\

According to Hollywood Reporter, Russell Crowe replacing Brad Pitt in State of Play is looking like a done deal. 

Pitt had been a driving force behind the project – which includes director Kevin Macdonald, Edward Norton, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman, and Robin Wright Penn – but left over script concerns.  According to an earlier report: 

Pitt and the studio never quite meshed on the script, said several sources. He sparked to Matthew Michael Carnahan’s original adaptation of the Paul Abbott-created British miniseries but apparently liked it more than the studio. While the actor made several movies in quick succession, Universal got rewrites by the likes of Peter Morgan, Tony Gilroy and Billy Ray. Pitt’s vision departed from that of the studio somewhere along that rewrite trail.

This sucks. Listen, I like Russell Crowe.  But sticking him in a role meant for Brad Pitt at the last minute is a disappointment.  It’s kind of like asking my maid for a martini and she brings me a gin fizz – I enjoy a gin fizz, it’s just not what I had my heart set on, you know?  Do they not speak booze in Nicaragua?  Still, she’s pretty smart for an 8-year-old.  And man can she take a punch.