Nicole Kidman's Rabbit Hole Sold; Film Eligible For 2011 Oscars!

We are more than thrilled for Nicole & Blossom Films, John Cameron Mitchell, David Lindsay-Abaire, and the rest of the immensely talented cast and crew. Congratulations everyone!


“Rabbit Hole” Picked Up For 2010 Awards Season

by Peter Knegt

Lionsgate has confirmed that John Cameron Mitchell’s Toronto premiere “Rabbit Hole” has been acquired by the distributor for North American release later this year. That means “Hole” will factor in to this year’s awards season, with performances from the likes of Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart and Dianne Wiest all strong contenders for Oscar nominations.

Adapted from David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, “Rabbit Hole” stars Kidman and Eckhart as parents coping with the recent death of their four-year old son. The film has won significant acclaim in the days since it premiered in Toronto, currently averaging a rare “A” level grade on criticWIRE.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be working with the distributor that brought us ‘Precious,’ ‘Monster’s Ball’ and ‘Crash,’” Mitchell told indieWIRE today. “To have their expertise a bringing small yet commercial family dramas to the marketplace and the fact that it will be a priority project for them is a heavy-sent gift this late in the season.”

It is the second big deal in two days for Lionsgate, which partnered with Roadside Attractions for the U.S. rights on the Robert Redford-directed ‘The Conspirator’ yesterday morning.



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Lionsgate takes trip down 'Rabbit Hole'

Picks up North American rights to Nicole Kidman drama

By Gregg Kilday

In a move that injects a new contender into this year's Academy Awards race, Lionsgate has picked up North American rights to John Cameron Mitchell's "Rabbit Hole," starring Nicole Kidman.

The movie will be released this year, and based on positive reactions at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it had its world premiere, that should make it a player this awards season.

Directed by Mitchell and adapted for the screen by David Lindsay-Abaire from his play, the movie, which is in the vein of domestic dramas like "Kramer vs. Kramer" and "Ordinary People," stars Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as parents mourning the death of a child and attempting to come to terms with their grief.

Dianne Wiest plays Kidman's mother, and Kidman, Wiest and Eckhart have all been lauded for their awards-worthy performances.

The play, first produced in 2006 in New York, earned a Pulitzer Prize, and a Tony for Cynthia Nixon, who played the Kidman part.

The film version was produced by Olympus Pictures, Bloosom Films and Odd Lot Entertainment. Producers are Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Kidman, Per Saari and Gigi Pritzker, with Daniels Revers, Bill Lischak, Linda McDonough and Brian O'Shea as exec producers.

The deal was negotiated between CAA and Lionsgate's Jason Constantine, Eda Kowan and Wendy Jaffe, and marks Lionsgate's second buy of a high-profile title after it joined with Roadside to acquire Robert Redford's "The Conspirator."



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TORONTO: Lionsgate Buying 'Rabbit Hole'

By MIKE FLEMING | Thursday September 16, 2010 @ 1:57pm EDT

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate is wrapping up a deal to acquire North American distribution rights to Rabbit Hole, and the plan is to jump right into this year's Oscar race by releasing the picture before year's end. They will take advantage of a career performance by Nicole Kidman as a mother who loses her child. The John Cameron Mitchell-directed film stars Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as a married couple trying to keep the relationship alive after a devastating loss. David Lindsay-Abaire adapted his Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

It is the second big deal in two days for Lionsgate, which partnered with Roadside Attractions for the U.S. rights on the Robert Redford-directed The Conspirator. While the decision was made for that pic to sit out this crowding Oscar field, Lionsgate needed a horse to ride in the race and Rabbit Hole is it. The buzz on the film has been strong here, both among critics and audiences, despite its dark subject matter. Kidman is credited with her best performance since her Oscar-winning turn in The Hours. On Rabbit Hole, she found and bought the stage play and receives her first producing credit since she was the catalyst for getting the movie made. The deal was negotiated between CAA and Lionsgate's Jason Constantine, Eda Kowan and Wendy Jaffe.

Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban Updates 09/16/10

While we're waiting for any Rabbit Hole distribution news, we'll get back to the regular updates for the blog

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We found this ad at inmovies.ca




Rabbit Hole press conference is up! You can also watch other TIFF press conferences HERE




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Variety




Wednesday saw a raft of deals close for U.S. distrib rights to films playing at the Toronto Film Fest. A number of other titles are in heavy play, including Nicole Kidman-Aaron Eckhart drama "Rabbit Hole."


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Rabbit Hole's Kidman, Eckhart create life after loss

Rabbit Hole's' Kidman, Eckhart create a life after a loss
By BETSY SHARKEY
Los Angeles Times


There's a kind of morning-after intimacy between Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart on the morning after Monday night's Toronto film festival premiere of "Rabbit Hole." As the actors talk about the raw and ragged emotional terrain they must inhabit as a long-married couple dealing with the death of their young son, there are shared looks, secret laughs, a sense that the day will be more bearable because the other is close at hand.

Eckhart in a dark suit and tie, white shirt setting off what's left of a summer tan, lazes in his chair. Next to him, Kidman, a study in tailored shades of blues that manage to capture the complexity of those inky, indigo eyes, sits ramrod straight. It's exactly as you might picture "Rabbit Hole's" Becca and Howie and the different ways in which they grieve, blame, fight and struggle to carry on with life after such a horrific loss: Eckhart's warring internal factions evident in his tightly coiled languor, Kidman's carefully constructed presence, not a hair or a thought out of place.

"The piece is so strong, the writing just takes you there, the emotion, you don't have to work for it," said Kidman. "It's not that it's easy, it's not, but with something that isn't written well, you're struggling to find that raw, emotional place, whereas when it's written well, it's almost like a great piece of music. It speaks to you immediately."

It first spoke to Kidman in 2006. She remembers being in a Nashville coffee shop - she lives in the city with her country music star husband, Keith Urban - getting her New York fix reading the paper when she came across a review of David Lindsay-Abaire's Broadway play. She called her producing partner Per Saari, who flew from Australia to New York to see it, pronounced it great and sent her a copy of the play.

"I read it that night, and I was just floored, it just touched me in such a deep way," she said. "It was before it had won the Pulitzer, before the Tonys. I hadn't had Sunday Rose yet," her now 2-year-old daughter. "But there was something very palpable there, a voice that spoke to me that made me want to tell the story."

"Rabbit Hole" would become the first production for Kidman's Blossom Films with Lindsay-Abaire doing the adaptation for the screen, and with what might at first glance seem an unconventional pick of John Cameron Mitchell ("Hedwig and the Angry Inch") as director. On Broadway, the play won its lead, Cynthia Nixon, a Tony, and the film, which channels Kidman's talent at its visceral best, could earn her similar accolades - that is, if a distributor picks it up (at press time, the film had no buyers).

But then Kidman is a high-wire act, always pulled to play the most fearsome of characters, not always to good end, with 2006's "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus" a disappointment, and 2007's "Margot at the Wedding" not fully realized. The 2009 musical "Nine" and the sweeping epic "Australia" in 2008 also fell short in their own way. Which makes "Rabbit Hole," with such finely attenuated performances by Kidman and Eckhart, so satisfying, a reminder of the extraordinary work she is capable of at her best.

