LOS ANGELES?Russel Crowe admits having a temper that can flare up. But, he says, it?s a different thing from being an angry person.

Either he was simply in a good mood or he has truly mellowed ? Russell was cordial, humorous, charming even. Claiming that he is ?misrepresented? by media, Russell talked openly about his reputation for angry outbursts, which landed him in several headline-making incidents.

The 46-year-old actor, who plays the title role in Ridley Scott?s ?Robin Hood,? smiled often, his movie-star charisma oozing. In a pinstriped suit, Russell was every inch a star this afternoon.

He has every reason to be upbeat. ?Robin Hood? was chosen to open the Cannes Film Festival on May 12. Buzz has been good on the nth retelling of the legend, which boasts of a formidable cast: Cate Blanchett as Lady Marion, William Hurt, Max von Sydow, Mark Strong, Danny Huston, Oscar Isaac, Eileen Atkins, Matthew Macfadyen, Mark Addy and Alan Doyle, who is also Russell?s frequent musical collaborator.

In the following excerpts, Russell was surprisingly candid on his wife, singer-actress Danielle Spencer, their two young sons, Cate and yes, Lady Gaga.

Do you think you?re misunderstood because you have a very dry sense of humor?

I think I?m misrepresented rather than misunderstood. Sarcasm just doesn?t come off on the page. I come from a nation of very sarcastic people. I can have a dry response to something. When you read it in black and white, it sounds like I was being ridiculously aggressive. One of the main misunderstandings is that I?ve been sold as a very angry person. That?s just not true. I like to put a lot of effort into what I do. I like to focus on it and that comes with a certain amount of energy, especially when you?re weary. It requires you to dig deep inside yourself.

And I certainly have a temper that can flare up. But having a temper is a completely different thing from being an angry person. Sort of not wanting to spend time going around in circles, when you see a linear path to get to a particular goal, you take that. That doesn?t mean you?re an angry person.

Between jobs, I was out on my farm in Australia, not talking to anybody, there was a lot of room there for people to fill the holes in between as to who I am, and the characters that I played. I played a lot of people who hold themselves outside of society. So that sort of space got filled in.

One of the themes in ?Robin Hood? is the importance of never giving up. Do you teach this to your children?

That will evolve over time. They?ve got plenty of time to decide what they?re pursuing and all that. But if it?s something you believe in, things will be sent to test you. Like my wife just released an album called ?Calling All Magicians? in England. It just so happened that my press duties and hers dovetailed together. We got on a plane on our way to England, stopped here in LA to pick up the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

But then an Icelandic volcano got involved and ruined her plans. It totally changed her schedule. She was despairing a bit about it the other night. I just said, ?The universe is not conspiring against you. But the universe may well be testing it. How deep is your belief in what you do?? That?s just how I feel about things, if things don?t work out the first time ?

Do you duet with your wife? On your own, what have you been doing musically lately? And what are you listening to these days?

I?m going to leave the duet question alone. Because they will probably shape too many conversations that my wife has to have in the future. My wife has a beautiful singing voice. If you get an opportunity, go to www.myspace.com/daniellespencer. She?s just one of those people who sing in the center of the note.

What I?ve been doing musically in the last couple of years is writing songs. My collaboration with Alan Doyle, which preexists this film, is now at something like 22 songs. So there is going to be another record. We have been writing specifically for a film project which is still in development.

Oddly enough, I?ve discovered Lady Gaga. She is a really significant talent. I was probably swayed by the disco versions of her songs. But then I came across an online thing with her just sitting on the piano and singing. Holy guacamole, man, she has a fantastic voice.

How did you get Cate Blanchett as Lady Marion and what was it like working with her?

We started thinking in terms of the reality of a woman in that day and age, whose husband has been away for 10 years, and the strength of character that she would need in order to survive. It came up very early in the conversations. Should we talk to Cate Blanchett? It just so happened that I was made into a stamp in Australia, along with Nicole Kidman, Geoffrey Rush and Cate. Our likenesses were printed on legal tender postage stamps. I?m sitting there on a stage (at a gala event to unveil the stamps). There?s a couple of thousand people in the audience. They passed the microphone to me... I just asked the audience, ?Does anyone here think that Cate and I should make a movie together?? Of course the response was overwhelming.

When I called Cate about doing Marion the next day, she wasn?t too surprised because I had set the ground. On a daily basis, she?s fantastic ... She is really the warmest, most fun person to have on a film set.

How has your working relationship with Ridley Scott evolve over the years?

He used to listen to me (laughter) because he didn?t know me. But now that he knows me, at the end of the day, we just work it out when the cameras roll. It has evolved over time. But also the challenges in front of us have evolved as well.

What do you tell your kids when they see you in costume?

When they see me dressed in a costume, it?s obviously easy for me to explain to them the difference between reality and fiction. The most important is for them to realize that dad?s job is just pretend. We haven?t gone into conversations about the inhumanity of war or any of those subjects yet, given their ages of 6 and 3 ... Over time, the truth about what a gun or what a sword can do will take over those childhood playthings for sure.

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com.