Russell Crowe's documentary "What Love Builds" premiered Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival on Friday evening to an enthusiastic 1,400-strong audience. The film, which Crowe wrote, directed and produced over 15 years, blends biography and concert footage to explore how music has run through his life since childhood, predating his acting career, and to answer what he says is the question he is most often asked: how music and acting intertwine for him.

The documentary traces Crowe's journey from busking after moving from New Zealand to Sydney, through his teenage performances as "Russ Le Roq" and 415 shows in a New Zealand production of The Rocky Horror Show, to forming his band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts and later Indoor Garden Party. It also covers difficult episodes, including his 2005 New York arrest, paparazzi intrusion and mockery of his musical work, alongside anecdotes such as Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U" inspiring a rewritten Gladiator line. Live musical footage, including a cover of Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet", drew applause akin to a concert, and Crowe said he had specifically sought a Venice premiere, contacting director Gabriele Muccino to connect with festival chief Alberto Barbera.