Eckhart - single, never married, no children - was her first and only choice to play the husband.

"I begged," she laughed.

"I did get a very nice call," he allowed.

"My reason for doing this was Nicole. There was no other reason. I don't think I'd even read the script or the play, I just felt if you get a call from Nicole, no matter what. ... How many people get that in a career?" he said. "Nicole had been someone I wanted to work with for a while, someone I knew would be challenging."

The film opens eight months after Becca and Howie's 4-year-old has died in one of those tragedies where no one and everyone is to blame: the gate that wasn't latched, the dog that ran into the street, the teenager behind the wheel who swerved to miss the dog only to hit the running child he didn't see. It requires that the characters somehow embody all that history from the outset.

"I remember us, in the house where we shot the film - it was empty. John and Aaron and I, we're sitting on the floor, and we were just slowly putting together the bits and pieces of their life before," Kidman said.

"When we were working in the kitchen together, I really felt this," added Eckhart. "You were sitting down, and I was standing up ... I felt like it was a couple sitting there talking. We're talking about our son who has died. We have the belief that it has happened."

As it is in life, there is a great deal of humor in the film, yet it had to be so carefully played against the tragedy. It is rooted in the humanity of everyone in the ensemble, those ironic moments that catch you by surprise, especially in the hands of Dianne Wiest as Becca's mother, who manages nearly always to say the wrong thing for all the right reasons.

"If it's truthful, then the rest follows," said Kidman. "It has a sense of authenticity, because it is life, in our darkest times the most incredibly strange and funny things happen."

The most difficult scene for Kidman? For Eckhart?

"It was the same one," Eckhart offered. "I was a jerk," which sends them both into spasms of laughter, as if to brush away the perilous angst of that moment.

"It was a big one, when we both discuss the actual death and blame ourselves," said Kidman. "But I just love you in that, that's just so ... you were so real."

"There's such a buildup on those scenes, an anticipation," Eckhart added. "You're coming at them with different energies, that feeling of I have to accomplish this, when really you don't have to accomplish anything. I did learn something that day because I said, why don't you just calm down and try the scene, which worked, at least for me."

Still, the piece and its roil of emotions haunted both of them throughout the 28-day shoot.

As Eckhart put it: "You just take a slice out of your life and say for this time I'm going to foster these feelings."

"Whether it's reading a novel, seeing it as a play, seeing it as a film, there is a power to these kind of stories," said Kidman. "Most of us will experience devastating loss at some stage in our lives, and I think the way in which a couple goes through the most terrifying loss and somehow they keep putting one foot in front of another, that just brings me to my knees.

"I dreamt a lot through this production," she said quietly. "I didn't sleep that well. It really affected me on a subconscious level. I just wanted to do this justice."

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Death, Marriage, & John Cameron Mitchell: Eckhart and Kidman Sustain “Rabbit Hole”

by Eric Kohn (September 15, 2010)


The outlandish inventiveness of John Cameron Mitchell’s previous films are barely discernible in “Rabbit Hole,” a relatively tame but nonetheless admirable drama sustained by convincing performances and steady direction. Compared to “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “Shortbus,” the aims of “Rabbit Hole” are relatively minor. The story of a married couple coping with the death of their child, “Rabbit Hole” works just well enough to never fall apart.

Adapted from David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, the movie follows Becca and Howie Corbett (Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart), whose toddler died several months earlier in a traffic accident. Stuck in a cycle of ineffective group therapy and the specter of grief hanging over their joint domestic life, they constantly struggle to pick up the pieces. While Howie encourages their therapy attendance and suggests they have a new child, Becca lurks in the shadow of their loss. “I didn’t know there was a cut-off date,” she snaps when Howie urges her to move on.

Building on her uncomfortable presence in “Margot at the Wedding,” Kidman continues her success with making difficult characters into figures of sympathy. She’s both snarky and morbidly pessimistic, absorbing the bad vibes in her life rather than trying to cope with them. She balks at the sincere attempts by her mother (Dianne Weist, in a small but equally fine-tuned role) to draw parallels with her own son’s death from a drug overdose. Becca’s individualistic stance makes her a hot-wire presence, and the character most likely to crack. At a group therapy session, she lashes out to comic effect when a fellow bereaved parent rationalizes his child’s death by explaining that “God needed another angel.” Rolling her eyes, she shoots back, “Then why didn’t he just make one?”

Eckhart operates on a level of comparative understatement: Howie always intends to become the voice of reason while masking his sadness. When his relentless optimism eventually turns sour, Eckhart makes the man’s dwindling stamina lurk on the brink of a breakdown. Together, the actors’ uncertain chemistry ekes tension out of the possibility that their marriage could fall apart at any moment. The plot establishes a series of problematic situations, but Mitchell never takes the twists to the next level of dramatic conflict. It’s a solidly underwhelming experience.

Adhering to realism when a melodramatic route would offer the easy solution, “Rabbit Hole” feels persistently credible even when things get complicated. Becca secretly finds solace in meetings with the disillusioned teen (Miles Teller) whose actions behind the wheel led to her son’s death. Howie, meanwhile, finds himself drawn into an ambiguous relationship with a fellow group therapy member (Sandra Oh). Comprising the bulk of the story, these scenes allow the tightly assembled cast to act circles around each other and little else.

Where movies with delusions of grandeur would aim for a sappy climax, “Rabbit Hole” hugs the ground. Mitchell only turns up the volume for a confrontational screaming match between the couple, the kind of angry throwdown that can prove a challenge for any two actors. Fortunately, they handle it with incredible dexterity, ably avoiding the danger of sounding shrill. To his credit, Mitchell works his way around the pratfalls of extreme sentimentalism. The sobbing is kept to a minimum, with nobody delivering a tell-all monologue in the concluding scenes. Despite his Broadway pedigree, Mitchell nimbly dodges a stagey approach. The cumulative impact “Rabbit Hole” is merely surface-deep, but the movie still inhabits fertile ground.

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Aaron Eckhart tackles grieving father role, but what he really wants to do is direct

Aaron Eckhart, like so many actors, doesn't generally watch his own movies.

"You have your own experience making the movie and that's the memory I like," Eckhart says. "It's such a pure experience, whereas after the movie it goes through so many hands and interpretations that it's often not the movie that I experienced making."

He stars with Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole where he plays a husband struggling with the death of their 4-year-old son. In their grief, Kidman's character and his react in strikingly different ways. They must cope with what this means for their marriage, as well as their personal stability.

Eckhart knows Rabbit Hole, directed by John Cameron Mitchell, is a tough movie to watch, given its tragic subject matter.

"It's everybody's worst fear," Eckhart says. "That's what David Lindsay-Abaire, the screenwriter, said. At Juilliard, his teacher would say: "Write what scares you the most." When his child was four years old, he remembered what she said and he wrote this script."

" The goal is to make a movie where you can lay it all out there and see what happens,' he says. "But it's not always easy to watch. I don't know who the audience is going to be, but there's so much emotion to explore in this."

Rabbit Hole is his third movie this year. He also shot Rum Diaries, with Johnny Depp, a Hunter S. Thompson tale, and Battle Los Angeles, a big popcorn action movie.

But the versatile actor hopes to direct his own films soon.

