What Russell Crowe really wants to do is direct

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

As many actors inevitably do, Russell Crowe is feeling the itch to climb behind the camera and literally call the shots himself.

Crowe might be making his feature directing debut on a cop thriller called 77. Crowe will also star in the movie, based on a story by L.A. CONFIDENTIAL writer James Ellroy.

According to Deadline, the story involves “the unsolved murder of an LAPD officer, and the nationally televised shootout in South Central L.A. between the Symbionese Liberation Army and the LAPD, where 50,000 rounds of gunfire were exchanged. The events will be seen through the eyes of two police partners, one black and one white.”

This isn’t the first time Crowe has entertained the idea — in fact, it was nearly a decade ago that he initially planned to direct THE LONG GREEN SHORE, a WWII story about an Australian battalion fighting in the South Pacific. Perhaps this recent shift of duties was prompted by something else, since he hasn’t exactly been burning up the box office lately as an actor, either — AMERICAN GANGSTER was his biggest domestic draw since A BEAUTIFUL MIND.