Why Mark Ruffalo Kept Comparing Himself to Russell Crowe During His Sex Scenes With ‘In the Cut’ Co-Star Meg Ryan

Mark Ruffalo and Meg Ryan once starred together in the 2003 film In the Cut. Ryan has cited that movie as a turning point in her career, with audiences being introduced to another side of the actor. But the film also had a bit of an effect on The Avengers star. Ryan was fresh off the heels of her love scene and rumored affair with Russell Crowe. Because of this, Ruffalo couldn’t help but compare himself to Crowe when doing sex scenes with Ryan.

A sex scene in ‘Proof of Life’ was cut because of Meg Ryan’s affair with Russell Crowe

The 2000 film Proof of Life was the movie that initially brought Crowe and Ryan together. The City of Angels actor was married to Dennis Quad at the time, so her steamy romance with Crowe was all over tabloids. According to the New York Post, the two would later go public with their affair coming out of a Tom Cruise party. Their relationship impacted many areas of their lives, both personally and professionally. Some claim that even the film that they starred in was negatively influenced by their relationship.

Entertainment Weekly once reported that the film didn’t do too well at the box office. It theorized that this was due to Warner Bros. trying to downplay the adultery angle in Proof of Life. They feared that the film’s concept, a hostage’s wife cheating on her husband with a negotiator, might have mirrored Crowe’s relationship with Ryan too closely. Because of this, certain liberties were taken like removing a sex scene between Ryan and Crowe in the film. Even the film’s own director in Taylor Hackford felt that the affair caused Proof of Life’s downfall.

“It had an indelible and very destructive effect on the release of the film in the US, because the real-life story overpowered the film,” Hackford said according to The Guardian.

But Crowe had a strong response to the director’s opinion.

“He said that?” the Gladiator star asked. “He’s a f****** idiot. No seriously – what a knob.”

Mark Ruffalo kept comparing himself to Russell Crowe during sex scenes with Meg Ryan

Starring in the romance film In the Cut presented its share of challenges for both Meg Ryan and Mark Ruffalo. For Ryan, who was once dubbed America’s sweetheart, she was stepping out of her perceived comfort zone adopting the sexual role. But for the Golden Globe nominee, its greatest challenges weren’t even the intimate scenes.

“There are some things in the movie that were much more difficult than the sex scene,” Ryan said according to Entertainment Weekly. “Like playing a character who doesn’t talk much, which is something new for me.”

But for Ruffalo, however, the sex scenes were some of the actor’s most challenging scenes. The director, Jane Campion, “wanted the character to be such a competent and confident lover that she kept yelling things like: ‘You’re not at school anymore. You know what you’re doing.’ It was very stressful,” Ruffalo said.

The 13 Going on 30 actor later admitted that he was also intimidated by the sex scenes because of Ryan’s previous relationship with Russell Crowe.

“I was really scared,” Ruffalo continued. “And she was with Russell Crowe. All I could think of is, ‘What am I going to be like compared to Russell Crowe?”

Why ‘In the Cut’ was a turning point for Meg Ryan’s career

Meg Ryan credited In the Cut for challenging an image that most people had of her.

“When I look back now, it was definitely easier to be the funny person rather than the pretty person, the sexy person,” Ryan told the New York Times.

In films like Against the Ropes and In the Cut, Ryan played more sexual characters. Because of this, she revealed they were roles that some audiences weren’t comfortable with.

“I feel like that might’ve been the last movie I did. I was surprised by the negative reaction,” Ryan said.

The Sleepless in Seattle star later recalled an interview she did with a talk show host where she found a question he asked offensive.

“I was shocked that he was saying like, ‘How could you be naked?’ I don’t think I handled it well. Since then, I’ve had publicists say to me, ‘You should’ve prepared your audience for your doing something different,’” Ryan said. “In the Cut was a sexual thing, and sex throws people. I’d never presented myself like that before; it was so different from my assigned archetype.”