Russell Crowe's been active in music as well as acting for years, but now the new international trailer for the upcoming "Les Miserables" film lets fans check out Crowe's song-belting talents for themselves.

Universal Pictures

Russell Crowe in "Les Miserables."

The two-and-a-half minute trailer also features Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, and Amanda Seyfried, who all star in the film along with Crowe. Jackman plays Jean Valjean, the Frenchman jailed for years for stealing bread for his starving family, and Crowe plays police Inspector Javert, who makes it his life's pursuit to track Valjean down.

In the trailer, Crowe, Jackman, Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Banks are all seen singing snippets of the cast song "One Day More," while Hathaway sings a bit of "I Dreamed a Dream." (Sorry "Seinfeld" fans, no George Costanza singing "Master of the House.")

"Les Miserables" hits theaters Dec. 25.

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It's fun to play armchair director, and tapping into that fantasy is exactly what Vanity Fair and "60 Minutes" did in a new online poll. They asked: "If you were directing a new film version of the New Testament, which actor would you cast to play Jesus?"

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Denzel Washington was the winner, with 21 percent of people choosing him to play Jesus. Runner up was Daniel Day-Lewis, followed by Al Pacino. Ryan Gosling barely edged out Woody Allen for the fourth spot and Philip Seymour Hoffman came in last.

It should be noted, however, that 15 percent of respondents chose "none of them."

So who would you cast to play Jesus? Remember, Russell Crowe is out -- he's already been tapped to play Noah. Film fans, take it away on Facebook!

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Russell Crowe on the set of "Noah" earlier this month.

Superstorm Sandy has caused several film and TV productions to shut down in New York City, including, of all things, the biblical epic "Noah."

Shooting on the Darren Aronofsky-directed film starring Russell Crowe was put on hold on Monday, the Los Angeles Times reports, and there is growing concern over potential damage to the two massive ships built for the project. One is housed in a Brooklyn sound stage, while the other resides in Oyster Bay, N.Y., an area that has already suffered flooding and winds of up to 63 mph.

The outdoor ark reportedly measures 450 feet long and is 75 feet tall and 45 feet wide, but was not designed to actually be seaworthy.

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Meanwhile, Crowe's costar in the film, Emma Watson, couldn't help but comment on the latest developments surrounding the project.

"I take it that the irony of a massive storm holding up the production of Noah is not lost @DarrenAronofsy @russellcrowe," the actress tweeted.

"Noah" is due to hit theaters in March 2014.

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Russell Crowe gave one paparazzo the ride of his life on Tuesday.

Determined to get the perfect shot of the Oscar winner as he biked through the streets of New York City, J.B. Nicholas hopped on his own two-wheeler and wound up pedaling 7.7 miles from Manhattan to Brooklyn.

"It all started at about 10:30 a.m. when I and five other shutterbugs waited outside a Tribeca hotel where Crowe is staying," Nicholas recalled in a story he wrote for the New York Daily News. "The double front doors of the hotel flew open and Crowe and his bodyguard dramatically shot out on a mountain bike and headed south on Greenwich St."

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Nicholas went on to describe how he jumped on his bike and proceeded to pursue Crowe through Battery Park, past the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, under the FDR Drive and onto the Manhattan Bridge.

"I and five other two-wheeling cameramen followed, but most gave up from exhaustion," Nicolas wrote. "There were two of us left and Crowe's bodyguard was trying to block us."

The chase eventually came to an end at the South Williamsburg movie set where Crowe is shooting his upcoming film, "Noah."

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"You missed the best shot; I just gave you the finger," Crowe playfully said to Nicholas as he made his way into his trailer.

Soon after, Crowe came out and, much to Nicholas' surprise, gave the guy a hug.

Later in the day, Crowe recalled the experience himself, tweeting :

"11.6km bike ride to work, meditative peace of the morning ritual decimated by paparazzi ... on bicycles ... Only in NY folks."

But he did note, "ride turned in to a bit of fun, certainly upped the speed, did the 11.6km in 30 mins, only 1 pap stayed on pace, I congratulated him."

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Of course, this isn't the first time Crowe has gone pedal-to-pedal. In 2009, the "Gladiator" star challenged an Australian journalist to accompany him on one of his rides when she questioned the actor's workout regimen after photos appeared of him supplementing his regular 13-mile bike ride with smoke breaks and tacos.

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Yes, that's Russell Crowe, clad in all brown and looking a little like a very solid tree trunk, on the set of his 2014 biblical epic, "Noah." As you may have guessed from the title, Crowe plays the Old Testament patriarch who builds the ark to protect his family and the earth's animals from the flood God is sending as punishment for man's wickedness.

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Russell Crowe on the set of his new movie "Noah."

"I'm 48, definitely feeling my age, but I have never been stronger," Crowe tweeted. "My musculature is not fine or ripped, but it's real, Ark builders muscle."

Jennifer Connelly, who starred with Crowe in 2001's "A Beautiful Mind," reunites with him in this film to play Noah's wife, Naameth, and Emma Watson plays Noah's adopted daughter. (In July, Crowe tweeted, "My kids are flipping out that I'm going to work with Hermione.")

Director Darren Aronofsky has tweeted a photo of the ark being constructed for the film, which is every bit as mammoth as might have been expected. Aronofsky has apparently long wanted to make a film about the famous tale, tweeting "'I dreamt about this since I was 13. And now it's a reality. Genesis 6:14 #noah"

Aronofsky has also been sharing other "Noah" tidbits, including tweeting photos of goofy-looking extras and information about the ark's construction. And on Tuesday, he tweeted, "not sure it's true but today is the actual anniversary of the Noah flood. just saying."

