Screenhead

Paul Haggis is one happy director because he signed on Russell Crowe to star in The Next Three Days, the adaptation of the 2008 French film Pour Elle.

Crowe will play a teacher whose wife is arrested and convicted of a murder she says she did not commit. He comes up with a risky plan to free her.

Haggis wrote the script and will direct with production starting  late September in Pittsburgh.

Haggis told Daily Variety that the drama needed an actor who can thrive as an Everyman who rises when faced with an extraordinary circumstance, and Crowe was his top choice.

Haggis said the film explores deeper themes of faith and belief.  He went on to say “The deeper theme here is, would you save the woman you loved if you knew that by doing so, you would turn into a man that woman could no longer love?”

Haggis credits included Oscar winners Crash, which he co-wrote and directed and Million Dollar Baby, which he wrote and Clint Eastwood directed.  

I wonder who will play the wife of Crowe.  Julia Roberts? Catherine Keener? Hilary Swank? Amy Adams?

(Source)

ComingSoon.net has a bunch of Robin Hood set photos. It appears they were taken during a rather large shooting day(s).  Most of the photos have Russell Crowe on the horse or walking with his sword. Click on Crowe’s horse to see more.

While the world of cinema is no stranger to Nick Cave, the antipodean singer-songwriter who released brilliant and brooding songs such as The Mercy Seat and Where the Wild Roses Grow, it is pretty strange to see him be part of the Hollywood engine that churned out Gladiator. This week it was revealed that Cave wrote a sequel to the sword-and-sandal hit, at the behest of fellow Ozzie Russell Crowe.

Many would be confused at how a sequel was possible considering the end of the original, but Cave, obsessed with the afterlife (his Lyre of Orpheus album is one of his best), sets the story in the Roman afterlife, as our hero Maximus is reincarnated in an attempt to find his son, and ends up living well into the 21st Century. Sounds strange? Well, it is, so much so that the script was rejected and the film will never be made, despite Crowe’s positive response to the story and Cave’s writing. For more details on the story, including sample dialogue, head here.

In other news relating to Nick Cave, John Hillcoat (director of the Cave-written The Proposition) is also set to direct Cave’s next script, Death of a Ladies’ Man.

I admit that I was not aware going in to see Russell Crowe’s latest, State of Play, that it was based on a British TV show.  Being that I enjoy British TV, it sort of makes sense now that I really, almost unaccountably, enjoyed the movie version.

State of Play is a political thriller to match them all, with Russell Crowe playing hard-bitten print journalist Cal McAffrey, your classic “white knight” sort of journalist dedicated to the truth…at all costs.  Kind of the Spider Jerusalem of his era, he’s joined by Rachel McAdams as Della Frye, a blogger handling part of the electronic side of things for the Washington D.C. newspaper both work for.  McAffrey and Frye tracking down the circumstances following the recent death of a Congressman’s mistress about to start a series of hearings into a paramilitary government contractor called PointCorp. As McAffrey and Frye continue to follow the various disparate threads, they begin to see a much greater plot forming almost before their very eyes–the sort of plot that could very well destroy several careers and do inestimable damage to the United States government itself.

For those of you who study the current political landscape, you’ll likely notice at least some “ripped from the headlines” sort of incidents, including a very easy connection between fictional PointCorp and current bugaboo Blackwater (who, ironically enough, recently underwent rebranding possibly due to the fact that everyone associated the name Blackwater with undisciplined, unaccountable mercenaries who shot at American citizens in New Orleans and did who knows how much damage in Iraq.), you’re more than welcome to pat yourselves on the back at this point.  Good catch.

But this is part of what makes State of Play such an interesting film.  Yes, it’s your class-X political thriller, but there are so many elements of plausibility included in the narrative that it takes on a life of its own.  Change a few names around and we might well be looking at something that will happen tomorrow, or next week, or next month.  It’s absolutely plausible.  And, given the prevalence of blogging that’s sprung up worldwide—nobody’s laughing at the idea of “citizen-journalists” any more—and in a time when newspapers are going under whilst blogs are flourishing due to the massive disparities in production costs, it’s kind of ennobling to see a blogger like Delia Frye suddenly in a position to make a serious difference, even IF it’s only with the help of a hard-bitten mentor of the print journalism game.

