “I’m 100.9 right now.”
It looks like he’s continued to lose weight since then. According to Crowe, a key factor in his weight loss journey was limiting his alcohol intake. While he still enjoys a drink, he does so in moderation. “I’m a big proponent for having a drink – it’s my cultural heritage and as a working class man, it’s my goddamn right, Joe,” Crowe said. “But as you get older, there are certain things you start to learn about your capacities.”
For the 61-year-old, one night a week of fun is enough. “If I decide to have a glass of wine with dinner, it’s going to be a really nice wine,” he added. “I try not to have casual drinks, now. [As in] having a drink for the sake of it.”
To help him deal with a number of injuries he’s picked up from physical roles over the years, Crowe has received injections as part of a wellness programme designed by Ways2Well.
“I’ve probably connected with them about five times since that first time we went,” Crowe said. “I’m not really across the science, but the real benefit I’m getting are from these injections into my shoulders, my knees and also IVs. It’s calmed down my body’s inflammation.”
While he has achieved incredible results, Crowe isn’t going to get too carried away with his weight loss. He mentioned that he wants to keep things sustainable now. “I’m taking it really slowly,” he said. “That was one of the things I was worried about with Highlander, because jumping into that role with the shoot date coming, I was thinking that I’ve got to do three workouts a day. That’s a bad recipe for me because I can do that for X amount of time, but once I stop, I’m going to stop completely.
“What I want to do is make all these changes and make it a long-term situation. [The injections] were a great call for me, because it’s calmed down a bunch of stuff and it’s taking a bunch of pain away, so I can go and work out and not have to suffer for two or three hours afterwards.”
The results are plain to see. Crowe looks better than he has in years. His method is clearly working.