Crowe also joined in the fun, at one point tweeting that the under-construction ark was leaking, and at another posting "Currently the status of my beard is "Epic".

The actor made the news last week due to reports that he had separated from Danielle Spencer, his wife of nine years.

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Danielle Spencer and Russell Crowe in 2011.

Is Russell Crowe now a single man? According to Australia's Sydney Morning Herald, the Oscar-winning actor, 48, and his wife, musician Danielle Spencer, have separated. 

Meeting 22 years ago on the set of the film "The Crossing," the couple married at a chapel on the  "Gladiator" star's farm in Nana Glen, Australia in April 2003. the couple are parents to sons Charles, 8, and Tennyson, 6. Crowe's rep could not be reached for comment.

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According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the split is amicable, with Spencer staying in Sydney with the boys (where the family has a recently renovated, $10 million home) as Crowe focuses on his film work; he's currently shooting biblical epic "Noah" in Long Island, New York.

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Spencer, who stuck by the sometimes volatile actor's side for years, has kept a low profile throughout her marriage to the superstar. "All that stuff has nothing to do with me as a person," she has been quoted as saying.

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Crowe wrote a moving open letter to his sons five years ago in which he praised his wife. "I know I will have brought you up to love your mother above all.... You have no idea how much our lives have been blessed by you." 

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You could play the celebrity match game for days without coming up with the pairing of Russell Crowe and Patti Smith, but as the duo recently proved with some appearances in Iceland, they love sharing the stage.

Crowe was in Reykjavik on Aug. 18 as part of a city cultural program, while Smith was touring the country. Based on the videos -- one taken at an outdoor public event as part of the city's Cultural Night, the other in a bar/hostel called Kex -- Crowe was the main attraction, but joyously introduced "legend" (as he called her) Smith for both shows.

Smith sang the song she co-wrote with Bruce Springsteen, "Because the Night," one of her signature tunes. Crowe joined in on backup, and the two appeared to have a grand time.

Check out the videos for more. And as "Gladiator" Crowe might have asked: Are you not entertained?

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Reese Witherspoon and Tom Hanks.

A bold claim sits in the midst of a lengthy new piece in The New Yorker about Ben Stiller, "Funny is Money: Ben Stiller and the dilemma of modern stardom." The author, Tad Friend, contends that "plenty of people who were big stars 10 years ago now are not." Fair enough on the surface, right? Well, take a look at the list Friend posits: Keanu Reeves, Mel Gibson, Demi Moore, Tom Hanks, Reese Witherspoon, Russell Crowe, Nicolas Cage, John Travolta.

Someone deigns to suggest that Tom Hanks is no longer a star? What? And why are we counting down the days until Witherspoon has her third baby if she's not a star? Friend's proclamation seems to exist where two main tenets -- the definition of a star and the perception of who is a star -- intersect. "A star, to the industry, is someone who can dependably get a film to 'open,'" Friend wrote. "A star to the rest of us, is the person our eyes are always drawn to on screen."

To that end, some of the names on the list do make sense. Demi Moore, sure. Her last big film, "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" was definitely a disappointment, and she hasn't had top billing on anything substantial since "G.I. Jane."

Reeves is almost 10 years removed from "Matrix Revolutions" and "Matrix Reloaded," which both opened in 2003 and made a combined $420 million domestically. But, "Revolutions" made only $48 million its opening weekend, perhaps an indicator that he wasn't carrying films like he once was.

Crowe is a slightly more complicated case: "3:10 to Yuma" in 2007 definitely didn't light the box office on fire (it grossed only $70 million worldwide) but doesn't the film's two Academy Award nominations count for something? (On a side note, Crowe does have nearly half a million Twitter followers. If Crowe and the studios he's working with can harness this following for any of the five films he's got coming up between now and 2014, maybe his star rises somewhat?)

Mel Gibson, with all his ancillary controversies might be in a category all his own, but even if you set his temper aside and look at the numbers, Gibson hasn't had a film open at the No. 1 spot since "Signs" in 2002. It seems certain that Gibson has become more spectacle than star and once the scales tip in that direction, it's tough to get them back.

The names on the list that maybe deserve some special dispensation are Witherspoon, Cage and Hanks. As Witherspoon's pregnancy tracking proves, you can still have star quality without a massive box office hit. Her most recent film, "Water for Elephants"  "This Means War" made $54 million domestically, but if you look at her last 10 years' worth of films, even the biggest hit, "Sweet Home Alabama," was only a $127 million movie. We aren't talking about a leading actress who was opening billion-dollar franchises and suddenly isn't covering the budget. Witherspoon is just a solid, steady star (with an Oscar under her belt) which will likely give her career serious longevity.

As for Cage: his "Saturday Night Live" persona might be the most interesting thing he's got going right now, but that's just here in the United States, where his films don't do nearly as well as they do internationally. Did you see "Season of the Witch"? Me neither, but enough people saw it in foreign markets that it earned $66 million there, while the film only made $24 million at home.

And then there's Tom Hanks. The man who made "Big" big, and led "Toy Story" to hold the title of most successful animation franchise, ever -- he will always be a star, even if "Larry Crowne" was unwatchable for vast, vast swaths of the population. And maybe that's the thing about stardom: once yours shines brightly enough, it never totally fizzles out. If you are able to remain "the person our eyes are always drawn to on screen," what's on the screen isn't always of paramount importance.

What do you think? Have you scratched Hanks off your star list, or is there someone who deserves to be on the list who isn't? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

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