HOLLYWOOD HILLS—Actor Russell Crowe, 59, who made an appearance at the Karlovy Film Festival announced that he may be leaving Hollywood for good.

“You are standing in front of the mirror and go: ‘Who the f*** is that?” said Crowe, who is about to turn 60, said of the aging process. “I am in that period now.”

“I will take Ridley Scott as my role model: he is still discovering new things in his work,” he said, referencing the 85-year-old director. “Or I will just stop, and you will never hear from me again. I haven’t decided what it’s going to be. These are two very valid choices.”

The actor played Maximus in Scott’s 2000 film “Gladiator” where he won an Academy Award for Best Actor. The film became a worldwide sensation grossing over $503 million. It was the second highest grossing film of 2000.

While speaking at the Karlovy Film Festival Crowe was asked several times by reporters about “Gladiator 2.”

“They should be …paying me for the amount of questions I am asked about a film I am not even in,” Crowe explained. “It has nothing to do with me. In that world, I am dead. Six feet under. But I do admit to a certain tinge of jealousy, because it reminds me of when I was younger and what it meant for me, in my life.”

Crowe, who almost got mauled by a tiger in the original, went on to say, “I don’t know anything about the cast, I don’t know anything about the plot. I am dead!”

“But I know that if Ridley has decided to do a second part of the story, over 20 years later, he must have had very strong reasons,” Crowe explained about his retirement role model. “I can’t think of this movie being anything other than spectacular.”

Crowe has had a long career in Hollywood starting in 1992 in the film “Romper Stomper” which received critical acclaim. Since his debut, he has played a multitude of characters that range from superheroes, musicians and complex characters like John Nash in the Ron Howard Film “A Beautiful Mind.”

Before his film debut, Crowe began performing as a musician using the stage name “Russ Le Roq.” He released several singles in New Zealand which included “Shattered Glass” and “I Just Want to be Like Marlon Brando.”

By the time he was 21, he left his native country of New Zealand for Australia with the intention of enrolling in the National Institute of Dramatic Art. His first professional role was given to him by director Daniel Abiner in a New Zeeland production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”