This has been a hallmark year for Nicole Kidman. Not only did she make a splash on TV with HBO‘s critically acclaimed series “Big Little Lies,” but she also took Cannes by storm with three films playing on their slate this year: Yorgos Lanthimos‘ “The Killing of A Sacred Deer,” Sofia Coppola‘s “The Beguiled,” and John Cameron Mitchell‘s “How to Talk to Girls at Parties.” Not to mention that Jane Campion also debuted seven episodes of her TV series “Top of the Lake” at Cannes, in which, you guessed it, Kidman stars. The truth of the matter is Kidman doesn’t really need what people are calling a “comeback.” She’s always been taking on roles that push her forward artistically, and in this decade she’s given us great performances in John Cameron Mitchell‘s “Rabbit Hole,” Lee Daniels‘ “The Paperboy,” Park Chan-Wook‘s “Stoker” and Garth Davis‘ “Lion.”
It seems like she shows no sign of stopping artistically as the 50 year-old actress is now in talks for Karyn Kusama‘s crime thriller “Destroyer.” The whole project hasn’t been officially announced but is said to be in the final stages of pre-production. Not much is known about the plot, but the screenplay would be written by Kusama vets Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. What has been spoken of in terms of plot was described by Kusama to The Guardian as a “personal epic – a beautiful character study of an incredible female that we haven’t seen in this genre before.”
The 49 year-old Kusama made her feature-directing debut back in 2000 with the Michelle Rodriguez-starring boxing movie “Girlfight,” that won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and kickstarted her career. Afer back-to-back disappointments with “Aeon Flux” and “Jeniffer’s Body,” she had a noteworthy comeback just last year with the horror-thriller “The Invitation” which garnered critical success and proved that Kusama wasn’t down for the count in the least bit. “The Invitation,” and its mix of taut, tense and terrific tension, definitely turned heads in the industry and now Kusama has a chance to push forward her cinematic career after a few disappointments and a TV stint which had her directing episodes of “Halt and Catch Fire,” “Casual” and “The Man in the High Castle.” [The Tracking Board]