Beefcake actor RUSSELL CROWE has been sent back to school to learn maths - in preparation for his next movie role.

The GLADIATOR star is swotting up in an advanced maths course at New York University for his portrayal of American mathematical genius JOHN NASH in A BEAUTIFUL MIND - which will be directed by HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS man RON HOWARD.

Recalling his first lecture, Crowe admits, "It was all about the root economic factions of something or other. "My brain was already fried from trying to master New York's roads for three and a half hours, and I said to the people I was with, 'Did any of you understand a word of that maths?' But I will have to get my head down and learn some of it." The hunk clearly thinks it's worth it though, continuing, "I'll go back to school for a few maths lessons, but you know what? It's not about maths, it's art."

The film is based on SYLVIA NASAR's acclaimed biography of Nash, which told how the mathematician suffered bouts of paranoid schizophrenia for 30 years. As Crowe says, "He was a strange one, even though he was bloody brilliant." (KW/WNTMA/CPT)

Source: WENN