"I'm thinking about the film I want to do, to challenge myself," he said "It's when you get lazy and you think you have all the answers, then everybody suffers. As a writer, as an actor, we recognize laziness, we recognize initiative and ingenuity and imagination. It's rare, it's maybe 5 percent, 3 percent. It's that small."

Though he's played such cynical and flawed characters as Harvey Dent/Two Face in The Dark Knight the lobbyist in Thank You for Smoking or the taunting misogynist in In the Company of Men, the 44-year-old actor finds himself increasingly drawn to material with clear-cut heroes.

"I feel that as I grow older, there's always room for the core-valued hero," Eckhart said. "Not the superhero, but the man, the real man who finds himself in a situation where he has to challenge himself, to use his skills, his smarts, his wits, not lasers or guns but his instincts, trusting himself and those around him as a means of survival."

But he's also pragmatic. "It has to be mainstream and entertaining. I feel like I want to make family movies in the sense that the entire family can see the movie and not be offended by the material but also not feel like they went to see a family movie. "

Eckhart has arrived at this decision over time.

"Everybody has their thing that they want to push out of themselves and that's what seems to want to be pushed out of me right now," he says. "I think it will find an audience. I feel there's such a need for inspiration now. As much as I like, as an actor, to try and tackle those harder, darker roles, there are other things that I want to do. I'd like to tackle them in different ways and be more inspiring than I think movies are right now. It comes from a value-based place, a belief system. Some say it's faith-based. I'm not talking about that. I'm not trying to cure anything … I just think you need to be true to what you believe. If you do that, you can't go wrong."

It takes only a few seconds for Eckhart to name his idea of the quintessential example of the kind of movie he's talking about: Rocky.

"Rocky is about a guy who's just trying to follow his dream, make it and fall in love," says Eckhart. "He's a fighter, that's what he does. But he's also a survivor. I don't think there's any movie that's more inspiring. Why would you make a movie that wasn't like that?" - Claudia Puig

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Toronto Film Festival Day Six: Natalie Portman, Nicole Kidman and Oscar buzz


Less surreal, but just as moving is Nicole Kidman’s work in John Cameron Mitchell’s “Rabbit Hole.” An adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire, it’s the wrenching story of a couple trying to cope – or, rather, trying to avoid coping – with the death of their four-year-old son.

Yeah, I know – not exactly a natural movie choice for “let’s-get-a-sitter” night. (Which is probably why, as of writing, it's still looking for a U.S. distributor.)

But if you can steel yourself for the melancholic material, this is actually a beautiful, compassionate film about relationships, and the difficulties that even two loving, committed partners can have in trying to keep going after a devastating loss.

And while it’s full of good actors – the dependable Aaron Eckhart, a great Dianne Wiest – it’s Kidman who pushes the drama forward, as she brings all of her usual on-screen strengths (a chilly surface, a steely focus) to bear on a portrait of a woman who seems to feel nothing. Because she simply doesn’t dare.

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Cody Alan has finally posted Keith's interview from last week!

Click HEREto listen.

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Peter Frampton, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban to auction flood-damaged instruments for charity


Flood-damaged musical instruments belonging to world-famous musicians will be auctioned off next month to raise money for other artists hurt by May’s flood.

Nashville musicians George Gruhn, Joe Glaser and Bruce Bouton founded NashH20 to support relief efforts. They’ve received damaged instruments from Peter Frampton, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Vince Gill and others — all of which will head to an online auction starting Oct. 12.

NashH20 will have a launch party the same day at Hard Rock Cafe, which will include appearances by some of the artists who made the donations, as well as a VIP reception, news conference and silent auction.

The online auction will be hosted at nash2o.org. It will raise money for the MusiCares Nashville Flood Relief Fund and the Nashville Musicians Association Flood Relief Fund, both of which benefit musicians and those in the industry, and Middle Tennessee fire and rescue departments.

More from a Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. news release:

NASH2O was organized shortly after the devastating May floodwaters receded by three longtime Music City mainstays: George Gruhn, widely-recognized as the leading authority on vintage stringed instruments; Joe Glaser, renowned luthier and fine instrument repairman and steel guitarist/producer Bruce Bouton, a fixture on high-profile recordings and tours for decades. Their goal was to collect flood-damaged instruments from top artists, which could then be sold as presentation/collector pieces. The group secured underwriting support from Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, a major insurer of many of the affected artists and exclusive insurance sponsor of NASH2O.
As Gruhn explains, the instruments themselves are unlike what is usually available to fans and followers:
“It’s fairly common to see instruments, signed by artists, for sale in charity efforts or given as contest prizes. But those are almost always pieces donated by a manufacturer for that purpose. They’re handed to the artist, he signs them, and that’s really the only connection he has with them. The NASH2O pieces are the artists’ personal instruments. Peter Frampton’s Les Paul is, well, Peter Frampton’s Les Paul. Brad Paisley’s Tele-style guitar is Brad’s guitar. You hear that guitar on the records. You saw it in his hands in concert. These are very personal, cherished tools of the trade, and buyers can own a piece of that history, that pedigree.”
The online auction and NASH2O communities use Moontoast’s Social Commerce Platform.
Sweepstakes items of new instruments and/or premiums have also been donated by Taylor Guitars, THD Amplifiers, Paul Reed Smith Guitars, Gibson Guitars, Martin Guitars and Yamaha Instruments.

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Country music brings out big guns for peak sales season

By Brian Mansfield, Special for USA TODAY
A bumper crop of country music is coming this fall.

More than a dozen of the genre's top acts — including Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and Toby Keith — have albums out between now and Thanksgiving.

Tuesday, for instance, sees the release of You Get What You Give from the Zac Brown Band, a nominee for the Country Music Association's entertainer of the year award, and Enjoy Yourself from Billy Currington, who has had three consecutive chart-topping singles.

RELEASE DATES: See what albums are due when

Others with new titles on the way: Jason Aldean, Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts and Sugarland.

"Country is in a good space right now," says Mike Dungan, president/CEO of Capitol Records Nashville, which has fall music from Keith Urban and Darius Rucker.

More than a third of music sales take place in the last two months of the year, Dungan says. "When you get a little confidence in your ability to compete, you decide that Christmas is the best time to release a record."

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Celebrity Artists and Musicians Take the American Cancer Society's Campaign for More Birthdays to the Next Level

ATLANTA, Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Cancer Society, the official sponsor of birthdays, today announced details of a unique new campaign that marks the next phase of the Society's movement for More Birthdays. Over the past several months, dozens of the biggest names in music and art have come together, inspired by the efforts of the American Cancer Society, its supporters and everyone affected by cancer, to generously donate their talent and artwork to help amplify the voice of the More Birthdays movement. To date, artists such as Keith Urban, Justin Bieber, Jack Johnson, Colbie Caillat, Eric Carle, Maroon 5, Masha D'Yans and more have joined the More Birthdays movement, and others continue to join every day.

Musicians joining the campaign each perform their own special rendition of "Happy Birthday," one of the most well-known songs in the world, while each visual artist creates or donates artwork inspired by specific facts about how the American Cancer Society has contributed to progress against cancer. The musician and artist contributions have been turned into traditional advertising elements such as television, magazine and online ads, as well as birthday merchandise housed in a new art and music gallery on morebirthdays.com. There the public can help celebrate More Birthdays by sending custom e-cards or buying gift wrap, posters, limited-edition prints and more – all created from the exclusive art and music donated to the campaign. Each donation made or item purchased will help the American Cancer Society raise money and save more lives to create a world with less cancer and More Birthdays.