Even better, we’ll also be exposed to intradepartmental bickering at the newspapers, as they struggle to keep up the old ways of print—slow, careful, precise and well supported by fact—when cost containment virtually DEMANDS the new ways of electronic media—fast, dirty, loaded with opinion and commentary, and able to churn out copy in a rapid fashion to keep the short attention span engaged.

Truly, there are several great conflicts going on in State of Play, and we’ll be able to follow almost all of them to at least reasonably satisfying ends. In fact, State of Play itself is a highly satisfying thriller, carefully paced, well put together, and ready to take on the big leagues.  Quite a jump from the old days of TV serials, and I’m glad they made the effort.  State of Play is easily worth your time and your movie dollars.

Cate Blanchett signed on as Maid Marian to star alongside Russell Crowe in Robin Hood with Ridley Scott directing the movie for Universal Pictures.

The movie was first called Nottingham but is undergoing a title change and a rewrite. The filming is set to start in early April.

According to Variety the story follows Robin Hood of Loxley played by Crowe as an original story that hews close to historical facts of the period. Abandoned as a child, he finds community with the common people of Nottingham. Robin’s abandonment and trust issues hamper his ability to fall in love. He meets his match in Marian, a strong, independent woman.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Sienna Miller has dropped out of Ridley Scott’s Nottingham, the upcoming Robin Hood epic film.

While the reason for Miller’s departure wasn’t clear, inside sources claim that one of the reasons may be the age difference between the actress and star Russell Crowe. It is combined with the fact that Crowe has not lost the weight he put on for Body of Lies.

“Producers are looking for an older, plumper actress to play the role – someone in her late 30s or early 40s” said the source.

The film will begin shooting this April and is scheduled for release in 2010.

Russell Crowe leads a red carpet cast in a thriller about a rising congressman and an investigative journalist entangled in an case of seemingly unrelated, brutal murders. Crowe plays D.C. reporter Cal McCaffrey, whose street smarts lead him to untangle a mystery of murder and collusion among some of the nation’s most promising political and corporate figures in State of Play, from veteran director Kevin Macdonald.

Handsome, unflustered U.S. Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is the future of his political party: an honorable appointee who serves as the chairman of a committee overseeing defense spending. All eyes are upon the rising star to be his party’s contender for the upcoming presidential race. Until his research assistant/mistress is brutally murdered and buried secrets start to come to view.

It might be surprising for most, if not all, but Russell Crowe has confirmed rurmors that he will play the part of both Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham, however ludicrous that may sound.

He confirmed this at the LA premiere for Body of Lies over the weekend. Crowe commented that the dual roles are “a good old clever adjustment of characters… one becomes the other… it changes.”

No further details were given, though he does talk about the delay, noting that they are trying to do the “best” version of the immortal tale, which is causing it to take much time.

‘Body of Lies’ opens October 10th, starring Leonard Dicaprio and Russell Crowe. Ridley Scott directed the film which deals with CIA operatives and terrorism.

Rumors lost this one.

Russell Crowe is not lined up to play Dr. Watson in the much talked about Sherlock Holmes movie being directed by Guy Ritchie.  Robert Downy, Jr. is definitely playing the ultra-famous detective while Downy’s wife is wearing the hat of producer.

Ritchie told Empire Online, “I don’t have a Watson,” said Ritchie at the world premiere of his contemporary gangster flick RocknRolla. “Somebody just told me that I have Russell Crowe lined up but that’s news to me. I suspect that hasn’t happened and I’m still looking for my Watson.”

Filming starts in a month and Dr. Watson will need to be on the set.  I am sure Ritchie is searching… 

What about the story? Missus Downy told Empire Online, “The world is within all the stories and it actually goes back to the books but the story is actually one that we made for the movie,” continues Downey. “What we can tell you is that he’s a badass (Holmes) in this movie alright. That’s what we’re going back to, any Holmes fan that we’ve spoken to is getting really excited about this one.”