Whatever Happened To Rene Russo?
Rene Russo has been an iconic actor for decades. Her career started with a short run on the TV show "Sable," but since then Russo has exclusively focused her efforts on the big screen. She's had notable roles in movies like "Get Shorty" and the "Lethal Weapon" franchise, but her image today is much different than it was back in the '90s.
Today Russo's image is anything but unified. Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will recognize her as Thor's mother Frigga, while others may know Russo for movies like "Nightcrawler" and "Velvet Buzzsaw." In the '90s Russo took on a lot of very similar roles, but today every new project brings her the chance to portray an entirely unique character and show off her remarkable range.
Still, there are some moviegoers who might be wondering what happened to Russo. After becoming an icon, she seemingly vanished in the late 2000s. While some fans might have seen her absence from the big screen as a tragedy, for Russo it was no big loss. She found different passions to keep her occupied and when she finally decided to come back to the movie business, she was in a position to pick roles that genuinely excited her as an actor. Less of a rise and fall, the story of what happened to Rene Russo is really about how an actor transformed her career and built the life that she truly wanted for herself.
The 2000s were a mixed bag for Rene Russo
Those who have been fans of Rene Russo throughout her career may know that she took a lengthy break from acting in the mid-2000s, but they might not know the reason why. There's more than one reason behind Russo's decision to step away from Hollywood during this decade, but one contributing factor was that the 2000s were particularly rough on Russo as an actor.
In the first half of the decade, Russo starred in multiple movies that failed to make a big impact at the box office. Her 2005 film "Two for the Money" failed to make an impact at the box office. Just a few years earlier she starred alongside Tim Allen in "Big Trouble," and this was also a huge flop. Originally scheduled for release in September 2001, "Big Trouble" was delayed following the events of 9/11. When it did finally arrive in theaters, it barely made more than $8 million globally.
Those two films might have been the nails in the coffin, but really the writing was on the wall after Russo's first movie of the decade. "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" massively disappointed audiences and critics, and Jason Alexander even apologized for his role in the movie. Russo's performance in particular garnered some extreme reactions. The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films nominated Russo for a Saturn for best supporting actress in "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle," while the Razzies nominated her for worst supporting actress. After a rough handful of years, Russo decided it was time for a break.
She didn't love acting anyway
There's another reason that Rene Russo decided she needed to take some time off acting: she didn't like it much in the first place. Fans might be surprised to learn that even after decades in the business and dozens of films under her belt, Russo has never really found a deep passion for acting. Ahead of 2014's "Nightcrawler" — Russo's first major role in nearly a decade — an interviewer for the Los Angeles Times asked if she'd missed acting, and Russo's response was a resounding, "Hell no!"
Russo went on to explain her feeling that for most of her career, she'd been typecast into similar roles. She said that she was, "Pigeonholed as the strong, confident woman." That might not sound too bad to most, but Russo said that the characters she usually portrayed didn't seem to reflect her own experience in life. Even worse, the more she played that same type of character, the worse the actual roles seemed to get. She wanted to try something new, but making that kind of pivot isn't always easy for someone who's making their living in the movies. Taking a break from acting gave Russo the breathing room she needed to jump back into roles she really cared about later on.
When she finally came back to the big screen, films like "Nightcrawler" and "Frank and Cindy" helped push her career in a new direction. In 2017, Russo told Collider that now she has a pretty easy time deciding whether or not to pass up a role, saying "If it's a watered down version of something I've already done, then that's not exciting to me 'cause I've already done it."
Thor brought her back to acting
When Rene Russo came back to acting, fans were shocked by the movie she chose for her return to the big screen. After more than half a decade away from the business, Russo showed up seemingly out of nowhere playing the mother of the titular hero in 2011's "Thor." While it wasn't a particularly large role, it was one that she reprised in two other MCU movies in 2013 and 2019.
