For years now, Russell Crowe has been saying he’s ready to direct a film, but despite getting in some experience with video shorts and the documentary about his band, nothing has worked out. It seems he’s closer than ever with his latest attempt, Battle of Gallipoli tale The Water Diviner, which he’s in pre-production on and may end up starring in.
Written by Andrew Knight and Andrew Anastasios, the film will follow an Australian man who travels to Turkey in an attempt to discover what happened to his two sons, who disappeared during the fateful conflict. A brutal, months-long campaign by the Allies to remove the Ottoman Empire out of World War I, the battle saw the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand) suffer more than 10,000 casualties.
Crowe is now going full steam ahead preparing the film, skipping the Japanese premiere for Man Of Steel to focus on getting everything in place. “I go to an office. I sit there all day having meetings, gathering information and making decisions,’ he said on Twitter. “I feel like I have become my accountant.”
He may also become his own leading man, taking once more to social media to crack, “Directing myself, unless I don’t cast me or I am unavailable due to a prior commitment: the directing one.” The director will have to be aware that Crowe won’t audition, though, “based on director’s familiarity with my past work.” Given the concentration he’s putting into this one, it might finally become his feature-directing debut. But with the history of Crowe finding and then seeing projects crumble, we’re not going to hold our breath just yet.