It's the shocking plot that has Hollywood on high alert. Oscar winner Russell Crowe has revealed that he may have been the target of an Al-Qaeda kidnapping scheme months before 9/11.

"I didn't make a decision to go public with that. I had a conversation with somebody and they used that," Crowe stated during a press conference Thursday morning in Australia. Russell was reluctant to talk about the incident, today, but in the new GQ magazine, Crowe comes clean about the real-life drama that unfolded during his Oscar run for the mega hit "Gladiator."

GQ Deputy Editor Michael Hainey told us Crowe had trouble even comprehending the threat until FBI agents broke the news. "At first he thought it was his mates in Australia playing a prank on him," Hainey explained. "He told GQ that French intelligence agents were hearing chatter in North Africa that Russell was going to be the target of a kidnapping plot."

So why would Crowe be a target of Osama Bin Laden? Early speculation was it would help the terror network culturally destabilize the U.S.

Crowe took no chances, immediately beefing up security and accepting protection from the FBI. "He kept the bodyguards and the FBI with him through 'A Beautiful Mind' and, to a lesser extent, 'Master and Commander,'" Hainey revealed.

But Crowe is no longer living in fear: he's been told the threats no longer loom.