Baz Luhrman has kicked Russell Crowe out of his next film. Baz is the flamboyant Aussie director of such films as Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge, Russell Crowe is the incredibly talented Hollywood actor occasionally known to hit people with phones. I hope Baz knows how to duck.

According to Sydney's Sun Herald, Crowe demanded that Baz give him a say on the content of the movie's script, a massive Australian epic being called a down under version of Gone with the Wind. Of course Russell has a slightly different take: "Before I could tell them what I thought of the script, they'd moved on," he says.

Luhrman's people have avoided making any substantive comment, but Crowe had been thought to be a lock for the movie, which also is supposed to star Nicole Kidman. The film has been slow to start, no surprise for a Luhrman movie, since he tends to take his time when it comes to making movies.

The untitled movie has also been plagued with budget problems, the script is epic and Baz's funding isn't. It's backed by Fox Searchlight, and Indie producer. To make the books balance Crowe and Kidman had agreed to take a (for them) meager $500,000 each for doing the flick. I guess another way to look at this is that Fox Searchlight just saved half a million dollars.