Russell Crowe's love for Malta has been returned in kind - the sweet kind - with a lifesize chocolate statue that will be displayed at the Ħamrun Chocolate Festival this weekend. 

The popular event was last year reportedly attended by 25,000 people who turned up to try different chocolate and watch chocolatiers refine life-size statues.

Ahead of the festival, award-winning actor Crowe shared a photo of a statue of himself, made entirely of chocolate by Tiziano Cassar.

"Some people get statues made of bronze. Some in marble. In Malta, they have made me out of… chocolate! This weekend in beautiful Malta is the world-famous Ħamrun Chocolate Festival," he said on X, formerly Twitter.

"When the competition is over, I will be available to eat," Crowe added.

Several were amused by Crowe's post.

Ron G Insana replied: "Glad-he-ate-him", while Bryan Tolland said Cassar had taken "the concept of Chocolate Maltesers to a whole different level".

Some joked Crowe was now truly "irresistible", while others suggested the actor buys the statue and auctions it off for charity.

Crowe has been to Malta several times over the past months, at one point jokingly teasing a future in which the island truly becomes his second home, saying that citizenship may be on the cards.

While he spent some time in Malta ahead of the filming of a sequel to his Oscar-winning film Gladiator, Crowe was also in Malta with his band The Gentlemen Barbers.