The new Woody Allen film has just lost one of its many stars in its constellation of a cast. According to Variety, Nicole Kidman has bowed out of the project (which is going to start shooting in London this summer) due to scheduling conflicts.
Instead, she is going to be acting in and producing a film called "Rabbit Hole." Kidman will be playing opposite Aaron Eckhart in the film directed by John Cameron-Mitchell (who directed the wildly un-mainstream Shortbus and Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
With no word on who will replace Kidman, that still leaves Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Brolin, Freida Pinto and Naomi Watts on board.
Woody Allen's untitled film will be produced by Steve Tenenbaum, Letty Aronson, and Jaume Roures. Mediapro will finance the film, with Spain's Imagina International doing the international sales work.
It's hard to be upset with this news considering the complete vagueness of Kidman's role. If anything, it's interesting that Kidman has chosen a younger director over someone with more than thirty films to his name, and a reputation to boot. However, I'm sure that Kidman's producing involvement with the project (which will be done through her company named "Rabbit Hole Productions" has a great amount to do with this. As for now, we can only speculate what role she just dropped. The neurotic intellectual? The seductress? The neurotic intellectual seductress? Or maybe, the spouse of an older man, probably played by Anthony Hopkins?
Source: Variety