Playing troubled British novelist Virginia Woolf in the upcoming movie The Hours helped Nicole Kidman get over her break-up with Hollywood heartthrob Tom Cruise, the versatile Australian actress has revealed.
"I didn't want to do it, I tried to pull out," says Nicole of the demanding role, which required her to spend hours being made up every day to achieve a physical similarity with Woolf. "But my agent and all my friends said to go for it and get lost in it."
And the treatment worked. The actress became so dedicated to her role that she refused to have a double for the suicide drowning that ended Woolf's life. "Somehow it would have been betraying her," says Nicole.
The Hours, which revolves around three women living in different times but profoundly affected by the work of Virginia Woolf, was the first film Nicole worked on after her and Tom's much-publicised separation two years ago. And losing herself in the demands of the role distracted her from what she's admitted was a hellish period of her life. "That's what the artist state is for," says the star. "It has some kind of cathartic effect on me."
As for the physical transformation she had to achieve, Nicole says it was "completely freeing" to look totally different from her usual glamorous self.
The film, which opens in the US in December and is due to hit UK screens on Valentine's Day next year, offers a full roster of top acting talent, including Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Toni Collette, Ed Harris and Miranda Richardson.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
