Thursday, May 03, 2007

Nicole Kidman in Australia

Dear God(s of the Cinema)

Please let Nic's next epic romance performance be more of a Moulin Rouge! and less of a Cold Mountain. That is all. Also please bless Dustin for sending me this pic. Amen.

Nathaniel

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful.

Although I had no problem with Nic's Cold Mountain outing whatsoever - I'd rank it up there with her best.

Glenn Dunks said...

They showed some behind the scenes footage on the news. It was very tiny piece and it was just Nicole standing on a stage at a party of some sort (the same one where Hugh attends in a white tuxedo I imagine).

Anonymous said...

Just had an insanely obvious thought that hadn't occurred to me before seeing this picture - for a change, Nicole's going to be acting with her own accent for this film! That should add to her performance greatly, if not just make it whole lot more interesting in terms of novelty value.

Anonymous said...

But doesn't she play an English person, even though it's in Australia? I thought she did, but I'm not certain.

Anonymous said...

She actually looks like she's returning somewhat to the botox stage of Moulin Rouge! Is it possible that someone (Baz?) finally got through to her that she is more beautiful when she can move her face?

And dare I hope that it will stay this way?

Anonymous said...

OMG!!!!

This picture just made my day.

adam k. said...

You mean the pre-Botox stage of Moulin Rouge!? Moulin Rouge!/The Others/The Hours was the last time Nicole definitely had no Botox in her face. Just a coincidence, I'm sure, that that was also the peak of her career...

Anonymous said...

I love how the whole of the internet has just hung up on this picture like it were the real thing from the movie, lol. This picture accompanied an interview she did with Townsville Bulletin and what it says regarding the picture is that "this is what she COULD look like. That picture was taken during a reading at Fox studios. Nobody cares to do any kind of research anymore, they just copy, paste and leave it at that.

Nicole is not an Aussie in this movie, she is an English aristocrat.

Anonymous said...

FYI, only last week posters on some blog saw some candid pics of her and claimed she was botoxed to the hilt, I guess it has worn off. I would like to know where she gets her injection from, her injections seem to have the ability of making her face unmovable one day and movable the next and then back to unmovable, very dynamic injection, I say.

Nathaniel, her character will be driving 2000 cattles across the country, at what point did you think she should look like she just stepped out of the Moulin Rouge? when she is directing the cattle or dodging the bombs raining on her?

NATHANIEL R said...

Anonymous: I never claimed that I hope that she looks like she did in Moulin Rouge! you're correct to suggest that would be inappropriate for a different role. Honestly does no one actually read the posts? I just hope her acting is at 2001 level is all.

J.D. said...

Nicole at one point never used Botox?!? Damn! I AM young!

adam k. said...

Indeed, her Botoxless years are what made her famous. There was a marked difference in her face starting, as far as I can tell, with Cold Mountain. Tough to tell if she was botoxed for Dogville. But you can see her moving her face in 2001/2002; you can't in later years.

It sorta worked in Birth, since that character probably would be using Botox anyway. Plus it fit with the whole creepy, otherworldly vibe of the film. But in everything else since then, her acting has suffered under the needle.

Anonymous said...

As the Baz Luhrmann begrudging Australian anonymous poster...

I'd truly never detected this 'botox' arc in Kidman's recent films. I always thought that Birth, Bewitched, Stepford Wives and Cold Mountain weren't as good as The Others, Dogville, Human Stain, The Hours and Moulin Rouge (she was great in that) because... the films were nowhere near as strong? And even when the film had the potential to be strong - Cold Mountain - she was miscast?

BTW - I like Nicole in Birth... and I don't hate the film. (Desplat makes that impossible.) But it is a tricky one to go with.

Anonymous said...

It may have a huge cattle drive but there's definitely going to be at least some glamour. I saw that news footage that Kamikaze Camel referred to and she was wearing a gorgeous red lacy dress and had flowers in her hair. It was an elegant evening party with dancing and I think there were chinese lanterns hanging.

Anonymous said...

I'm just looking forward to having Nicole Kidman in a possibly great film again with The Baz. And I thought that she was fine in "Cold Mountain".

Cinesnatch said...

This is how I feel about Kidman's wiser career choices:

1. The Others
2. The Hours
3. Cold Mountain
4. Moulin Rouge!
5. Dead Calm
6. Eyes Wide Shut
7. To Die For
8. Birth
9. Dogville
----------
(The Interpreter, Birthday Girl, Portrait of a Lady)

Everything else--which I've seen up to Bewitched--I can leave. Yeah, I know, I don't have Rouge! at #1 and I love Cold Mountain.

