Nicole shrugs off Venice birth pangs
Nicole Kidman put on a brave face at the premiere of her new film in Venice tonight, despite a hostile reception from critics and a dressing down from co-star Lauren Bacall.
The Oscar-winning actress showed off her slender figure in a strapless silver dress from Gucci.
The crowds outside the Palazzo cinema on the Venice Lido greeted her with cheers as she stepped on to the red carpet for the world premiere of Birth.
That was in marked contrast to the preview screening of the film, which was met with a chorus of boos from the audience of journalists over its controversial content.
Kidman plays a woman who believes her dead husband has been reincarnated in the body of a 10-year-old boy.
In the most shocking scene, Kidman and the boy, played by 11-year-old Cameron Bright, are naked in the bath together. In another scene they share a kiss on the lips.
The boos and jeers for the film were not the only frosty reception for Kidman at the film festival.
Hollywood veteran Bacall, who plays her mother in the film, dismissed her co-star as a mere “beginner“.
The 79-year-old actress took exception when a journalist described Kidman as a “screen legend“.
In an interview on GMTV, reporter Jenni Falconer began by recalling the cinema greats who have worked with Bacall during her 60-year career.
“And now you’ve worked alongside another screen legend, Nicole Kidman…” Falconer said, but Bacall cut her off mid-sentence.
“She’s not a legend,” she snapped. “She’s a beginner. What is this ’legend’? She can’t be a legend at whatever age she is. She can’t be a legend. You have to be older.”
Tensions were evident at a press conference to promote the film.
It started well for Bacall when she was greeted by a standing ovation as she entered the room.
But as the press conference wore on, it became clear that the assembled journalists were far more interested in Kidman.
As question after question was directed at the Australian actress rather than her co-star, an embarrassed Kidman pleaded: “Please ask somebody else.”
And when she was asked about her status as one of the world’s most famous actresses, she insisted: “I certainly don’t feel like a big star in Hollywood.”
When a question finally did come Bacall’s way, she was not impressed.
Referring to the film’s subject matter, the assembled cast members, director and producer were asked who they would like to come back as if they could be reincarnated.
The others gamely tried to answer the question but Bacall snapped: “It’s not a fascinating question.
"No offence.”
But the former wife of Humphrey Bogart and star of such films as The Big Sleep and Key Largo insisted she and Kidman got along famously.
The two women have acted together once before, with Bacall playing a supporting role in Kidman’s star vehicle Dogville last year.
“I love working with a young actress,” she said. “Nicole and I worked together on Dogville and we were friends when we started this. That laid the groundwork for our fabulous relationship on screen and off.”
Bacall’s career began in 1944 when she was cast in To Have And Have Not.
Since then she has appeared in dozens of films but has never won an Oscar, despite a nomination for her role in The Mirror Has Two Faces.
Kidman took home the best actress Oscar last year for her performance in The Hours.
Yesterday she defended Birth and said the story had touched her.
“I read the script and it immediately affected me. There was something in this woman I felt I understood and knew.
“I responded to this woman who was in mourning. It wasn’t that I wanted to make a film where I kiss a 10-year-old boy, I wanted to make a film where you understand love. I read a lot of scripts and this is the one that spoke to me,” she said.
Of her 11-year-old co-star she said: “It was strange because I’ve worked with children before, on The Others and The Hours, but there was something unusual about Cameron.
“He has this strength. Cameron walked into our life and he was absolutely perfect. Strangely, acting opposite him allowed me to believe he was a man, not a boy. Playing the character I had to believe he was in this body but was actually my husband.”
British director Jonathan Glazer, whose previous credits include Sexy Beast, shrugged off the negative reaction to the film.
“You can’t aim to please everybody,” he said. “I would hope I only make films that some people like and some people don’t.”
The film remains one of the front runners for the festival’s Golden Lion prize, which is announced on Saturday.
