Crowe injury delays 'Man'
Lensing to begin one month later, in April
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Russell Crowe, who will star in the film as Great Depression-era boxer Jim Braddock, dislocated his shoulder on Thursday while training for the film. The "minor injury," as Universal Pictures described it in a statement, will delay the start of lensing until April, one month later than was planned.
According to the statement, Crowe was in Sydney training in a boxing ring when he suffered "a dislocation with damage to his shoulder." Injury will require Crowe to "undergo arthroscopic debridement and repair surgery in Australia, followed by intense physiotherapy."
Crowe had earlier caused the production start on "Cinderella Man" to be pushed from January to March because he didn't want to be on set when his wife, Danielle Spencer, gave birth to their first child (Daily Variety, Aug. 19).
"Cinderella Man" was already on a tight schedule before this latest delay to be ready for its Dec. 17 release.
Pic, which reunites Crowe, Howard and producer Brian Grazer -- the team behind 2002 Oscar best picture winner "A Beautiful Mind" -- is already thought to be a prime Oscar contender, so there is little wiggle room in the production sked if "Cinderella Man" is to be eligible for next year's Academy Awards.
The experience of this year's first go-around with the compressed Oscar schedule has already made film execs wary of opening contending pics too late in the year.
In order to screen "Cinderella Man" for critics, guilds and other voting groups, the pic would have to be ready well in advance of its Dec. 17.
A spokesman for Universal, which is co-producing the pic with Miramax Films, said the pic is still on track for release late this year. "Russell's injury will not delay the release date -- we will still be releasing in December."
The spokesman added the delay would "have a minimal effect on the budget, since we had not started the crew on full pay at the time of the injury."
Pic is a co-production of Universal and Miramax Films. It is being produced by Howard and Grazer's Imagine Entertainment. Penny Marshall is also producing.
Imagine president Michael Rosenberg said the current Dec. 17 release date has always been a "blueprint" and is not set in stone.
That particular weekend is up for grabs after being occupied by each of the installments of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy for the past three years.
Competition for the date has been intense. In addition to "Cinderella Man," three other high-profile pics have laid claim to Dec. 17:
- Paramount's "Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events" starring Jim Carrey.
- Jim Brooks' "Spanglish" starring Adam Sandler from Sony.
- Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic "The Aviator" starring Leonardo DiCaprio from Warner Bros. and Miramax.
Rosenberg acknowledges that a scheduling game of chicken is under way. "The studios would never let those four movies go up against each other," he said.
Positioning "Cinderella Man" for awards has not come up, Rosenberg said. "We always look at the movie and what's in the best interest of the movie and the marketplace."
In 2000, Crowe injured the same shoulder while training for "Flora Plum," in which he would have played a Great Depression-era circus performer, just weeks away from its production start.
With sets already being built and the film crew hired, the project was scrubbed.
Jodie Foster's Egg Pictures announced in December that it planned to finance and produce "Flora Plum," with Ewan McGregor cast in the role vacated by Crowe, later this spring.
