Sydney, Feb. 23 (Reuters): Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman have signed up for an Australian historical epic to be directed by Baz Luhrmann, Luhrmann’s publicist said today.

Publicist Maria Farmer confirmed media reports that the new movie, to be filmed in Australia’s harsh but beautiful outback, would begin production in August.

Luhrmann, director of the hit musical Moulin Rouge, told Australian newspapers that he would direct the film and co-write it with Australian screenwriter Stuart Beattie.

Luhrmann described the movie as a sweeping romance in the same vein as Gone With the Wind.

Crowe and Kidman were to have starred in another Australian movie, based on the novel Eucalyptus, but the project collapsed last year because of difficulties with the script.