Russell Crowe flicks rust to get Dirt on his hands
By staff writers From: The Daily Telegraph August 06, 2010 8:07AM

Russell Crowe is set to star in the film adaptation of Tim Winton's novel Dirt Music. Picture: Craig Greenhill
Crowe to star in film adaptation of Dirt Music
First Aussie movie in more than a decade
Ledger was originally cast in Crowe's role

RUSSELL Crowe is set to appear in his first Australian feature in more than a decade.

The Oscar-winning actor will star in the film adaptation of Tim Winton's novel Dirt Music, director Phillip Noyce confirmed yesterday.

He will play bereaved WA fisherman Luther Fox.

"When is another matter," he told film writer Vicky Roach. "We are still working on the script. "

Crowe's track record when it comes to homegrown productions is rather patchy.

Creative disagreements with director Joceyln Moorhouse are apparently what effectively scuttled Eucalyptus, the big-budget adaptation of Murray Bail's novel in which he was to have co-starred with Nicole Kidman, days before it was due to go into production.

A clash of egos was also apparently a reason why Crowe parted ways with Baz Luhrmann during the early days of Australia.

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But Noyce said he didn't anticipate any insurmountable obstacles on set: "I like opinionated people."

Crowe's female co-star is yet to be cast.

Heath Ledger was originally cast in Crowe's role.

"We were all set to go with Heath and Rachel Weisz," Noyce said. "We had the money at that point. And then Heath decided to play the Joker which you couldn't argue with. And then it just took a while to find someone else to play Luther."

Heath dropped out in January 2007, because at the time, the filming conflicted with the filming of Dark Knight. It was originally supposed to be Heath and Nicole Kidman, a pairing I figured would eventually happen and I was kinda looking forward to. Same pairing was supposed to happen in Australia.

Russell was cast finally around November 2008. But the film never got off the ground. I guess now it's being resurrected, but it doesn't seem like they've gotten very far, even though it seemed a pretty done deal back in 2006 when Heath was first cast.


Here are HH's old articles on Dirt Music:
CLICK HERE for HH ARTICLES ON DIRT MUSIC

Russell Crowe- he's an interesting choice in a role that was initially attached to Heath. I know they're both Aussies but I don't feel that they have much in common. I just don't see them being able to play the same roles. I guess I feel that Russell is old enough to be playing Heath's dad, so how could they play the same character. And...I personally don't like to see more mature men with mid 20's females. I just don't care for the chemistry.

I can see Heath transforming easilty into an older character (as he did spectacularly in Brokeback) but I can't see Crowe doing younger. I agree in that a couple's pairing should be contemporaries or age "reasonable". Unless the movie is "LOLITA"
And..yes...Russell Crowe is no Heath Ledger by a LONG shot!