Nicole as Grace on Paris Match

I haven't mentioned Nicole Kidman in forever! (heh) The goddess has been busy. In addition to awards press for The Paperboy, she's been been filming Grace of Monaco and now she's covering Paris Match.

I tend to like Nicole's riskier messy projects more than her prestige polished ones. Give me a Dogville or a The Paperboy any day over a Cold Mountain or a Human Stain (anyone remember that one?). So I'm not looking forward to Grace of Monaco or The Railway Man, her 2013 films, in quite the way I usually look forward to her projects but I'll definitely see them for her. Stoker on the other hand...

I'm not sure that cover does Nicole any favors but I've been steeling myself for the inevitable "she's too old to play Grace Kelly" criticisms to come, which will conveniently forget that Grace Kelly lived to be 52 and that we only think of her as a startling young beauty because she was frozen in the public imagination for work she did in her early 20s (High Noon, Dial M For Murder, The Country Girl and Rear Window). 

Grace Kelly in 1961 when she was 32

The film takes place in the early 60s when Grace was in her 30s. I'm not sure where I was going with this so I'll quit now.

10th Anniversary: Nicole Kidman On Her Oscar Win

Today is the 10th anniversary of the release of The Hours. That's just another reason to feel merry today and remember that gratitude isn't just for Thanksgiving. Especially not when it comes to the gift of cinema. We celebrate the movies all year long but we get extra weepy about the greatness of the artform right about now when drowning in awards and top ten lists .

Christmas 2002 brought three very special actresses together

Not that The Hours is an especially festive or celebratory movie but each Christmas does seem to bring us a super-depressing Best Picture Event (this year's iteration: Les Misérables). The Hours tracks three parallel women Virginia Woolf (Oscar winning Nicole Kidman), Laura Brown (Oscar nominee Julianne Moore) and Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) who are connected by difficult personalities, anxious spirits ("I feel as if I'm unravelling"), and Woolf's masterpiece "Mrs Dalloway" which she is writing and Laura and Clarissa are reading in the braided plots. 

The 2002 Best Picture nominee is a beloved classic to actressexuals the world over and, as such, I know it's close to the heart of many of you. When I spoke with Nicole Kidman recently, we took a time machine detour to talk about her winning year. (I thought I'd save that piece of our conversation for a surprise Christmas gift for you. Surprise!) The Oscar winner herself was totally taken aback when I mentioned the approaching anniversary. "Wow. That was ten years ago?!?" 

Indeed it was, Nicole, indeed it was. 

NATHANIEL R: You've been invited back to the Oscars with Rabbit Hole recently but what's your most vivid memory of that winning journey with The Hours?

NICOLE'S PERSONAL MEMORIES AFTER THE JUMP...

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Nicole Kidman Wore a Tiara To Our Interview

Nathaniel, it's Nicole!" 

[!!!] 

After the briefest of pauses in which we both waited for my bewilderment to pass -- Nicole Kidman is calling me (?) -- she let out a hearty familiar laugh, instantly delighting and relaxed. She was, as it happened, a full hour early to our scheduled interview, having just finished a day's filming on Grace of Monaco. 

Academy voters will be filling out their nomination ballots online for the first time this year -- they started voting this week and will continue through Thursday, January 3rd. One prays that this shake-up to their old school paper & pen system might also shake up their aesthetic palette. If it does, you'll hear Nicole Kidman's name read out for her genius star turn in The Paperboy. In this polarizing sweaty film, Nicole plays a tawdry beautician with a thing for violent inmates. This is not, as you have undoubtedly ascertained whilst reading about the film, the type of role which is usually nominated. This is, as you will undoubtedly discover while watching the film, the type of performance that deserves to be.

Early in our phone conversation, I shared with her my awe at her latest quick-change. "You've gone from Charlotte Bless to Grace of Monaco? Talk about an about-face!". She didn't skip a beat in her quippy response:

Kidman on the set of "Grace of Monaco"

 I'm standing here in a tiara and a white beaded dress and Cartier jewels."

As well she should.

Herewith our conversation...

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Nicole & The Noise

Last week, I started prepping the 2012 "film bitch" awards pages and while staring at the rough draft of the acting awards which will be posted the week before the Oscar nominations, I kept thinking "something is wrong here." I slept on it. The next morning I realized with complete horrror that I had left Nicole Kidman off of my rough draft nominee list for The Paperboy. I, a self-described Kidmaniac, had forgotten "Charlotte Bless." If *I*  was able to forget Nicole, how could I rage at the non-adventurous critics and staid Oscar voters a month and a half from now when they presumably forget her in their year-end polling.

The Thanksgiving to Christmas movie season is filled with "Best of" Noise: big glitzy openings, highbrow movies, lists everywhere you look, forum discussions, critics org announcement. They're all reflecting "Oscar Buzz" whether or not they mean to. Oscar buzz is noisy and the noise can, paradoxically, drown out actual conversations and thoughtful consideration of who might qualify for the word "best"... not who is in the best movie or who is most likely to be nominated. It's understandable human error. Fact: it's easier to remember names you hear every day than names you don't. 

This past week while staring hard at the Supporting Actress Chart  (since revived), I kept staring at Nicole Kidman's photo and cursing the world that this amazing actress's about-face work as a trashy convict-loving beautician wasn't more firmly entrenched in the discussion.

Then a miracle occured...

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My Fair Linky

The Poison Pen on the shifting gaze of cinema, objectifying men and, specifically, Gene Kelly's ass
Stale Popcorn Nicole Kidman goes totally 'My Fair Lady' for the races in Australia
The Advocate another gay role for Benedict Cumberbatch. He'll play the "fifth Beatle"  Brian Epstein in a new biopic
Movie City News David Poland talks to Sally Field for Lincoln 

Vulture considers the Looper effect. New time travel films are coming, one from Leonardo DiCaprio's company
Movie|Line talks to the LEOgend. She's in everything lately including Flight. 
/Film Paul Thomas Anderson screens 20 extra minutes of The Master, to be included on the DVD release 
Guardian Skyfall is breaking records well before its US box office debut 
Empire a look at Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin in Iron Man 3 
Cinema Blend Maggie Smith's recent health scare was, very thankfully, much exaggerated by rumors. But there's still no word on whether she'll return to Downton Abbey for a fourth season.

Finally, have you seen Elizabeth Olsen on the set of Oldboy? She's giving you Maggie Gyllenhaal realness.

Right? I also love that she's standing by a Catering and Extras sign. As if.