The production of the highly anticipated Nicole Kidman and Russell Crow film, Eucalyptus, has been postponed indefinitely, reports Reeltalk’s Australian affiliate Robert Ford. The shoot was due to start this week on location in rural Australia.

Fox Searchlight Pictures issued a statement saying “After consulting with all the creative elements involved in Eucalyptus, we have collectively agreed that the screenplay is not where we need it to be. For that reason, we are postponing the production.”

The film, based on the acclaimed novel by Murray Bail, was to be directed by Australian writer-director Jocelyn Moorhouse (Proof and How To Make An American Quilt). It is the story of a farmer who refuses to let any man marry his daughter unless he can correctly identify dozens of varieties of Eucalyptus tree.

The news that Oscar-winning, A-list stars Kidman and Crowe were to appear in the film had generated high expectations. Although Australia produces some of the world’s biggest movie stars (such as Kidman, Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Naomi Watts, Mel Gibson etc), they very rarely appear in Australian films, preferring the higher salaries and prestige of Hollywood productions.

Nicole Kidman had reportedly been looking for an Australian project for some time, in order to show her support for her native country’s film industry. She was so keen to star in Eucalyptus that she waived her usual US $15m salary. She had agreed to work for the Australian minimum wage (industry regulations do not allow an actor to work for absolutely nothing) and so would have earned less than most of the crew. The script even underwent substantial rewrites so that 38-year-old Kidman could play a character who was originally written as a 19-year-old.

Since news broke of the film’s last-minute postponement, there has been intense speculation about the reason for the delay and whether the project will ever get off the ground again. Many sources claim that it was Russell Crowe who was not happy with the script. He allegedly felt that his character did not have enough screen-time and would be upstaged by Nicole Kidman.

Even if a script can be agreed on, it is not known when Kidman and Crowe will both have another window in their schedules to shoot Eucalyptus. This puts the whole future of the project in doubt. It comes as a blow to local crew and contractors, who now find themselves without the expected work.

There are, however, still high hopes for a number of other Australian films in production. These include Jindabyne, which stars Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney, and is director Ray Lawrence’s follow-up to Lantana. Also in the pipeline is the drama Little Fish, starring Cate Blanchett, Sam Neill and Hugo Weaving.