Nicole Kidman Goes Back To Her Roots For ‘Australia’

SYDNEY, New South Wales, Australia (May 8, 2007) — Access has acquired a photo of Nicole Kidman on the set while shooting “Australia,” the latest film from director Baz Luhrmann (“Moulin Rouge”, “William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet”).

The film, which also stars Hugh Jackman, is reportedly the most expensive Australian film ever made.

Described as a “Gone With the Wind”-esque romance set around the time of World War II, “Australia” tells the story of an English aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits an Australian ranch the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle driver (Jackman) to drive 2,000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country’s most unforgiving land — only to face the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbor only months earlier.

The title “Australia” is intended to sum up the story of her life — her journey, the landscape, and the people she meets — all of which transform her life forever.

Luhrmann, whose films are known for their eye-popping visuals, described his vision for “Australia” to ABC Radio National. He explained that, rather than using a lot of special effects, he is trying to shoot as authentically as possible. “I want the audience to really feel that they are in this magnificent landscape that we have [in Australia],” he said, adding that most of the shooting will be done in the Kimberley region of Western Australia – an area filled with some of the greatest natural wonders and rock formations in the world.

Kidman told England’s Sunday Mail in December, “This film is in my blood and, as I said to Baz, I have to make it, there is no choice involved. At the same time you just want to make a good film with great characters — rather than dealing with the magnitude of it — and just look at it as a good story that I am proud and excited to be involved with.”

Jackman told the movie news site Dark Horizons of his excitement for the project: “I’m so excited by it, and working with Nicole and Baz is going to be amazing. The head of Fox said to me, ‘Hugh, I’ve seen a lot of stuff and I know you well’ and he said, ‘this is your ‘Casablanca’ — this is a role of a lifetime.’ And it is a wonderful role.”

“Australia” is due in theaters in 2008.