Vogue magazine has a super lengthy cover story on Nicole Kidman in their latest issue. A lot of it is about Kidman’s personal life, naturally, but there is some discussion about her upcoming adventure epic, “Australia,” with Aussie auteur and good friend, Baz Luhrmann.
The style magazine says the sweeping WWII story is akin to a down under version of “Gone With The Wind” or “The African Queen” and offers up more details than just the basic film synopsis.
“Kidman stars as Lady Sarah Ashley, a refined Englishwoman who comes all the way to the outback to look for her missing husband at their homestead in the Northern Territory. She winds up getting involved with a tough local cattle drover, played by Hugh Jackman, whose closeness to the Aboriginal people has made him something of an outcast. Lady Sarah is a childless woman who enjoys a spiritual rebirth on coming to Australia. “
“Nicole is a thoroughbred,” Luhrmann said, the article noting that she spoke in an English accent like the character even when the cameras weren’t rolling. “She is highly strung, highly volatile, highly everything.”
Kidman says that the film is grandiose and one of a kind. “There’ll never be an Australian movie like this again,” she said and she’s likely not kidding. We love Luhrmann, but a $150 million dollar David Lean-like romantic adventure epic set in the Australian outback? Not the most commercial project in the world for today’s audiences, though Oscars are its biggest hope.
Like “Moulin Rouge,” the film is lush and unabashedly passionate and quixotic. “Baz is not afraid to abandon himself to romance,” Kidman said. “He’s this very, very big thinker who has this rare, almost childlike naïveté. We all feed off his passion.
The piece says Kidman is Baz’s muse and the feeling is mutual. She has absolute faith in his work, as evinced in a quote from co-star Hugh Jackman. “Nicole came over to my house for a Super Bowl party in 2006,” he said. “And she knew I was talking to Baz about doing the movie. She said, ‘You must do it, you must do it.’ And I asked, ‘Have you read the script?’ And she said, ‘No, it’s Baz. I don’t need the script.’ ” He laughed. “You know, there aren’t a lot of A-list actresses who’ll sign on sight unseen.”
We really can’t wait to see this anachronistic film (we mean that in the best way possible. “Australia,” is scheduled to hit theaters November 14. The trailer and more info are here.