Two expensive period films have had a scheduling face-off, and the less heavily-budgeted of the two has retreated with its tail between its legs. The July ’06 shoot of Ridley Scott ‘s American Gangster, a ’70s-era crime film that will costar Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington, has delayed a planned September start of a 1930s period drama to be directed by Baz Luhrman and costar Crowe and Nicole Kidman.