After being linked with the project for the past week, Russell Crowe has agreed to step in for Brad Pitt in the political thriller State of Play.

Pitt dropped out last week over script concerns, hurling the remake of the British miniseries into a state of flux.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Crowe is now in "final negotiations" to star opposite Edward Norton, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn, and Jason Bateman in the film.

The paper reports: "Macdonald spent the weekend in Australia wooing Crowe, who had to see if Play could fit into his schedule; Crowe is scheduled to shoot Universal's Nottingham, the Ridley Scott-directed reimagining of the Robin Hood story."

Crowe "will play a political consultant-turned-journalist who heads a newspaper's murder investigation involving a fast-rising politician (Norton)."