Hollywood star Nicole Kidman’s chilling performance in the Alejandro Amenabar thriller The Others has generated significant Oscar buzz. And while the film scored at the box office both in the US and abroad, Nicole now admits she “begged” to quit the project before filming began.
“When I got there and was just about to start rehearsals I really didn’t want to do it,” she told the BBC. “My whole being, my whole psyche, was rejecting it, and I was desperate to try to get out of it. I begged them to let me out.”
But award-winning director Alejandro, best known for 1997’s Spanish-language film Open Your Eyes, wasn’t about to let his star escape the haunted house. “When you shoot a film in English you have a much more open market. And when Nicole Kidman got involved, I knew that the destiny of the film was changing,” he says.
It seems Nicole, having just completed the romantic musical Moulin Rouge, wasn’t prepared to shoot a horror film. “I was so involved in Moulin, with stars in my eyes, and all I wanted to do was make love stories and musicals and be happy – even though Satine dies, it’s about love and belief in love.”
Some say Nicole wanted out of the project for other reasons – namely her ex-husband Tom Cruise’s involvement as co-producer. However, the flame-haired Aussie pooh-poohs such talk. “It wasn’t at a difficult stage then. I thought it was wonderful,” she says.
In the interview Nicole had nary a harsh word for her ex-husband of ten years, and had high praise for his astonishing Hollywood success. “He’s managed to sustain this extraordinary level of success since he was 17 and that’s flabbergasting – I don’t have the ability to do that.”
“And I know the next film he’s got coming up, Vanilla Sky, is fantastic – I saw him working on that and I think he’s going to be amazing in it.”
However, despite Nicole’s upbeat appraisal of Tom’s talent, all is clearly not rosy between the estranged couple who split early this year to the shock of Tinseltown watchers. Nicole was reportedly so relieved when the divorce was finalised she threw her hands up in the air with exultation. The pair were awarded joint custody of their two adopted children, Isabella and Conor, and Nicole maintains that family takes precedence over everything. “We’re a family still, and that needs to be protected. It’s been a very embarrassing and humiliating experience in terms of all the things that have gone on in the last few months – so to sit here and talk about it just seems not right.”
The Others opens in the UK on Friday.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
