From Reuters:

Actor Russell Crowe said on Monday he quit an epic movie about the Australian outback co-starring Nicole Kidman because he doesn’t do “charity work” for major studios. The New Zealand-born Australian actor had been scheduled to star in the as-yet untitled film directed by Baz Luhrmann, but dropped out and was replaced by another Australian actor, Hugh Jackman, in June. At the time, no reason for the cast change was announced. “I just didn’t want to work on that movie in the type of environment that was being created because of the needs of the budget,” Crowe told reporters while promoting his new movie, director Ridley Scott’s “A Good Year,” in New York. “I do charity work, but I don’t do charity work for major studios.”

Frankly, I don’t know what to write when I’m faced with a Russell Crowe news item that doesn’t involve him punching someone. In any case, I wonder what “type of environment” was such an affront to Russell’s sensibilities that he found the working conditions on the set so unbearable. I like to imagine it’s an “Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom”-type situation, involving child slavery, with Russell swooping in at some point to save his tiny, Asian sidekick.

Written by Lisa Timmons

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