One of the better podcasts/radio shows out there for cineastes is Elvis Mitchell’s The Treatment, which you can hear on iTunes or on public radio station KCRW. Mitchell’s always an engaging interviewer, and he gets a diverse selection of interviewees, from Christopher Nolan and John C. Reilly to Los Angeles Film Festival directors Rebecca Yeldham and David Ansen.
The most recent installment focuses on “Salt” director Philip Noyce, and near the end of the 30 minute interview, he gives a hint on what he hopes will be his next project. Noyce has been working on an adaptation of Booker Prize winning novel “Dirt Music,” which he describes as “a love story and a musical,” for years now, and confirmed rumors from a couple of years back that Russell Crowe would be taking the lead role, a grieving country musician-turned-poacher in the wilderness of Western Australia who begins a relationship with a neighbor.
The part was initially set for Heath Ledger, while Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz have also been linked to the project, although Noyce doesn’t mention them, suggesting that they’re no longer attached. More worryingly, however, it seems Crowe’s contribution won’t only involve acting. Noyce tells Mitchell that “Russell has been preparing for it for a number of years. He’s written and recorded a number of songs that’ll be in the movie. In fact he’s going on tour later this year with his band and people around America will be able to hear a lot of the songs well in advance of the movie coming out.”
Anyone who’s heard Crowe’s band 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts will be greeting this with, at best, mixed emotion, but maybe he’s found his muse with this project? It sounds very promising otherwise, Noyce saying that the project “is very interior, very symbolic.” They’re still looking for funding, but if it comes through (and we imagine that another A-lister alongside Crowe will sew that up quickly), the project will shoot next year.