EXCLUSIVE: Russell Crowe 'Looking Forward' to Reuniting With Tom Cruise for 'The Mummy,' Jokes Nicole Kidman W

Russell Crowe is teaming up with Tom Cruise for a new adaptation of The Mummy, and he dished to ET about his history with the superstar.

"I was really good friends with Tom from probably about '92 or so until he got divorced," Crowe said, before joking, "When he got divorced, I was part of Nicole [Kidman]'s settlement and so we didn't see each other."

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Crowe told us that he might have seen Cruise twice since the Mission: Impossible star split with Kidman in 2001, but assured us that there wouldn't be any awkwardness between them.

"I think we have a very simple and direct connection. I always had a great deal of respect for what he does and I'm really looking forward to being in front of a camera with him," Crowe said. "I said to him a long time ago -- when he asked me to do a particular movie -- I said to him, 'I don't really want to be in a film where we're on different sides -- you're the good guy, I'm the bad guy kind of thing.' This project, it's quite complex in terms of what our relationship really is."

The project could even spawn a franchise, according to Crowe.

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"There could be an entire universe that comes out of what these monsters are," he said. "And it's all contemporary. They're not period films, so I'm quite looking forward to being Dr. Henry Jekyll."

Crowe's newest film, The Nice Guys, will also mark a reunion, as he will once again share the screen with his L.A. Confidential co-star, Kim Basinger, after almost 20 years.

"It was great to see her again!" he said. "We actually haven't been in the same room for over a decade. It's so strange that you can have such an intimate connection to somebody and then simply because the way the job moves, you just don't see them."

Crowe partners with Ryan Gosling for the buddy-cop comedy, and while there has already been speculation over a potential sequel, Crowe doesn't think fans should hold their breath.

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"It seems like every time I do a movie, people always say, 'There should be a second part of that,' but it's not my natural inclination to repeat things," Crowe said. "So there will have to be extraordinary demand for it, but what I found over time is every time people start getting excited for a potential sequel, it just disappears."

The Nice Guys opens May 20.

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