"I love the spirit of the American Cancer Society's More Birthdays campaign because it celebrates life," said three-time Grammy Award winner Keith Urban. "The marking of time, especially when spent with family and friends on that special day, helps to remind us of the little things that are most important to all of our lives."

"I think it's really important to support More Birthdays because the Society is helping out so much to save lives," said multiple platinum singing sensation Justin Bieber. "Hopefully, me singing Happy Birthday to people through this effort will make them smile."

"Thanks in part to the progress we've made, today we are celebrating 350 birthdays each and every day that would have been otherwise lost to cancer," said John R. Seffrin, PhD, chief executive officer, American Cancer Society. "Now we are working relentlessly toward a world where we can celebrate tens of thousands More Birthdays every day, and we need every tool at our disposal. We hope the support of these wonderful artists and musicians will capture the public's attention and inspire them to help us make more progress and move us closer to a world where cancer never steals another year of anyone's life."

The campaign is the creative work of the Society's partner advertising and public relations agencies, led by The Martin Agency with strategic support from Brodeur Partners and Vanguard Entertainment Media Marketing Group.

The American Cancer Society invites everyone to visit morebirthdays.com and join these entertainers, artists and the thousands of supporters who have already joined the movement to create a world with less cancer and More Birthdays.

To see Keith Urban's More Birthdays page click HERE.

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From Hazel on CMT's Hot Dish

Good-Hearted Keith Urban Is for the Hall
Keith Urban's second All for the Hall benefit concert for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is coming up on Oct. 5 at the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville. His guests will include Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, John Mayer, Martina McBride, Charley Pride and Billy Currington. A good-hearted man who loves country music, Keith is a killer entertainer, killer guitar man, killer singer and killer songwriter.


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Lucy Punch, the actress who took over Nicole's role in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger talks about her gratitude and a funny first meeting with the director.

Lucy Punch Breaks the First Rule of Making a Woody Allen Movie: ‘You Don’t Touch Woody’

Nicole Kidman, if you're reading this, Lucy Punch has a message for you: "I've never met her, but if I do, I’ll fall at her feet and say, 'Thank you so much!' because she, in a weird way, changed my life," the up-and-coming actress told us last night, following a screening of Woody Allen's new You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger at the Lambs Club at the Chatwal Hotel. In the movie, Punch plays a sex worker turned gold digger, a role Kidman was set to play until she had to back out owing to a scheduling conflict. "[The role is] completely against type," said Punch. "I’ve never played a super-sexual part before." But how to play a woman of easy virtue wasn't the only thing she learned on set.

"When I first met Woody, I was in full costume and I went up to him and was very excited to meet him and gave him this huge hug,” she told us. "And he went completely silent and totally stiff. And I was like, 'What have I done? I’m going to get fired.' And everyone’s like, 'You don’t touch Woody.' I was less demonstrative for the rest of the shoot."

Luckily, though, she had no problems being amorous with Anthony Hopkins, with whom she has kissing scenes in the film: "It was great," says Punch. "I don’t know how old he is — I think he’s in his 70s — but I think he’s a very attractive man."

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We found this quite amusing. Click HERE to watch a home decorating challenge solved by Operation Nicole And Keith!

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And finally, as you have probably have already heard Oprah is visiting Australia with her audience. Many news stories are reporting that Nicole, along with her other fellow Aussie actors, will be making appearances on the show.

OPRAH TO BRING HER AUDIENCE, JOHN TRAVOLTA ETC TO AUSTRALIA


And we cannot wait till she does come to Australia ...........
OPRAH Winfrey says she's ready to shop 'til she drops in "trendy Melbourne" when she takes her talk show on an Australian tour later this year.
Winfrey sent the 300 audience members sitting in her Chicago studio into a frenzy overnight when the TV talk show queen announced she was flying them to Australia for an eight-day adventure.

The fans, who Winfrey described as her most loyal and dedicated viewers, screamed at the news.

They hugged. They cried. They jumped up and down in ecstasy.

"We're going to Australia, we're going to Australia!'' Winfrey told the audience.

"You and you and you are going to Australia. We're going to Australia. Yay!''

Winfrey uses the premiere episode of each new season to shower gifts, including cars, on a handpicked audience of ultimate fans, but in this season's premiere, her 25th and last, she tricked them into believing they were going to either New York, Philadelphia or Los Angeles, before revealing they were flying Down Under.

"I wanted to kick off my 25th season in a big way and I've heard Australia is the ultimate adventure,'' Winfrey said.

To help break the news, Winfrey recruited longtime Qantas ambassador, Hollywood star and pilot John Travolta.

"John Travolta is actually a real Qantas Airlines pilot who's flown there many times, and we have been secretly plotting, planning this trip of a lifetime for almost a year with everyone at Tourism Australia, and they are ready to roll out the red carpet for all 300 of us,'' Winfrey said.

The eight-day, seven-night trip, called Oprah's Ultimate Australian Adventure, will take place in December as 300 fans travel via Qantas to Sydney.

During her Australian visit, Winfrey will film several episodes of her talkshow, including at the Sydney Opera House on December 14, when the iconic building will be transformed into the Sydney "Oprah'' House.

Thousands of Winfrey's Australian fans will be invited to sit in the audience.

"We'll sail Sydney Harbour, some will sample shiraz in Aussie wine country and others will shop 'til they drop in trendy Melbourne,'' Winfrey told the delirious audience.

"We'll get up close with kangaroos and koalas, kick back on some of the world's most beautiful beaches, and experience one of the seven wonders of the world - the Great Barrier Reef.

"Then we'll all meet at the spectacular Sydney Opera House, where thousands of our Aussie ultimate viewers will join us for an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime Oprah Show experience.''

The Sydney show - the first to be filmed outside the US - will feature an audience brought over from the US and a possible swag of Aussie guests including Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Cate Blanchett, Cathy Freeman and Baz Luhrmann.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has even been touted as a guest, as has sailor Jessica Watson, astronaut Andy Thomas and writers Thomas Keneally, Peter Carey and Tim Winton.

Among other ideas presented to Oprah for the show include a visit to Bondi Beach with Mr Jackman and a tour of the Sydney Theatre Company with Cate Blanchett, as well as visits to Byron Bay, Tamworth and the Blue Mountains for stories.

Back in Chicago, the 300 audience members were also presented with another gift, a Motorola smartphone that Winfrey said was "water resistant, so if you drop it at the Great Barrier Reef, no worries''.

The visit will be a huge boost for Australian tourism, with Winfrey's show syndicated to 215 TV stations across the US and 145 countries around the world.

"For many people around the world, Australia is a dream destination,'' Andrew McEvoy, managing director of Tourism Australia, said.

"Today we turned that dream into a reality for some of Oprah's ultimate viewers. We are excited to show them and Oprah's global audience why there really is nothing like Australia.''

Federal Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said the program's weekly following of 40 million American viewers meant the trip would put Australia's beauty on the world stage.

