Variety reports that Russell Crowe's newest contract (that he has already signed) is John Polson's indie thriller "Tenderness". In charge of the financial and logistic aspects of the project: GreeneStreet Films.

Russell Crowe will film the project in May. The release date is not announced yet but the movie is now in the pre-production stage. John Polson has quite a strange story in what concerns his relationship with the Gladiator star: the two first met as acting colleagues on the sets of Prisoners in the Sun (1990 WW2 epic) and later teamed up as a gay couple in 1994's comedy The Sum of Us. Later both Polsen and Crowe continued acting in various movies, until 2005 saw the directorial debut of Polsen with the horror-esque Hide and Seek.

"Tenderness" is based on Robert Cormier's novel, adapted for the screen by scribe Emil Stern. The novel by Robert Cormier is the story of a violent teenager, Eric, who meets and falls in love with Lori, a 16-year-old runaway who can't resist his charm. Russell Crowe has signed up for the Lieutenant Cristofuoro part; his character is a cop who sets out to unravel Eric's complex past.

After completing the Tenderness project Crowe will star in Universal Studio's "American Gangster" and is said to be a part in Buz Luhrman's untitled period epic, opposite Nicole Kidman, early next year.