Beaks here...

The Daily Herald, that venereal Australian tabloid, is reporting (via a "movie source"!) that Russell Crowe is hot to play Dr. Watson in Guy Ritchie's forthcoming SHERLOCK HOLMES. Though I've no difficulty buying Crowe in what has traditionally been a co-lead (Watson's the narrator of most of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes mysteries), the fact that Robert Downey Jr. will supposedly be playing up the more pugilistic side of the detective makes me think this rumor has all the validity of Britney Spears starring in Quentin Tarantino's FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! I mean, maybe Crowe would love to go against his bruiser type as he did so brilliantly in THE INSIDER and A BEAUTIFUL MIND, but in terms of sheer physicality, I just can't see that working opposite Downey Jr. And I definitely can't see mainstream audiences going for it, even after IRON MAN.

Crowe, not a "movie source", recently went on the record about his interest in developing (and perhaps starring in) a Bill Hicks biopic. I don't know how close that is to happening, but Crowe will almost certainly do something to pass the time while he waits out this seven-month delay on NOTTINGHAM (caused by a pesky changing of the seasons). Just don't expect that "something" to be SHERLOCK HOLMES.