All the hub-bub started last Friday when a column in the New York Post said Russell Crowe had reportedly been dumped from Baz Luhrmann's new $150 million epic in favour of Heath Ledger.
Crowe has for months been set to play Nicole Kidman's lover later this year in the film, which was to be set around the Japanese bombing of Darwin in 1942. Crowe however, who has been very upfront about his involvement in the project, was accused of demanding script approval before signing on for the film.
The producers apparently told Luhrmann to find another actor, and so he met Ledger several times and offered him the movie, and then according to insiders "Crowe came back to Luhrmann and said he'd forgo script approval and wanted to do the film, but they told him it was too late - to buzz off"
A spokeswoman for Luhrmann told newspaper The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday that "Baz doesn't publicly comment on his casting processes and currently he has made no final decision on the film, who is in it or when or where it will be shot".
Now, today's Variety reports that reps for Ledger confirmed he was offered but had passed on the project. At present, Kidman and Luhrmann are still attached to the project which is still going forward, however it's unlikely Crowe will return.
Crowe and Kidman last year were set to star in another all-Aussie effort, the Jocelyn Moorhouse-directed Fox drama "Eucalyptus." That film fell apart over creative differences.
Crowe is about to star with Denzel Washington for director Ridley Scott in "American Gangster," a picture that ironically also fell apart a few years back before eventually coming together in a different format.
