Russell Crowe

Russell Crowe will replace Brad Pitt in the film adaptation of the British miniseries "State of Play," Universal Studios announced Monday. Pitt had been slated to star opposite Edward Norton, Helen Mirren and Rachel McAdams for director Kevin Macdonald ("The Last King of Scotland") but left the project citing script concerns, a problem exacerbated by the Writers Guild of America strike. When he departed, Universal said it was considering suing the actor.

Your snarky dismissal of "3:10 to Yuma" ["Overrated," Dec. 6] is a sad reminder of the steady decline of the L.A. Times into the trendy world of short-attention-span opinionators. Russell Crowe, Christian Bale and the excellent supporting cast brought depth, humor and tension generally not seen in films of any genre these days. Sometimes the director of a film has a hand in bringing out fine performances.

Russell Crowe has reached a settlement with a New York City hotel employee who claimed the actor threw a phone at him, according to a statement released by the actor's publicist. The Academy Award winner allegedly struck concierge Nestor Estrada in June while Crowe was in New York to promote his movie "Cinderella Man," in which he portrayed a boxer. "Both sides expressed satisfaction at the resolution," the statement said. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The Al Qaeda terrorist network wanted to kidnap Russell Crowe as part of a "cultural destabilization plot," the Oscar-winning actor reports. In an interview published in the March edition of GQ Magazine, Crowe said FBI agents told him of the threat in 2001, in the months before he won a best actor Oscar for his role as Maximus in "Gladiator." "That was the first [time] I'd ever heard the phrase Al Qaeda," Crowe said.

Plays at tiny North Hollywood theaters seldom receive international publicity. Thanks to Russell Crowe, however, "Killing Russell Crowe" at the Lonny Chapman Group Repertory Theatre has received attention from nearly 20 newspapers and websites based in at least four countries. Crowe, who hasn't seen the play, complained about it to two Australian columnists recently.

Oh, it's fun for producers and directors to think about the sensitivities of their leading men and women and to keep them out of harm's way. The genial director Ron Howard was determined to please Oscar winner Russell Crowe and so arranged for a secret site at which to shoot scenes for the new movie "A Beautiful Mind." Crowe, Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris worked in several warehouses at the Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne, N.J., before crossing over to New York.