 A Good Year reunites Crowe with Gladiator director Ridley Scott |
Actor Russell Crowe has denied reports he is to portray deceased Australian naturalist Steve Irwin in a film. The Gladiator star said the idea was "appalling" and offended him "very deeply", according to AFP.
He said it was "so awful that I have to deal with millions of people thinking I would dance on my friend's grave."
The 42-year-old - who made a recorded tribute at Irwin's memorial service last week - has been in New York promoting his latest film, A Good Year.
Mr Irwin, 44, died after being struck in the chest by the stingray's barb while he was filming a documentary in Queensland's Great Barrier Reef earlier this month.
'Charity work'
In a separate interview, Crowe said he would no longer be starring with Nicole Kidman in a historical epic set in the Australian outback.
"I just didn't want to work on that movie in the type of environment that was being created because of the needs of the budget," he is quoted as saying by Reuters.
"I do charity work, but I don't do charity work for major studios."
The untitled romance, to be directed by Baz Luhrmann, was due to begin shooting this month.
Hugh Jackman will now star with Kidman in the $150m (�79.1m) production, described by its director as an epic in the tradition of Gone with the Wind and Lawrence of Arabia.
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