Russell Crowe has eaten humble pie and apologised to the BBC producer who he verbally abused after the Bafta ceremony last week.
The notoriously temperamental star phoned Malcolm Gerrie at his home over the weekend and apologised for his behaviour, admitting that his actions were "inappropriate" and "overbearing".
Last week, the bearded star pinned the TV producer against a wall, launched into a verbal tirade and declared that Gerrie would "never work in Hollywood", after the BBC cut part of Crowe's speech from the Bafta broadcast.
Early reports suggested that Crowe had objected to Mr Gerrie cutting the part of his acceptance speech in which he read out the poem Sanctity by Partrick Kavanagh. But Crowe later told an Australian newspaper that he was more upset about the loss of a section expressing gratitude to John Nash, the mathematician upon whose life A Beautiful Mind was based.
Ananova reports that the contrite actor phoned Mr Gerrie on his mobile phone to apologise, and asked if there was anything he could do to make amends for his behaviour. Gerrie suggested he talk to his son Oliver who had been having a hard time at school since the incident. Crowe then spoke to the 12-year-old for around fifteen minutes.
Hollywood insiders are less than convinced by Crowe's sudden feelings of remorse, believing his apology was a tactic to boost his flagging Oscar hopes, rather than an expression of real regret over the incident. With ballot papers now in the hands of Academy members and influential stars such as Julia Roberts and Kevin Spacey declaring their support for rival Denzel Washington in the best actor category, Crowe may have felt his hopes of picking up a second Academy Award were fading away.