What was it that brought Russo out of her semi-retirement? Did she jump at the opportunity to work with a director like Kenneth Branagh, or had she been a secret Marvel Comics fan for her entire life? Well, the answer is neither really. "Thor" appealed to Russo for exactly the reason so many of her movies in the early 2000s made her snore.
"It was different, too – English accent, playing a queen. That was something I'd never done," she told The Hollywood Reporter. The movie might have offered Russo a relatively small role, but "Thor" also kicked off a trend of the actor exploring characters that she'd never gotten to play before. Instead of always being the strong, confident woman in the story, Russo got to be a worrying royal mother in "Thor," an enthusiastic masseuse in "The Intern," a seedy local crime reporter in "Nightcrawler," and a punk rocker turned art gallery owner in "Velvet Buzzsaw." Looking back, Russo's long break from acting turned out to be one of the best decisions of her entire career.
She's been living with bipolar
Like so many others, Rene Russo has personal struggles to deal with. For Russo, these go well beyond her general discomfort with being a working actor, and there's another factor in her life that has contributed to her reluctance to take on more roles. This was something she opened up about on an episode of The Queen Latifah Show back in 2014.
When asked about something in her life that she's had to really struggle with, Russo responded "Bipolar medication" with a short laugh. Latifah seemed surprised by the answer, as did Russo's "Nightcrawler" costar Jake Gyllenhaal who was with her for the interview. Russo then opened up about how she "literally crashed, hit a wall, and couldn't get out of bed." After reflecting on her life and realizing just how often she would go from high energy to a major crash, Russo decided it was time to try some new medication.
Russo used the interview to offer encouragement to other people living with mental illness in general and bipolar in particular. She said that even though she understood some people might feel bad about needing to take medication, "It's okay. You will make it through. It's not easy but you will make it through."
If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
Working with her husband
Two of Rene Russo's biggest movies in recent years were written and directed by her husband, Dan Gilroy. Russo and Gilroy have been married for over 30 years, but until more recently they hadn't had many opportunities to work together. In 2014 they explored the story of a corrupt local crime reporter with "Nightcrawler," to great acclaim. Their 2017 film "Velvet Buzzsaw" paired Russo with Jake Gyllenhaal for a second time, and sent audiences on a wild ride through the art world.
Russo told Vulture that Gilroy wrote the character Nina Romina in "Nightcrawler" specifically for her, but she never thought she'd actually get to play the role. "So I read the script when he was finished, and I thought, 'This is such a perfect screenplay. It'll never get made,'" she said. The film did more than just get made. It helped Russo get her second Saturn award for best supporting actress and her very first BAFTA nomination.
"Velvet Buzzsaw" continued allowing Russo to work with her husband, and it let the couple continue their creative collaboration with Gyllenhaal. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Russo said of Gyllenhaal, "He's so intense that, so, we're in the scene, and I'm like I'm an audience member, and I'm just going, 'Yeah, where is this going?'" Russo, Gilroy, and Gyllenhaal are a powerhouse creative team, and we can only hope that they'll come back with another project that's just as riveting.
Her daughter convinced her to work with Nancy Meyers
Just a year after her stunning performance in "Nightcrawler," Rene Russo showed up in "The Intern." The movie stars Robert De Niro as Ben, a former executive coming out of retirement to work as the senior intern of an e-commerce business. Russo has a small part as the business' staff masseuse, who also becomes Ben's love interest as the plot moves forward. The movie was written and directed by Nancy Meyers, which is a large part of why Russo ended up taking the role. That said, it wasn't necessarily Russo herself who sought out the writer-director.
Russo told Vulture that when Meyers first approached her for the role, she wasn't all that interested. Her main hang-up was that she didn't want to come in and read for the part because "Working for me is like, 'Oh God, I can't work again.'" Though by that point she'd technically ended her break from acting by joining the MCU and starring in "Nightcrawler," Russo still wasn't all that enthused about working as an actor.