"Oprah is a global household name and her star power has the potential to lift Australia's profile as a premier tourist destination,'' he said in a statement.

Tourism Australia chairman Geoff Dixon said Oprah's Ultimate Australian Adventure theme was perfect for selling the country's tourism experiences to the rest of the world.

"We know Australia is a dream destination for millions of people,'' he said.

"The partnership with The Oprah Winfrey Show is a real opportunity to show how they can make their dream a reality.''

Episodes of the show will air in the US in early 2011 and then roll out to other countries.

Nicole Kidman And Rabbit Hole At Toronto International Film Festival

****UPDATES****

Anne Thompson: JC Mitchell's Rabbit Hole boasts strong perfs from Kidman and Wiest, especially. Straight-on four-hankie drama. Distribs weighing offers.


Showbiz 411

Deal news from the Toronto Film Festival: LionsGate is said to want “Rabbit Hole,” the very fine comedy-drama from John Cameron Mitchell. Nicole Kidman is sublime in the film, which could make the Oscar deadline if everything is worked out. I am told that New York entertainment financier Norton Herrick may put in the necessary funds to make this happen. Dianne Wiest would be up for her third Best Supporting nomination if this all goes to plan…









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A reader kindly emailed us to let us know that directors David Cronenberg, Norman Jewison, and Stephen Daldry all attended the premiere of Rabbit Hole!

After the second screening of Rabbit Hole today (9/14), there was a Q&A session with Nicole, John Cameron Mitchell, Aaron Eckhart, Miles Teller, and screenwriter David Lindsay Abaire. Hopefully more quotes/pics from that session later.

The Rabbit Hole Press Conference has not been posted yet but the introductions from last night's screening are now available HERE

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FIRST CLIPS FROM RABBIT HOLE!

From Nicole's official website....

Thank you all for your wonderful comments. Many of you have asked about my film “Rabbit Hole.” I am currently at the Toronto International Film Festival where we are showing it to an audience for the first time. This is the first project that I was involved in as a producer as well as an actress, so it’s very dear to my heart. I’m excited to share with you these two clips. I hope you enjoy the film as much as I enjoyed making it.

Also, as always, I encourage you all to support UNIFEM and Say NO – UNiTE by signing the petition on this site (if you haven’t done so already) and visiting SayNoToViolence.org to create or join an action to further this cause.

With love and appreciation,
Nic








CLIPS FROM TIFF



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2zw3u20iXE
[embedding disabled by request]


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REVIEWS, REACTIONS, RECAPS & TWITTER


TIFF Review: Nicole Kidman And Dianne Wiest Shine In Elegant Rabbit Hole


Adapted by David Lindsay-Abaire from his own Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Rabbit Hole bears its theatrical roots in mostly good ways-- the highly literary writing, the emotionally fraught scenes stacked up on top of each other, the small cast of characters. Director John Cameron Mitchell, making a major change of pace from the likes of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Shortbus, opens the story up to the screen without ever overdoing it, emphasizing the oppressive architecture of a lonely house or the power of a silent moment. Most importantly, he leaves room for his stupendous actors to take over, and if Rabbit Hole feels a little more neat and contained than a movie ought to be, the performances almost entirely make up for it.

Leading the charge is Nicole Kidman, portraying a grieving mom with the kind of restraint we're accustomed to seeing from her, but with an added acerbic bite and sarcasm that feels very new. Her Becca lost her 4-year-old son Danny in a car accident 8 months earlier, and Becca and her husband Howie (Aaron Eckhart) have moved on only in the sense that they're pretending to the world that they're OK. Howie tries to find solace in a support group, which Becca finds too sentimental and religious, reaching out instead to the teenage driver (Miles Teller) who killed Danny, and both return home to their sprawling suburban New York home not to ignore each other, exactly, but persistently skirt around the looming figure of their dead son.

While any number of important things happen to Becca and Howie during Rabbit Hole, including Becca's sister Izzy (Tammy Blanchard) getting pregnant and their decision to sell their house, the movie is much more about the aftermath of the life-changing event, revealing these characters and their pain in small moments and decisions. There's a lot less screaming and crying here than you're expecting, and even a little humor as these two learn daily how to move on; instead of wallowing together, Becca and Howie are bumping up against the rest of the world alone, a terrible decision for their relationship but a far more interesting one to watch.

Not everything in Rabbit Hole avoids cliche-- the one screaming and crying scene between Becca and Howie feels a little forced, and Howie's budding friendship with a fellow support group member (Sandra Oh) isn't sketched out enough to provide more than rote "will they or won't they?" tension. And while Lindsay-Abaire's writing can put too fine a point on things in some scenes, it frequently takes your breath away with its insight; playing Becca's mother, Dianne Wiest delivers a monologue about grief that is all the more stunning for how simply and succinctly she presents it.

Much like fellow Broadway adaptation Doubt before it, Rabbit Hole will be treated more as an actor's showcase when it inevitably enters the Oscar race either this year or next, though Cameron Mitchell's restrained, elegant work is impressive precisely for how little you notice it. Kidman is the true standout here, outmatching Eckhart scene-by-scene to the point that it's almost a problem, but Wiest is also terrific in her quiet but key role. Though Rabbit Hole is in some way yet another story about grieving rich white people (and not as good as, say, In the Bedroom), it's a pretty exceptional example of the form, and if nothing else an opportunity for actors we love to get out there and impress us again.




Variety

'Rabbit Hole'

By PETER DEBRUGE

Grief may be the topic under examination, but humor -- incisive, observant and warm -- is the tool with which it's dissected in "Rabbit Hole," a refreshingly positive-minded take on cinema's ultimate downer: overcoming the death of a child. Adroitly expanded from the legit hit by playwright David Lindsay-Abaire (its original, Pulitzer-winning author) and director John Cameron Mitchell, "Rabbit Hole" fittingly offers a parallel-universe variation on what Broadway auds saw, with Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart delivering expert, understated performances as the pic's central couple. A savvy distrib should have no trouble steering this quality drama through a healthy kudo season release.
Eight months have passed since the accidental death of the Corbetts' 4-year-old son, Danny, and the New York couple, Howie (Eckhart) and Becca (Kidman), still feel their lives dominated by the loss. Even the pic's opening gesture, a metaphorical sign of regrowth that finds Becca laboring in her garden, is set back when a well-meaning neighbor tramples one of her freshly planted seedlings -- no matter how hard she tries, the healing is hard. Each has a different way of coping: Howie holds on to all that reminds him of Danny, while Becca wants to sell the house and move on.

This is familiar territory, movingly explored countless times before, though "Rabbit Hole" is refreshingly light on the loss itself. With the exception of one unnecessary, agonizing flashback late in the film, everything takes place in the healing space of the present. But instead of moving on as they should, Howie and Becca seem to be shutting down certain parts of themselves (they haven't had sex since the accident, for example, and Danny's dog has been sent into exile with Becca's mother, played by Dianne Wiest). Just as the birth of a child can strengthen certain unstable relationships, a death threatens to permanently come between even the best-matched couple.

