Russell Crowe To Topline In 'Eucalyptus'

[Monday, July 19th, 2004]
Russell Crowe is in negotiations to topline the big-screen adaptation of Australian author Murray Bail's award-winning novel Eucalyptus, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The project would reunite Crowe with director Jocelyn Moorhouse, for whom he starred in 1991's Proof.

Here is the synopsis from the book:

The gruff widower Holland has two possessions he cherishes above all others: his sprawling property of eucalyptus trees and his ravishingly beautiful daughter, Ellen. When Ellen turns nineteen Holland makes an announcement: she may marry only the man who can correctly name the species of each of the hundreds of gum trees on his property. Ellen is uninterested in the many suitors who arrive from around the world, until one afternoon she chances on a strange, handsome young man resting under a Coolibah tree. In the days that follow, he spins dozens of tales set in cities, deserts, and faraway countries. As the contest draws to a close, Ellen and the stranger's meetings become more erotic, the stories more urgent.

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