Somebody fetch Baz Luhrmann a stiff drink. He’ll need it now that Russell Crowe has departed his planned Australian period epic.
The fickle fates of film, not content with robbing the Moulin Rouge helmer of a real shot at Alexander The Great (thanks, Oliver Stone, thanks), and throwing weather and finance-related delays in his path while planning his big comeback Aussie film, have now seen Russell Crowe leaving the movie, following disagreements with 20th Century Fox.
And the story gets even more tangled with tabloid The New York Post “revealing” that Heath Ledger had been cast to replace him, when the actor’s management told Variety that Ledger had already passed on the film.
What we do know at this point is that Luhrmann is unbowed and plans to press ahead with his epic, and that Nicole Kidman is still attached.
And this marks Crowe’s second problem with an Australian film in as many years – only last year his creative differences with Fox drama Eucalyptus saw that film shut down. No phones were thrown in the making of this story.