Australian actor Russel Crowe may be facing criminal charges and a massive civil lawsuit over his alleged assault of a New York hotel clerk. But that's not preventing him from signing on to star in the movie "A Good Year" directed by Ridley Scott, who led Crowe to his Oscar win in "The Gladiator". According to Variety Thursday, Crowe will play an investment banker who loses his job and moves to the French region of Provence to take over a failing vineyard owned by his just-deceased uncle, a move complicated by the arrival of an unknown American cousin.