Crowe moves behind lens

Actor Russell Crowe looks set to make his directorial debut next year in a film based on a novel by John Hepworth.

Oscar-winning Crowe will tackle his first role behind the camera in The Long Green Shore and has engaged award-winning American producer Mark Johnson for the film.

The film is set during World War II and centres on an Australian battalion's mission in Papua New Guinea.

Johnson, who won the best picture Academy Award for the 1988 feature Rain Man, said he was looking forward to working with Crowe.