It was months before the cameras were set to roll on one of 20th Century Fox’s most ambitious projects for 2005, a $140 million historic epic about the Crusades by the director Ridley Scott. And still there was no one to play the leading role of Balian. Mr. Scott had at first envisioned Russell Crowe, the scowling, muscled star of his “Gladiator” hit, to play the role of a blacksmith and reluctant Crusader in the Holy Land. But Mr. Crowe had other projects on his slate, and would not alter them to fit the director’s timetable. It took four more months of searching by casting agents and Mr. Scott to settle on Orlando Bloom, the long-haired, doe-eyed young British actor who was high on Hollywood’s list of hot new stars in the making. Mr. Bloom, who had won a fan base of teenage girls with his performance in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and who was fresh off the set of another historical epic, Warner Brothers’ “Troy,” was the favored choice of Fox executives. [More]

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