The story that Russell Crowe might take the lead role in the Robocop remake was always the most specious of rumors. When news hit that Darren Aronofsky wanted Crowe for his Noah epic, Variety's Jeff Sneider-- always willing to stir the pot-- tweeted that Crowe "MIGHT" star in Robocop. No further explanation, no information on sources. It sounded like the "short list" kind of casting story, in which you hear about all the names the producers want to star their film, and roll your eyes because it's the entirely predictable list of A-listers anybody could have come up with.
Now Crowe himself has stepped in to say that not only was the rumor kind of shaky, it's not true at all. Responding to a question on Twitter about whether or not he was in fact the next Robocop, he had a quick and very concise response:
So… that settles that? Not necessarily-- for right now Crowe doesn't seem to be in any kind of talks for the Robocop role, but that doesn't mean his name won't come up again, or that somehow six months from now we'll hear he's been cast. I kind of doubt it-- Crowe is a little old for the part, and seems to be aiming for other things from his career now-- but anything is possible. Still, can you see a guy who just suited up as a shaggy Jor-El and preparing to play Inspector Javert in Les Miserables trying to go full-on action hero again? Honestly, I don't even want to see Crowe try it-- he seems past that point in his career and moving on to different things. 10 years ago it might have made an interesting follow up to Gladiator's Maximus; now I'd rather let Crowe move on and give the Robocop role to somebody else.
