Straight women and gay men all across D.C. were presumably disappointed by the news that came out over the Thanksgiving holiday that Brad Pitt had dropped out of the production of State of Play, a big-budget political thriller set to begin filming here in Washington this winter. You may recall that Pitt had stopped by the Washington Post newsroom in September to do some research on the character he was slated to play in the film, who is an investigative reporter on the trail of the story of a murder that involves an old politician friend of his.

Variety explains that the Hollywood writer's strike had a role in Pitt's decision to drop the project, as the star was disappointed with a studio re-write of the film's script and wanted to wait until the strike was resolved to bring it closer to its original version. The studio was apparently happy with the current script and the two parties went their separate ways.

For those of you who are saddened to hear that Pitt (and potentially Angelina Jolie and their kids) won't be spending three months bumming around town, take heart: turns out Russell Crowe has agreed to step into the role. Of course, when it comes to celebrity crushes, Crowe and Pitt generally appeal to different camps. Pitt is for those of you who like pretty-boys. Crowe is preferred by those of us who are attracted to a more masculine, manly-man. The only real question is which version of Crowe will D.C. be getting on such short notice: fat or thin? The actor is just coming off of filming Ridley Scott's terrorism drama Body of Lies, based on David Ignatius' novel, so we'll keep our hopes up for fit Russell.

Other members of the State of Play cast include Edward Norton, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman and Robin Wright Penn. Filming was originally scheduled to begin in late November but has now been pushed back to the middle of this month, split between D.C. and L.A.