Russell Crowe Denies Wanting to Play Steve Irwin

 

With the outpouring of emotion over the tragic death of Steve Irwin, not to mention Russell Crowe's fondness of the Crocodile Hunter, it seems as though the tabloids jumped the gun in claiming Crowe wanted to play the role of Irwin in a biopic film. In fact, Russell Crowe has angrily denied rumors he ever wanted to play the role of Steve Irwin in any sort of biopic film.

 

While Russell Crowe was doing press from his upcoming film, Ridley Scott's A Good Year, Crowe was quoted by CNN as saying "This is my friend. All right? He just died. We've dealt with his funeral, we've dealt with a memorial to him. You know? I'm not doing business over the grave of my friend. I find that appalling. But, you know, that's not just in the tabloid[s]. That's in The Guardian, it's in The New York Times. Understand? Absolutely disgusting."

 

The rumors about Crowe playing Steve Irwin in a biopic began with In Touch Magazine, and was later picked up by the New Zealand Herald. Crowe denied the rumors once more on the TV show Extra, where Crowe said "It's appalling to me. It offends me very deeply, so awful that I have to deal with millions of people thinking I would dance on my friend's grave."

 

The Guardian quoted Russell Crowe as talking about Steve Irwin, who died on September 4 after being stung in the heart by a stingray. "Some people see him as just a funny bloke on TV and he was a funny bloke on TV, but he was really serious about what he did."

 

Russell Crowe was part of the massive funeral for the hugely popular Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. More than 5,000 people gathered for the memorial service on September 20th, for which Russell Crowe made a short tribute film. Crowe said of Irwin "We have lost a friend, a champion. It will take some time to adjust to that."

 

While quashing rumors, Russell Crowe also told reporters he had backed out of the Baz Luhrmann epic, slated to star himself and Nicole Kidman. Crowe was quoted by the BBC as saying "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. I do charity work, but I don't do charity work for major studios." Hugh Jackman has been tapped to replace Crowe in the untitled $150 million epic.

 

Russell Crowe , a 42-year-old native of Wellington, New Zealand, and was 4 years old when he moved to Australia. After landing film roles that included Romper Stomper, The Quick and the Dead, Virtuosity, L.A. Confidential, The Insider and Mystery, Alaska, Russell Crowe locked down an Academy Award for his role in Gladiator. Since then, Crowe has gone on to star in Proof of Life, A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander and Cinderella Man. His new film, A Good Year is slated to open on November 10th.

 

[Additional Sources: CNN, The Guardian, BBC]