Crowe piqued by croc movie hearsays

Russell Crowe brushed aside the madding rumours which said that he will play the character of Steve Irwin in the movie about the crocodile hunter.

Steve Irwin, who died on 4 September, 2006, was a good friend of Russell, who felt offended at the suggestions that he will be starring in a biopic of his friend.

In an interview with television show ‘Extra’, Russell said that the hearsays appalled him. He said that the whole thing has deeply wounded his heart, as he has to deal with millions of people to clarify the fact that he will not be dancing on the grave of his dead friend.

Those in the know how say that Russell is already in talks with Universal about playing Irwin. The Oscar winner totally snubbed the tabloid rumours and said that there was no truth in it.

Russell said that his friend’s body is still warm and he is being accused of doing commerce over his grave.

Steve Robert Irwin, nicknamed as ‘The Crocodile Hunter’, was an Australian conservationist and television personality. He achieved world-wide fame from the television program ‘The Crocodile Hunter’, an internationally-broadcast wildlife documentary series co-hosted with his wife Terri Irwin.

He rose to fame in the early 1990’s and since then there was no looking back.

But fate had something else in store for the crocodile hunter. On 4 September, 2006, Irwin was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray's barb while snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, at Batt Reef, which is located off the coast of Port Douglas in Queensland. Irwin was in the area filming his own documentary, to be called ‘The Ocean's Deadliest’.

Russell, the New-Zealand-Australian film actor, who initially savored stardom with Australian film, gradually entered American films. He was a close friend of Irwin and his death bought him immense grief.

His work in films like ‘Gladiator’, ‘The Insiders’, and ‘The Beautiful Mind’ won him accolades and he was also nominated for the Oscars thrice, winning an Academy Award for ‘Gladiator’ in 2001. Russell contributed a recorded tribute for last week's public memorial service for Irwin.

In June, Russell also bade good bye to Baz Luhrmann's new film, an epic about the Australian outback starring Nicole Kidman, and it was replaced by another Australian actor, Hugh Jackman.

As far as future projects are concerned, Russell has ‘Tenderness’, ‘American Gangster’ and ‘3:10 To Yuma’ under his belt.