Actor Russell Crowe is donning the director's cap temporarily to complete the stalled Australian movie "Eucalyptus."

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The Oscar-winning actor was in the northern New South Wales town of Bellingen Wednesday, scouting locations and undertaking technical surveys with the project's director of photography, Mandy Walker, the Australian reported.

Crowe's visit came less than a week after production was halted on the film adaptation of the Murray Bail novel.

The newspaper said Crowe's readiness to step in to the director's chair for the first time came less than a week after film studio Fox Searchlight announced production on the film would be postponed, citing concerns about the readiness of writer-director Jocelyn Moorhouse's script.

"Eucalyptus," which was to have starred Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Jack Thompson and Hugo Weaving, was due to begin shooting last Monday.