RUSSELL Crowe says he cried when reading the script for his coming romantic Australian film written by director Baz Luhrmann.

“The first draft I read — goosebumps twice and tears at the end,” Crowe told Macquarie Radio yesterday.

“It’s fantastic.”

Nicole Kidman is also set to star in the film, which is yet to be titled.

The Australian romantic epic will be set in Darwin in the 1930s, with Crowe’s and Kidman’s characters involved in a love triangle.

The Oscar-winning actors will begin rehearsals in Los Angeles next month. The film has a rumoured budget of $40 million and Luhrmann has described it as an epic on the scale of Gone With the Wind, Out of Africa or Giant.

Further details on the project are expectedto be announced in coming weeks.

“One can’t rush genius,” Crowe said.

“Mr Luhrmann is a certified genius and when he’s got the name he’ll no doubt call me up.”