People: Jun. 12, 2006

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What do you do after you have made one of the most violent--and successful--movies of recent years? Romantic comedy, of course. Ridley Scott and RUSSELL CROWE, the director and star of Gladiator, have teamed up again on A Good Year, which is based on a Peter Mayle novel of the same title. Crowe, looking positively puppyish, plays Max Skinner, a London investment banker who inherits his uncle's vineyard in Provence. The character is "a bit of a cad" who "believes that to be successful, you have to be ruthless," says Scott. Max gets his comeuppance (quelle shock) and the French babe. The movie, which was filmed about four minutes from Scott's vineyard in Provence, has a scene involving the actor getting apoplectic over a cell phone, but it was "written before Russell's little incident," says Scott. Why did the director of Alien want to do romantic comedy? "The trick is to keep changing your target in life. It keeps you insecure," he says. "A little bit of insecurity is good for everyone."