Nicole's Perpetual Elephant Love Medley
Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 12:15PM As if Nicole Kidman hadn't done enough for the mystique of elephants! Ten years ago in Moulin Rouge! (see previous posts) she famously lived, loved, and playfully sang on top of a giant bejewelled 'phant. Now she'll be interacting with the real thing on the silver screen. In early 2012 she'll be heading to Africa to film My Wild Life, a drama about the work of elephants advocate and conservationist Dame Daphne Sheldrick. Phillip Noyce (Salt, The Quiet American) will direct. Sheldrick's autobiography will be published in the spring and by this time next year (or thereabouts), if all goes according to plan, we'll see Nicole Kidman reenacting her adventures just in time for next year's Oscar race.
We assume that the bulk of the film will take place between 1955 and 1976 when Sheldrick (who was in her 20s and 30s at the time) and her husband were the co-wardens of Kenya's Tsavo National Park. Sheldrick became an expert on rearing wild animals particularly elephants and rhinos. According to The Hollywood Reporter the film has been gestating for longer than elephants themselves do (22 months if you need to know) and in previous incarnations Julia Roberts and Kate Winslet were both interested in playing Sheldrick.
David and Daphe Sheldrick. No word yet on who will play David.I believe Sigourney Weaver was the last actress to get an animal husbandry biopic / Oscar nomination (Gorillas in the Mist, 1988)? It can't be too frequent an occurrence given that we don't see too many of those on the big screen. Even animal husbandry with super powers (Aquaman) never makes it to the big screen.
It occurs to me: the family Elephantidae must have secured good representation in Hollywood ten years back. Ever since Nicole & Ewan's "Elephant Love Medley" they've been getting bigger and bigger roles starting with key supporting parts in action movies (The Lord of the Rings and Ong Bank franchises). Lately they've taken to starring in documentaries (One Lucky Elephant - see previous post) and ampliying and romanticizing the charms of their leading ladies (Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love, Reese Witherspoon in Water For Elephants).
P.S. Here's a fun take on Moulin Rouge's "Elephant Love Medley" with the original songs dubbed in.
P.P.S. There really ought to have been a special Oscar for the song scoring / arranging / adaptation of Moulin Rouge!
Africa, Best Actress, Moulin Rouge!, Nicole Kidman, Oscars (12), biopics, elephants, zoology
Reader Comments (11)
So lately I've been even more obsessed than usual with Moulin Rouge and "Elephant Love Medley," so thank you so much for including that. If only we could get Ewan McGregor to appear in the movie as well for a reunion....
Hey, what an interesting project! Thanks for the news
WOW!! I'm more than excited with these news! Even though there seem to be no casting news for the husband's role I think it could go to Mark Ruffalo (basically because that pic you showed us reminds me of that funny face of surprise he put on on that marvel called 'The Kids Are Alright'!!
PS: As much as I worship Nicole, I've always foun 'Moulin Rouge!' a bit too overwhelming, but I gotta admit the Elephant Love Medley is just phenomenal!
NICOLE HAD BETTER HURRY TO GET INTO AN EXCELLENT MOVIE.. HER LAST ONE WITH NICK CAGE IS ALREADY on ON DEMAND TV..never hit theaters.
Yay! Another great role for one of today's best actresses. She's just magnificent. Can't wait.
It did hit theaters. It played major cities without major press.
I guess the Danish Girl will be ready after I'm dead. Anywayyy
I do think that from the obvious names, Knightley is best on paper for next year's Oscar.
Nicole, elephants, and Africa sound like an interesting mix, can't wait to see what they come up with (especially since Phillips Noyce directed Dead Calm). Although I do hope that The Danish Girl gets made, at some point, preferably in the foreseeable future...
And this is totally OT, but they're currently filming Dark Knight Rises like two blocks from where I'm sitting (seriously, traffic's been blocked and trailers have been here the whole day). The whole freakin cast is here. I have work right now but I'm experiencing heart attacks... just need to share this random information here, because no one around me in real life seem to care.
what cities?
Trespass
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman
Director: Joel Schumacher
October 14, 2011
New York – AMC Village Theatre 7
Los Angeles – AMC Broadway Cinemas 4
Boston – AMC Boston Commons 19
San Francisco – AMC Metreon 15
Pittsburgh – AMC Waterfront 22
Seattle – AMC Oak Tree Cinemas 6
Dallas – AMC Mesquite 30 Theatres
San Diego – AMC Mission Valley 20
Chicago – AMC South Barrington 30
Just the title of the post made me all kinds of happy, of course...as did the video clip. Nice job by "nijenna" (I had no idea that the couple "you will be mean/and I, I'll drink all the time") was from "Heros"; I've heard that song before and the only thing I picked up in the lyrics was the dolphin bit.
But the ELM medley is endlessly charming and this was a fun idea.
Back to the movie project at hand: Nicole's name has been attached to so many different things that I always take a "wait and see" approach. (I'd say "I'll believe it when the cameras start rolling" except there was that time when Eucalyptus shut down after the first day of filming? Thanks a bunch Mr Crowe.) After reading about the history of this project and the many many attempts to get it to the screen, the messiness of it's history is a bit worrisome, although occasionally good things can come out of such things (think "Rainman".)
Carlos mentions Mark Ruffalo for the husband - and I LOVE LOVE LOVE me some Mark Ruffalo - he has a warmth that would counterbalance Nicole nicely. OR his "realness" will make her seem really off-putting, unless she brings it the way she did for Rabbit Hole.
But I like Jason's idea as well of Ewan as the husband. Again, he brought a warmth to MR that brought out the best in Nicole, but then again it was a very artificial setting and style, so her sometimes mannered acting seemed naturalistic by comparison with everything around her. How would the two of them work in what I assume will be a more naturalistic project? (Can I imagine her opposite him in, say, The Ghost Writer, for instance? Frankly, no, and I say that as a Kidman fan.)