Ultimately, Russo's daughter is the one who got her into the movie. "My daughter was like, 'Mom, out of all the people that you have to work with, you have to work with her!'" Russo explained. Never one to disappoint her kids, Russo decided to read for the part and ended up joining the cast of the film. That's not to say being in the movie was a huge sacrifice. Russo said she enjoyed her time working with Meyers and everyone else involved in making "The Intern" a reality.
She took one particular job because she was a huge fan of Ron Shelton
Earlier in her career, Rene Russo sometimes had to take roles that didn't thrill her to build her profile as an actor. Today, she gets to be a little more picky about which characters she signs on to play, and as she doesn't necessarily need the work, she can keep an eye out for parts that really interest her. Sometimes it's as simple as offering her a tiny bit of variety, like how "Thor" let her play a queen with an accent. Other times — like with "Nightcrawler" — she agrees to play a role that was specifically written for her.
There's been one role in recent years that Russo took without knowing anything about it at all. In 2017 Russo starred alongside Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, and Joe Pantoliano in the action comedy "Just Getting Started," which was written and directed by Ron Shelton. The film became a massive flop at the box office and was absolutely lambasted by critics, but that probably didn't bother Russo much because there was only one reason she joined the cast in the first place.
"Honestly, it was Ron," Russo told Cultured Vultures, adding, "I didn't even have to open up the script. I was just like, oh well, it's Ron—he's a great writer." Russo said that she's always particularly appreciate the way that Shelton writes women characters, so she jumped at the opportunity to work with him on "Just Getting Started."
Russo's local environmentalism
We've seen why Rene Russo decided to step away from acting for a handful of years, and we know what got her excited enough to get back into the swing of things. But what was she doing when she wasn't working on her next big screen performance? While Russo's fans might have thought of the late 2000s as her "off years," she didn't really stop working during that time.
During the years that she wasn't making movies, Russo finally found the time to explore some of her other passions. Living in California through years of terrible droughts, Russo developed a concern for her local environment. She worked with California's Department of Power and Water to construct a sprawling garden composed of native plant life. They focused both on bringing back native plans and designing Russo's garden in a way that would help with the state's water conservation efforts, which meant they actually had to start by cutting down dozens of non-native trees that were soaking up more than their fair share of water. It may seem like a small thing to do, but eliminating manicured lawns and promoting native plants, rather than invasive species, can be a huge benefit for the environment.
Russo enjoyed working on her garden so much that we're all lucky she ever stepped back onto a film set. "I should have been a landscape architect," Russo told The Columbus Dispatch. California wildlife might thank Russo for fully committing to a career change, but most moviegoers are glad that she's willing to leave the garden from time to time.
She's also a dairy farmer
As well as her active involvement in environmental issues and occasional hand-picked acting roles, Rene Russo also has another — potentially surprising — pastime that she enjoys when she isn't working.
"I actually started a dairy company, I have 40 cows!" Russo told Contact Music. Fittingly, Russo's unconventional career path came to her in a fairly unconventional way. Russo explained that she had a friend bring fresh milk and yogurt to her home for Christmas, and she was blown away. She made the suggestion that her friend start selling his dairy products, and the seeds for a new business idea were planted. The two of them began making plans, and they decided to invest in a farm called White Cow Dairy outside of Buffalo, New York, in order to make and sell their own dairy products.
Any time a celebrity gets involved in a business, there's a chance for things to grow exponentially, with the selling power of the star a major driving force behind sales. With White Cow Dairy, however, Russo wasn't all that interested in growing the brand into a global market contender. She even turned down a deal with grocery chain Whole Foods because she wanted to let White Cow Dairy sustainably operate in its own local area. Russo's involvement with the business began nearly a decade ago, and her push for sustainability and a local focus seems to have worked out. White Cow Dairy is still operating outside of Buffalo, and though the business has a website for online orders, you have to pick up your items in person.