With the larger canvas of the screen at his disposal, Lindsay-Abaire deepens several key relationships. An offhand mention of the God-freaks in group therapy becomes a full-blown subplot, as Becca rejects the collective sharing sessions, where participants appear to be competing for some sort of saddest-story prize. (Empathy, as whenever her mother evokes the death of a junkie uncle, inevitably sets Becca on edge.) While Howie continues going to therapy alone, bonding with "professional wallower" Gaby (Sandra Oh, in an effective role created for the film), Becca reaches out to a teenage boy (Miles Teller) whose facial scars seem to explain what the character doesn't at first.

While Lindsay-Abaire endeavors to open up the action, director Mitchell uses the screen to make the material more intimate, privileging auds with closeups vital to our understanding of the characters. At first, "Rabbit Hole" may seem a radical departure from his more scandalous earlier work (gender-bending rock opera "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and explicit sex drama "Shortbus"); where those films felt transgressive, "Rabbit Hole" is polite, the production itself as neatly manicured as the Corbetts' Pottery Barn-perfect lives. On closer inspection, what all three projects share is the helmer's insistence on raw, unsimulated emotion.

In Kidman's case, it's nice to see the actress' lately immovable forehead participating in her performance, with subtle, almost imperceptible fluctuations in her carefully guarded facade allowing us to follow as Becca tumbles down the rabbit hole of her own emotions. Eckhart gets a couple of big shouting scenes, but the actor manages to convey just as much in Howie's quietly injured moments. A new scene, in which Howie awkwardly attempts to show prospective homebuyers Danny's room, perfectly balances melancholy and humor, while seemingly mundane details -- struggling to use an iPhone, checking on a cake in the backseat -- ground the characters in reality.

"It's a sad play. Don't make it any sadder than it needs to be," Lindsay-Abaire advised potential theater directors in the author's note to his play. Mitchell, whose own career began onstage, respects the writer's wishes, and with the exception of the aforementioned flashback, he shrewdly keeps the mood tipped toward the positive. Anton Sanko's Arvo Part-esque score, all introspective pianos and strings, encourages us to feel without forcing a reaction, while fleeting progression shots of a comicbook in progress enrich the payoff of the play's self-defining scene.




Seattle Times - Popcorn & Prejudice Movie Blog

Moira Macdonald

"TORONTO: Saw my last TIFF'10 movie this morning, and it was a stunner: "Rabbit Hole," the screen adaptation of David Lindsay-Abaire's prizewinning play about a couple coping with the death of their child, starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. Nothing Mitchell has previously done on screen -- the raucous musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and the sweet though uneven sex-drenched "Shortbus" -- gave any indication that he could make a movie like this: a quiet, devastating, beautifully acted drama about the devastation of loss and the slow, muted, barely-there return of hope. Lindsay-Abaire wrote the screenplay adaptation, and did it so well that I would never have guessed this was once a play; there's none of the obvious "opening-out" that we see too often in plays-turned-movies. Kidman and Eckhart are beautifully believable as a couple who, eight months after their four-year-old's death in a car accident, are weary of grief, but can't summon the energy for anything else -- Kidman, in particular, redeems herself after a string of disappointing movies in the last few years. Watch for Oscar buzz for her in this role, as soon as this movie gets picked up for distribution."





Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole

Indulge me a moment for an editorial note? I’d like to remind our readers that we don’t neglect or postpone featuring movies like Rabbit Hole because we’re not interested. We are. But without clips, without trailers, without even a poster, what are we to say? “Sounds possibly promising”? Don’t I already cover enough dead-end casting red-herrings without letting rumors and hearsay about unseen movies infiltrate the items I post? Ordinarily, the only time I’ll try to generate personally hopeful promotion for a movie I haven’t seen is when I know and admire the source material or screenplay. (The Town has been one of those unknowable long-shots for me this year, and I’m feeling cautiously optimistic that I’m out on a limb that won’t snap or fall flat in a couple of days. In fact, as of now, it’s prospects are looking sturdier than ever.) With its Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award honors The Rabbit Hole easily qualifies under those criteria. We get reader requests to cover individual movies we know very little about. But we usually can’t write anything meaningful about a visual art form until we have something to see. When we get evidence, when we read reviews, when we finally see something with our own eyes — then we can begin to feel more confident. When the rumors turn into something tangible, then we feel justified trying to stir up some genuine interest. For most of the pre-season, all we have to go on are names — specifically, name-brand talents. And we evaluate those names on the basis of recent performance. It’s not even about who won an Oscar 5 or 10 years ago. It’s about “what have you done for me lately,” right? A string of disappointments can gradually cool off our most heated passions for favorite actors or directors. Then they have to win us back. And some never do. I want Nicole Kidman to win me back, and it looks like Rabbit Hole might be the kind of role to ensure she does it. How lucky would we be if every movie we see for the rest of year had scenes as well-written and performed with such self-assured nuance as this clip here? (thanks to Mildred for bringing this gem to our attention). A powerful clip like this eliminates the need to rely on the résumés of directors and stars (though in this case, those résumés and pedigrees are rock solid.) What’s on screen speaks for itself, and from this brief peek Rabbit Hole looks like ripe and potent stuff. This time of year there’s a distinct division of labor between Sasha’s front-and-center expertise racking up the big pictures (and the Big Picture), and me setting up the assists, being trusted to handle knocking off spares in the frame or circling around the back nine to pick up lost balls. Yes, we’re heavily focused on coverage of the consensus Top 10s. But I’d be derelict in my duties if I didn’t give the same care and attention to less prominent potential winners like The Town and Rabbit Hole too. Will the ultimate fortunes of either of these films add up to any awards? Too soon to say. But at least we can feel comfortable that we haven’t forgotten to prop them on display the main page for your thoughtful consideration."




'Rabbit Hole' Digs Up Deep Emotion


For John Cameron Mitchell's third feature he's moved away from profiling the kinds of characters that populated "Hedwig & The Angry Inch" and "Shortbus" and instead delves into the domestic turmoil of an upper middle class family. Based on the play by David Lindsay-Abaire and adapted for the screen by the playwrite himself, "Rabbit Hole" explores the lasting wounds caused by the loss of a loved one and the unsteady road that must be taken to heal.

The story begins eight months after Becca (Nicole Kidman) and Howie (Aaron Eckhart) have lost their son Danny. Over the course of the film's opening frames we piece together what their life is like now. Becca has recoiled into herself, plagued by the memories of their son that still fill their home, from the paintings on the fridge to the clothes and furniture in his bedroom. Howie seems trapped in the past, watching his favorite video of his son on his phone every night and even unable to remove the child seat from his car.

Attempts to attend group therapy are unsuccessful. While Howie is willing to give it a shot, Becca is put off by the God talk by some group members and perpetual state of grief many of the attendees seem to be in. As for her family, her mother (Dianne Wiest) who lost her own son tries to sympathize but always seems to say the wrong thing, while Becca's sister's (Tammy Blanchard) pregnancy causes mixed feelings as well.

But don't be fooled, "Rabbit Hole" is not just about the emotional rupture caused by the sudden passing of a child; it's also about the emotional, social and even sexual upheaval it causes. For Becca, we learn of her former big city career, and now that motherhood has been snatched cruelly away from her, she's unmoored in her own home. She bakes endlessly and keeps up the appearance of a good housewife though struggling to reorient her life. As for Howie, he desperately wants things to back go normal or at least feel some kind of connection to his wife again. But with sex off limits from the hurting Becca, any kind of physical intimacy becomes weighted by the tragic event that had shaped their lives.

