class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-43303″ title=”Russell Crowe and RZA” src=”https://www.heyuguys.com/images/2010/09/Russell-Crowe-and-RZA.jpg” alt=”” width=”144″ height=”200″ />I genuinely didn’t see this one coming!

E! online have an exclusive from Wu-Tang Clan member/material arts hip-hop fusion maestro, RZA that he has cast Russell Crowe in his directorial debut The Man With the Iron Fist, which he is also starring in.

He doesn’t reveal much except the tantalising admission that “Russell’s gonna be the baddest man alive.”

The two have worked together before on Ridley Scott’s American Gangster (and both are appearing again in the upcoming Paul Haggis film The Next Three Days) but I never imagined Crowe would be part of this Tarantino-produced low budget (for Crowe) $20m Grindhouse-esque kung fu action flick.

It’s definitely a welcome change of pace for Crowe however, and it’s nice to see him letting his hair down after a number of serious high-brow dramas. I can’t wait to see how he looks in this!

The film starts shooting in Shanghai in December.