Ledger in as the Crowe flies

It seems that Russell Crowe's attitude may have got the better of the notoriously grumpy star and lost him a plum role in the next Baz Luhrmann film.

According to the New York Post, the former phone-flinging New Zealand born actor was set to star opposite Nicole Kidman in an epic about the Japanese bombing of Darwin in 1942.

But a source told the paper that Crowe's demands for script approval did not go down well with the movie's producers and so they dumped him in favour of the younger, blonder and more Aussie Heath Ledger.

The source said: "Then Crowe came back to Luhrmann and said he'd forgo script approval and wanted to do the film, but they told him it was too late – to buzz off."

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