Is this going to be her year again, or a big bust? Between Margot, Materials and Invasion, you'd think there would be a gem in the bunch, right? She's shrewd at scooping up auteur-type directors on their sophmore feature efforts (Daldry, Glazer, Shainberg, Baumbach), as well as foreign directors making their U.S. debut (Amenabar, Hirschbiegel), as well as the established and well-respected (Van Sant, Kubrick, Luhrman, Minghella, Von Trier). She's shrewd beyond belief. But, you can't force the magic. Invasion looks shaky, especially with the reshot ending chaos. Materials looks good, but isn't it partially a kid's film? That leaves Margot, which I'm hoping will pay off in spades because she's one of my Actressexual 2007 guesses, but I mainly put her in because I thought I would end up paying if I didn't.

What I really can't stand are her inflatable lips. They didn't look good on Meg Ryan when she first developed her fish lips and they look just plain comical now. But, I guess once you start ...

Anonymous said...

I have high hopes for Kidman's films this year - but then again I always do. And Need (2008) sounds amazing too, just from the one-line synopsis on imdb.com - I mean, come on, best-buds Nicole and Naomi together!

For me, her only misfires since her career kickstarted in 2001 have been The Human Stain (2003), The Stepford Wives (2004) and Bewitched (2005).

Vincent, I think you hit the nail on the head with your analysis of Kidman's choices of director. She is very shrewd in this respect, as you say.

For what it's worth - my Niccy K Top 10 (I've thought about this a lot over time!):

1. Birth (2004)
2. Dogville (2004)
3. Moulin Rouge! (2001)
4. The Others (2001)
5. Cold Mountain (2003)
6. Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)
7. The Hours (2002)
8. To Die For (1995)
9. Portrait of a Lady (1996)
10. Birthday Girl (2002)

I also liked her in The Interpreter (2005), Billy Bathgate (1991), Days of Thunder (1990) and Dead Calm (1989). And her breathiness in Happy Feet (2006) was in tune with the rest of that film's curious strangeness.

Haven't seen Eyes Wide Shut (1999) yet it has to be said. Is it worth it?

In fact this thread is really going the way of what I've been toying with to ask Nathaniel for - as a $40 request...

Glenn Dunks said...

Amir, go to the video store right this second and rent Eyes Wide Shut. If for no other reason than because it's Kubrick's last film and it's quite amazing, but Nicole is fantastic in it.

Anonymous said...

Yes sir, will do!

But is it ok if I I leave it until 3 weeks time as a post-university finals (as in never have to study ever again!!!) treat?...

J.D. said...

I thought was great in The Interpreter, which I'm sad to say is her only major thing I've seen...

Cinesnatch said...

Amir~
Yeah, I agree with Glenn, you should watch Eyew Wide Shut, though waiting three weeks won't do you any harm. I haven't seen it in years (is it that old?), but if I do remember correctly, her monologue in the bedroom hit me like a semi-truck when I first saw it opening day.

A lot of people didn't like the film overall. I loved it. As far as mainstream cinema goes, it was a breath of fresh air. I just forgot ... the ballroom sequence with Kidman and the suitor ... amazing! I have to say I love her scenes the most, but I enjoyed the journey. The sequence in the mansion and everything that followed was killer.

Seriously, 1999 was a competitive year, but I would have loved to see Kidman get nominated. But, she got her due later.

Anonymous said...

your pretty

Anonymous said...

I"m with Vince and KC on Eyes Wide Shut - I admit that the only way I got through that movie was to hit the fast-forward button whenever Kidman was in the picture (which, sadly is most of the time) but, hey, sue me - it was something like midnight when I was watching it and I was trying to get to the end with my own eyes wide open. (Sorry.)

But Vince, your description that her monologue hit you "like a semi truck" would describe my own reaction pretty accurately - and I was watching on a TV screen that was maybe 11". I was left with my jaw hanging open.

If I had been the director who filmed that scene, I would have said "This woman is amazing, I need to rewrite the script so she's in the film more often." For me, Alice was THE story, in part because her relationship dilemmas mirrored mine at the time I saw the film (which was not until 2003), in part because Kidman was just so powerful in it that the rest of the film struck me as fairly sterile at the time. Kidman has a way of doing that to me - her characters have, time and again, touched on some of my deepest personal issues at any given moment, while in her intensity of performance I feel as if I'm encountering another human being, not watching a fictional character, and the experience can be electrifying. NO other actor, male or female, has moved me that deeply, that consistently. No one.

But - yes, Cold Mountain was not one of those times. Sad to say she was miscast, but I don't think Minghella really pushed her to the edges of herself either. He was content to let her play the rather traditional damsel in distress, allowing the camera to admire her genteel and amazingly chic slide into "poverty". She seems to need that to bring out her best - a director who really pushes and challenges her, whether emotionally (Campion, Von Trier, Kubrick) or physically (Luhrmann, Von Trier again).

RedSatinDoll