Russell Crowe is a superb actor. I say it with no shred of exaggeration that I believe he is the greatest actor of his generation and one of the best that ever lived. Unfortuantely his personal life is riddled with problems and over the last couple of years it's effected his public image to such a degree that his movies are starting to suffer.
Cinderella Man was a superb film that suffered at the box office from Crowe's image. Where an Oscar nomination went to
Paul Giamatti, Crowe's stellar performance was totally ignored. His follow-up comedy movie that re-teamed him with
Gladiator director
Ridley Scott was a total flop and is estimated to have garnered a loss of $20 million. The news from
Variety today is that Universal Pictures have bought the spec script of
Nottingham, a revisionist update of the Robin Hood tale with Crowe set to receive a minimum of $20 million for the role. More info from the site...
"Nottingham" is based on the premise that Robin Hood was less virtuous and the sheriff more noble than previously depicted. Story also involves a love triangle between Robin Hood, Maid Marion and Nottingham's sheriff. It's been described as being more like a modern day detective movie, with a number of murders being linked to Robin Hood who is suggested as being the movie's villain. Ethan Reiff one of the creators of the project said...
"Part of the strength of the script was the simple idea of doing Robin Hood by making the sheriff the good guy," Well I guess we can praise them for trying something different but this sounds a little too wacky and extreme. Robin Hood - The Bad Guy? No director is attached as of yet with filming set to begin either late 07 or early 08. It's a shame what's happening to Crowe but with
3.10 to Yuma and
American Gangster on the horizon, 2007 should be the year he gets back on track. source -
variety,
coming soon