Trouble Down Under

BY KATE MORTON IN SYDNEY

EUCALYPTUS, the movie that was supposed to revive the Australian film industry, has been shut down on the first day of filming - and all fingers are pointing at its home-grown star.

Russell Crowe has been the force behind a Pounds 15 million film which was due to start shooting last week in the lush New South Wales town of Bellingen. Based on a novel by Murray Bail, Eucalyptus is a fairytale about a man who will not let any suitor claim his beautiful daughter's hand unless he can name every species of gum tree on his property.

Crowe was supposed to play the arboreal genius who wins the girl. He was also executive producer of the film, waiving his usual fee and deferring payment to demonstrate his faith in Australian art.

But trouble erupted at casting stage.

Crowe vetoed the original choice of Scarlett Johansson as the daughter, insisting on an Aussie gal. He tried to get rising star Abbie Cornish, but when she turned him down to play a junkie in Neil Armfield's Candy, Crowe called in Nicole Kidman. Smiles all round - until Geoffrey Rush, who was to have played the father, pulled out citing a diary clash.

The director was Jocelyn Moorhouse, who also wrote the script, which became a point of contention when Kidman's casting required a substantial rewrite to make the girl in the film much older.

Things started to unravel at rehearsals and came to a head last week. The delay in shooting was last month blamed on bad weather. Crowe, it was then said, wanted to have his part "augmented" to match the rewritten Kidman part.

Moorhouse, who got pushed around by Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer in A Thousand Acres, was not prepared to be bullied by another Hollywood star.

According to my sources on set, she refused to direct Eucalyptus under such conditions.

Hugo Weaving, who was taking a supporting role, rallied to her defence, telling one newspaper: "This script is an absolute gem," before lawyers clamped a vow of silence on all participants.

Crowe's friends say he was not to blame and was not trying to take over as director.

Yesterday, the Pounds 5 million sets were being dismantled and the project appeared irretrievable. Bellingen residents are disgruntled at the loss of income - many had rented their homes to cast and crew for the next 10 weeks.

The mayor is talking of suing for compensation. Some crew members had relocated families, moving their children into new schools in the area for the shoot.

Producer Uberto Pasolini (who backed The Full Monty) maintains they will try again, perhaps in November. But most believe this unlikely. If Moorhouse has quit, the script would have to be restarted from scratch.

Amid general gloom, Eucalyptus is seen as a bush fire for what remains of original Australian cinema after a long run of local f lops. What remains is a shooting lot for mega-budget US productions such as Star Wars and the Matrix films, which keep actors and technicians in work. On which note, Superman Returns starts shooting here on 3 May with a cast that includes Kevin Spacey.

(c)2005. Associated Newspapers Ltd.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.