The film will undoubtedly open doors for Mitchell. He shows himself capable of handling more mainstream, but certainly powerful fare with a reserved approach that does the characters and story wonders. Of course, this wouldn't be possible if he didn't get two ace performances out of Kidman and Eckhart. While Kidman is in typically fine form, Eckhart is a standout, juggling quite a few different emotional markers for his character with tremendous insight. Yes, they both get big meaty scenes but thanks to Mitchell and the smart script by Lindsay-Abaire, these moments feel naturally encouraged rather than forcefully bookmarking each narrative milestone.

If we have any complaints, it's perhaps that Howie doesn't get as detailed a backstory as Becca (he doesn't have a family?). But as the film circles round the close (and FYI, we haven't mentioned a couple major plot elements because they are probably best revealed within the context of the story) their journey, in many ways, is only still beginning. Honest and powerful, "Rabbit Hole" reveals that the hardest thing about death, is learning to live with it. [B+]


Bad Buzz Be Damned: “Rabbit Hole” Is Very Strong

I wasn’t really sure what to think heading into tonight’s premiere of John Cameron Mitchell’s “Rabbit Hole.” Buzz had been mixed at best, and this was unchartered territory for a filmmaker I very much admire but had no idea what he’d be capable of in these new realms. Based on someone else’s material and with no queer content to speak of, this was clearly not going to be the John Cameron Mitchell I’d known and loved with “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “Shortbus.” And I was a bit nervous. But thankfully, it turns out I love this John Cameron Mitchell too. He turns David Lindsay-Abaire’s award-winning play about a couple coping with the death of their son into a tight, focused and quietly haunting film with perfect sprinkles of humor to keep things from going off a deep end. He also brings out strong, naturalistic work from Nicole Kidman (I have not enjoyed her this much in some time), Aaron Eckhart and Dianne Wiest that have enough awards potential for buyers to take serious notice.

Here’s a far, far away clip from the film’s introduction:





Toronto Oscar Talk Follows Kidman And Redford Preems--But Will They Open In Time?

"I think there is none better than Nicole Kidman making a major artistic comeback after a string of disappointments that include Australia, Nine, Margot At The Wedding, The Invasion, Fur, and Human Stain. She turns in a brilliant performance in Rabbit Hole, which had its gala world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival Monday night. I saw it at a private screening in L.A. a few weeks ago. As a mother dealing with the sudden death of her four year old son, Kidman gets it all heartbreakingly right. She is matched by costars Aaron Eckhart as her husband and Dianne Wiest as her mother."


TIFF attendee http://forizzer69.wordpress.com/

Rabbit Hole
A great film about coping with loss. I appreciate that the film takes place eight months after the event so it isn't a lot of frantic crying and yelling. There is crying and yelling on occasion, but these moments are brought up by related events and never blatantly stem from the death of their child. Eckhart is amazing, Kidman is amazing, Teller really impressed me and Wiest is excellent as well, in an internally hurting, but outwardly warm and 'motherly' role. Just constantly of high quality from beginning to end... and there's a bit of dark humor in this as well (most notably a scene where Eckhart and Oh are high at their 'Coping With Child Loss' meeting. That will have anyone with a slightly perverse sense of humor laughing manically). It's also a very ordinary production in that it doesn't take many risks in terms of scene execution - Mitchell didn't try to make it something more abstract or visually esoteric than it had to me. There is enough done to distinguish this film from it looking like a filmed play - that is all. So a great film that will only get better with reflection. An 8 for the moment, but I can see it becoming one of the few 9s I give out this year.


Kidman’s jobs keep her sweating

Jane Stevenson

Nicole Kidman is sweating her first TIFF appearance as not only an actress but as a producer with the new film Rabbit Hole, about a couple grieving the hit-and-run car accident death of their young son.

Literally.

"The reason I'm wearing this jacket is because I'm sweaty and I can't take it off," half-joked Kidman, 43, at a packed press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

"(I feel) very exposed, very nervous. It's a whole different experience because it's so personal when you're in a film but you're not responsible for the film. I'm responsible for this film so it's a big weight."

The movie, directed by John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), is based on Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David Lindsay-Abaire's play and stars Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as the couple in question.

"It's the place you most fear to tread, and particularly as a parent, a mother, it's the most terrifying place to go and exist but at the same time it's important too," said Kidman. "Life can be very cruel and as beautiful as it can be, there's the other end of the spectrum; it can be so painful.

"And I was just so grateful to have the chance to play Becca because for me, it was vibrating."

Kidman said she was sitting in a cafe in Nashville (where she lives with second husband and country music star Keith Urban) reading a New York Times review of the theatrical version when she called her producing partner and told him to go see the play.

"It was wonderful and I thought, 'Oh, I'd love to do that," she said. "He saw it. He sent me the play. I read it that night and we approached David and we got lucky because we really wanted him to write the screenplay. Just reading it as a play, it's so beautiful. It's very, very precise and simple and funny and elegant ... It's about how do you live each day? It's not the broad strokes. It's the minute strokes ... How do you live together as a couple, having had the most traumatic loss you'll probably ever had and how do you still walk through each day and each hour?"

Kidman was also instrumental in getting Eckhart on board and his casting helped the movie's financing together.

"I'm an enormous fan of Nicole's and had always wanted to work with her and I have tremendous respect for ability as an actor," said Eckhart. "Then when she called me up. You know, I don't usually get calls from people like her, and I was honoured and immediately said yes to the project. I felt like we did have a pretty easy relationship and respected each other and admired each other so I think that makes it easier when you're filming such tough material like this."

In preparing for their roles, Kidman wanted to attend a parent bereavement support group but was told it wouldn't be appropriate because "the emotions are too raw and you can't have somebody at the group that hadn't been through exactly the same thing, which I totally respected."

Eckhart looked at video blogs of grieving parents on the Internet and went to a group on his own.

"I did attend one bereavement class and that was probably unethical I have to say because you really feel like you're taking advantage of people who are laying it all out, no matter what kind of actor or sociopathy you are, you just feel like you're a liar."

Keith Urban prefers finished product

Nicole Kidman says her husband and country music star Keith Urban first saw her new movie, Rabbit Hole, in a rough version in their living room.

"He responded to it," said Kidman, who was spotted with Urban on the TIFF red carpet Monday night. "He then saw it (Monday) for the first time with the music and as he said, 'I can never see a film in a rough state again because it's like playing a demo to you, and saying, 'You can hear it finished can't you?' And I can't hear it finished. So he had such a different response last night that was very emotional and very supportive."

Kidman has a two-year-old daughter, Sunday, with Urban plus adopted teenagers, Bella and Connor, with ex-husband Tom Cruise.

She added she most recently took Urban to his first subtitled film and 'He loved it. He said, 'I like reading films.' "

jane.stevenson@sunmedia.ca




Nicole Kidman Scores Standing Ovation at Toronto Film Festival

Nicole Kidman and husband (country superstar) Keith Urban were such a sensation on Monday night in Toronto that a whole city block in front of the Elgin Theater had to be shut down. The reason was Nicole's premiere in "Rabbit Hole," a gem of a film that later had the sold-out premiere audience going crazy with standing ovations.

