Russell Crowe Vows To Bring Back “The Gladiator” But Angrily Rejects Another Role

You’ve got to hand it to Russell Crowe – he certainly knows how to get attention.

The actor is back in the spotlight following one movie role he left, another he’s planning to redo and one he vows he won’t even touch.

Crowe was out hyping his latest flick “A Good Year” when questions arose about a prestigious Australian flick he walked out on.

He and fellow Aussie actress Nicole Kidman were supposed to play the leads in a still untitled WWII film that its director, Baz Luhrmann, calls an epic combination of “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Gone With the Wind”.

But Crowe calls it something else – ‘charity work’, and claims they weren’t going to pay him enough, so he walked off the film.

“I do charity work, but I don’t do charity work for major studios,” he responds. He’s been replaced by Hugh Jackman.

The man who frequently seems angry is also upset with a report that he’ll be taking the role of crocodile hunter Steve Irwin in a new biopic.

“[It would be] awful that I have to deal with millions of people thinking I would dance on my friend’s grave,” he told Australia’s national broadcaster ABC.

Irwin’s death earlier this month from a stingray barb to the heart set off a wave of mourning in Crowe’s native country. He and Irwin were good friends and he sent a taped tribute to his public memorial held last week.

But there’s one role Crowe is willing to take on and it may be the last one you’d expect. He’s confirmed he’s planning to star in a sequel to the Oscar winning movie “The Gladiator”, and that it will once again be directed by Ridley Scott.

The flick poses something of a problem for both men, though. Crowe’s Maximus character was killed off in the original and there doesn’t seem to be any way they could credibly bring him back for part two.

But that doesn’t bother the erstwhile actor. He makes noises about exploring the ‘after-life’ and concludes by saying stranger things have happened in Hollywood.

Especially, it would seem, when Russell Crowe is involved.

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