Robocop, Noah Or A Gang Boss - Russell Crowe's Got Options

[Brendon Connelly]

Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman has been striving for years to make an adaptation of the Mark Helprin novel Winter's Tale into his directorial debut, and things now seem to be moving forward, finally, with a little help from his friends.

One of the supporting roles in the film is that of Pearly Soames, leader of the Short Tails gang, and Goldsman has roped in Russell Crowe to take on the role. While the leads - a petty thief and a dying girl - have yet to be cast, Vulture report that Goldsman has "called in every favor he had", also managing to book Will Smith for a minor role as a judge.

The novel is full of fantasy - strange visions, a flying horse, resurrections and other miracles - and some of this lead to a pretty high price tag on the film, but Goldsman is said to have been snipping at the budget and should now be able to get the picture into production late this year.

So that looks like one gig in the bag for Crowe, but ahead of Winter's Tale, he has options.

Deadline have reported on the current casting plans for Darren Aranofsky's Noah. They say that the director has selected Crowe and while they "can't tell you that this is all going to lead to a deal... signs are pointing that way."

The reason it might not come to a deal, it would seem, is that Crowe has other roles to consider. Variety's Jeff Sneider revealed one particularly eye-catching prospect:

Sure, Russell Crowe, MIGHT star in Aronofsky's NOAH... but do you know what else he MIGHT star in? Three words: Ro. Bo. Cop. #FloatThisBoat

? Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) February 2, 2012

Sneider later confirmed that he wasn't joking and that Crowe is indeed a possible for Jose Padilha's Robocop, amongst various other possible things in various other possible, unnamed, projects.

So, we don't know, yet, what Russell will do next. It can't be too much longer until he has to fork one way or the other, and I dare say we'll be hearing about it almost as soon as his nearest and dearest are.

Incidentally, another contender for a role in Noah is Liam Neeson, but not as the titular boat builder. It's not actually clear who he'd play, but I can see Crowe and Neeson squaring up to each other quite nicely, can't you? That's certainly a poster a lot of studios would be pleased to send to the printing presses.

Odd footnote: Aranofsky was the last director attached to the Robocop reboot. Round and round and round we go...

[hammerstein]

Robocop, as great as it is, was always a derivative of Judge Dredd...assuming the remake is taking a darker / less humorous tone I can't imagine an ego as gigantic as Crowe's (an actors 'actor')
being able to keep any kind of helmet on for long.

If Stallone couldn't, no way he can..ok so it's not quite the same concept as Dredd, but the anonymity of the Robocop character - like Dredd- is kinda fundamental to the concept of faceless justice being metered out brutally.

Even if they choose to focus on the man/machine side of it, I just can't see Crowe going there at all..