Jor-El, the biological father of Superman, is played by Russell Crowe in Man of Steel, the next Superman film that started shooting in August.

Yesterday, pics emerged of Crowe in his Jor-El outfit, and the Kiwi actor didn’t look all that super, man. More paunchy. Paunchman’s a thing, right? No? Crap.

The 47-year-old Crowe was spotted on set in Vancover, merrily puffing away on a cigarette as his costume was tweaked by crew members. Crowe reportedly worked out for this role (so perhaps those are just some unflattering folds) which is a good thing, really, as he’s going to be dad to Superman, as played by Henry Cavill:

That said, I still think Crowe is a good choice. The guy can act, and as the Daily Mail points out, at least he’s more streamlined than Marlon Brando was when he took the role. Crowe also has a passing likeness to Jor-El …

Man of Steel is being directed by 300 and Suckerpunch director Zack Synder, and will be a complete reboot of the Superman franchise. It’s due out June 14th, 2013, and comes with a budget of $175m.

As well as Cavill in the lead role and Crowe as his father, the film will have Amy Adams as Lois Lane (Adams beat Mila Kunis to the part), Michael Shannon as General Zod, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, the Editor in Chief of the Daily Planet, and Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Jonathan and Martha Kent, the adoptive parents of Superman.

Jor-El Pics Show Russell Crowe Playing Superman’s Dad [Pics] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Russell Crowe will be joining fellow Aussie actor and Tony-award winner Hugh Jackman in the upcoming film adaptation of the play Les Miserables.

Jackman had been confirmed for the role of lead Jean Valjean in the musical drama, and Crowe has signed on to play his foil, Inspector Javert. The play and film are based on the French classic novel Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, and chronicle the life of a man who spent 19 years in prison for the crime of stealing bread to feed his starving family. The man, Valjean, struggles with being perceived as a marked criminal as he reforms his situation, and is pursued by the ever-vigilant Javert, who is never convinced Valjean has turned his life around.

Original producer of Les Miserables, Cameron Mackintosh, was thrilled the pair have both signed on to play the two leads in the film. Mackintosh enthuses:

“Even though I have dreamt about making the film of Les Misérables for over 25 years, I could never have imagined that we would end up with the dream director Tom Hooper, and the dream cast of Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe as the two great protagonists Jean Valjean and Javert. Not only were they born to play these roles vocally, but they thrillingly inhabit this great score.”

Mackintosh added that making the film a reality was “indeed a dream come true” and that he “can’t wait to hear the people sing at [his] local cineplex.” In addition to Crowe and Jackman, the film will also star Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter, and is due out in December of 2012.

Russell Crowe Confirmed For ‘Les Mis’ With Hugh Jackman is a post from: The Inquisitr

Russell Crowe has accepted a role in Allen Hughes’ Broken City. The A-List actor will play a mayor who hires a private detective (Mark Wahlberg) to spy on his wife who he believes may be cheating.

The new noir film directed by Hughes focuses on Wahlberg, an ex-cop turned investigator who uncovers the affair, only to find out later that that wife’s lover has ended up dead, leading him to uncover various conspiracies and corruption at the highest levels of the city’s political chain.

Hughes chose the project after various troubles on the film adaption of Anime classic Akira forced him to drop his directing job at Warner Bros.

If you simply can’t get enough of Russell Crowe you can catch him in “The Man With The Iron Fist” which is set to debut sometime in 2012.

Broken City does not have a production start date at this time.

One thing is for certain, it’s a lot easier to picture the 47 year old actor in the role of a possibly corrupt city mayor than it is to think of him as an aging Robin Hood and anyone who saw the movie “The Departed” already knows that Mark Wahlberg is very capable of playing a former police officer who becomes in tangled in situations that are over his head.

Will you be heading out to watch Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg play enemies to one another when Broken City finally debuts in the next few years?

The script for Broken City has been written by Brian Tucker.

Russell Crowe Given Mayorship, Joins Mark Wahlberg In ‘Broken City’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

It is cringeworthy, awkward and embarrassing. I think if you showed this to people back in the day and said this skinny guy is going to win an Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award people would have thought you were delusional.

See how skinny he was back then. With the current speculation that fat Russell has been ordered to slim down for his next role, this bit of memory lane, thanks to the wonders of youtube might make him a little nostalgic.

Crowe has reportedly been told that he is too fat to play the role of the sheriff of Nottingham in the upcoming Robin Hood film directed by Ridley Scott. According to the Daily Mail, the British director asked Crowe to commit to a diet, that consists of stuff other than burgers and fries.

A young, skinny Russell Crowe does an ad for a bible college is a post from: The Inquisitr

State of Play is a political thriller directed by Kevin Macdonald and written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, Peter Morgan, and Billy Ray. The film tells of a journalist’s probe into the suspicious death of a Congressman’s mistress. Russell Crowe plays the journalist and Ben Affleck plays the Congressman. Support comes from Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright Penn, Rachel McAdams, and Jeff Daniels.

Yeah, I know, Russell Crowe movie, but one thing I’d note: it’s based on the BBC Mini Series of the same name, which is arguably one of the best mini-series to come out of the UK this decade. The trailer does look good, although they’ve cut the 6 hours of the original mini-series into 2 hours for the film, and naturally Americanized it. I’m willing to give it a shot.

State of Play comes out April 2009.

State of Play Movie Trailer is a post from: The Inquisitr

Don’t worry, Russell Crowe what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Which is great news for Russell’s wife Danielle Spencer because Russell was felt up by Eva Longoria. Check out the photo with her hand resting on his inner thigh. For further evidence see the TMZ TMZ”>gallery there re photos of them leaning in to talk in each other’s ears. But then it was noisy right?

I know if I was Russell Crowe’s wife, Danielle, left at home with two kids, I would be pissed. But that’s not all, clearly Rusty has some fabulous man scent on or something because he also saw some man-on-man action from Marc Anthony, J-Lo’s plus one. Now that is disturbing.

The photos were taken at the Lavo Lounge.

Russell Crowe Gets Some Eva Longoria Action in Las Vegas (Pics) is a post from: The Inquisitr