Russell Crowe reveals Michael Jackson used to plague him with prank calls

Gladiator star Russell Crowe has revealed that the late Michael Jackson used to prank call him.

According to the 50-year-old Hollywood A-Lister he relentlessly received nuisance calls from the King of Pop, despite the pair never having met.

Speaking to the Guardian during the promotional tour of his directorial-debut film The Water Diviner, Crowe explained that although he often used an alias, the Thriller hit maker always managed to track down his whereabouts and joke call his hotel rooms. Even on occasion, going so far as to ringing his home phone number.

The Australian actor-turned-director told news website that the tricks "went on for two or three f*****g years".

Jackson died in 2009 so it is unclear when Crowe was plagued by Jackson's fooling, but it must have been some time ago considering how long it went on for. However, it's still fresh on his mind as Crowe recollected one specific joke when Jackson would ring him up asking: '"Is Mr Wall there? Is Mrs Wall there? Are there any Walls there? Then what's holding the roof up?"'

"He'd ring me in a strong voice and say, "There is an emergency and you need to leave the building." '[And when] 'I'd ask, "Who is this?" He'd say, "Do not worry Russell, just kidding, this is Michael."'

Seemingly more baffled than angered about these past events, Crowe said: "It didn't matter where I was, he'd ring up do this kind of thing, like you did when you were 10. You're supposed to grow out of doing that, right?"

This is not the first time Crowe has mentioned prank calls from MJ. In 2013 he remarked to The Sun: "Michael Jackson used to tease me on the phone".

Meanwhile, the A Beautiful Mind star, who has been busy expanding into other areas of filmmaking, is preparing to return to the big screen in the lead role in his newest release The Water Diviner. The film centres around an Australian man who travels to Turkey in a desperate search to find his three missing sons whose whereabouts have been unknown since the Battle of Gallipoli.