It's been a while since Nicole Kidman wasn't on screen as a spy or an ethereal spirit or a historic figure. But now she's back in form again with "Rabbit Hole," a movie adaptation of a Broadway play which she optioned and produced. David Lindsay-Abaire has adapted his own award-winning play, full of humor and just the right amount of sadness. Kidman's performance recalls her great work in "To Die For," a movie that her fans still cite as a cult favorite.


"I read the review of David's play in the New York Times," Nicole told me last night, "and right away it had me interested. I think we were smart to get him to do the adaptation because they were his characters. I love that [Becca] is so sardonic."


"Rabbit Hole" co-stars four strong actors--Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest, Tammy Blanchard, and Giancarlo Esposito--who help the star explore grief through laughter. Kidman is back in form, playing a sardonic, slightly sarcastic suburban wife who's recently suffered a great tragedy: the death of her 2-year-old son.




Nicole Kidman film 'devastating'

The Moulin Rouge actress took to the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival with hubby Keith Urban on her arm for the premiere of Rabbit Hole, which sees a couple try to cope with the death of their four-year-old child.

Nicole - who has a two-year-old daughter with Keith - said: "Most films are hard if they're beautifully written and they're dealing with a subject matter that isn't easy, that isn't a comedy - devastating. But at the same time I wanted to do it justice for the people that have been through this."

She added: "I wanted to honour them so I felt if someone can actually go through this, then I can do it as an actress.

"It's not easy to get a film like this made, or get it screened in Toronto, I just feel very grateful and very emotional."

Co-star Aaron Eckhart agreed that filming the movie was intense at times, but he tried to lighten the mood on set.

He said: "At times it was (serious on set), at appropriate times. But at other times, because Nicole really kept a good set, (it was a) very friendly, very quiet set which was good.

"Everybody felt like they could say what they needed to say, joke around. I probably joked around a little bit more that Nicole did, but I felt like that was appropriate, I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't appropriate."

And Nicole returned Aaron's praise, saying: "He's such an inspiration, I loved being able to explore this together. He was right there through the whole thing supporting me and I hope I was supporting him and he felt that."



Keith Urban supports Nicole Kidman at Rabbit Hole Premiere

[Click on the link for red carpet video]

Nicole Kidman told how difficult it was to play a mother grieving for a dead child in a new film that has been acclaimed at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Oscar-winning actress, stunning in a navy-blue Prada cocktail dress, seemed shaken by the positive response to the movie Rabbit Hole.

'It's the first time more then ten people have watched it and that was at private screenings for the film-makers.

'This was the world premiere of my first film as a producer', Nicole told the Daily Mail at a drinks party in the ritzy district of Yorkville after the gala showing.

'I've nursed the film from the very beginning. I read a review of the play Rabbit Hole when it played in New York and then my company Blossom Films went after the rights.

'I had a sense, even before I'd seen the play, that it could be opened out from a stage play to a big screen film. I felt it very deeply,' she continued.

The movie charts a married couple, Becca and Howie Corbett, eight months after the death of their four-year-old son in an accident.

'It's about how they move on with their lives and how they connect with the people in their lives. But there's humour there as well, it's not all bleak,' Nicole added.

Nicole's performance astutely captures the anguish of a woman who doesn't want to be continuously reminded of her deep loss while at the same time she delivers a series of razor-sharp one-liners that are funny.

The film was written by David Lindsay-Abaire from his own stage play and directed by former actor And performance artist John Cameron Mitchell.

Nicole and leading man Aaron Eckhart are both sublime.

There was a lot of chatter following the screening from various Awards handicappers who suggested Nicole had a chance at being a best actress contender, and Eckhart had a shot at best actor.

Interestingly, three other films that could be in the next awards race played at the same cinema, the Elgin, on Monday, before Rabbit Hole.

There was the British film Never Let Me Go with Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley, The Whistleblower with Rachel Weisz giving an extraordinary portrait of a policewoman from Nebraska who uncovers corruption at the United Nations headquarters in Bosnia, and Mike Leigh's movie Another Year featuring Lesley Manville giving a gripping study of a woman unlucky in her relationships.

But it was Nicole's star-power that gave off the most wattage.

She was luminous both on and off the screen.

There was a heady atmosphere with the street around the Elgin blocked off and even the party venue, held in an elegant marquee, was barricaded and surrounded by security guards and police.

Nicole had attended the screening with husband Keith Urban and both went to the after-party.

Nicole explained that the couple would soon be returning home to Nashville, Tennessee to be with daughter Sunday Rose, plus Urban was working on a new album.

Urban told the Daily Mail that their daughter, 'She's now two years and two-months old,' was walking and talking.

'She's a real live-wire,' Urban declared proudly.

'It's not the Terrible Twos time, it's the Good Twos time,' he said. 'She's into everything and wants to know about everything'.

He said that the film was tough for both Nicole and himself while she was making it although Nicole had dealt with the high emotions 'very well'.

He added: 'I've never had to deal with the emotions of close loss like that, thank god, but the audience was laughing at some scenes in the film which was good.'

Later, Nicole said that early in 2011 she and Clive Owen will make the film Hemingway. & Gellhorn, about the love affair between Ernest Hemmingway and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn for director Philip Kaufman.

It has long been a dream of Nicole's to make a film about the two lovers.

'She was such a fascinating woman and he was a helluva man', Nicole told the Mail.


Nicole Kidman: “Rabbit Hole” Is a Gem

Roger Friedman

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban shut down a whole city block last night in Toronto in front of the Elgin Theater. The reason was the premiere of Kidman’s “Rabbit Hole,” a gem of an indie movie that should resonate with audiences and win Nicole even more fans.

Kidman is accessible, funny and human in “Rabbit Hole”–moreso than in ages. You can tell she enjoyed producing and starring in it, too. After the film, she, Keith and I talked for quite a while and caught up–our first chat since last February’s Grammy Awards.

They told me that two year old daughter Sunday Rose is walking and talking up a storm–’Dancing, laughing. having a ball.” I don’t think we’re going to see Sunday Rose trotted out for constant p.r. either, the way Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have exploited their kid in the papers. (I’ve rarely seen a child invented for celebrity the Suri has been.)

Kidman is loving living in Nashville. It’s a good thing she’s a meat eater and not a vegetarian, I said to Keith, since there’s so much good BBQ. “I think she’d love it there anyway,” he said.

Urban is working on a new album of all new material. He’s licensed it to Capitol Records, but his deal his over. And he’s happy to be a free man in such a crazy record business.

Over at Parade.com this morning, my headline for this story was “Nicole Kidman To Die For Again.”

It’s true. Kidman is a delight in “Rabbit Hole.” It’s based on the Broadway play by David Lindsay Abaire. Cynthia Nixon won the Tony Award for playing Becca, the main character. It’s a rock solid play full of laughter and sadness that the playwright has opened up beautifully for a film.

But mostly it’s Nicole, who hasn’t played a “regular person” in a contemporary drama on screen in — I don’t know, did she ever? Maybe in “Margot at the Wedding,” a little seen indie. But here she is the Kidman from “To Die For,” and even with the atttiude from “Australia”–sardonic, sarcastic, wise, and sexy.

Director John Cameron Mitchell, who you might have thought would go campy, has played “Rabbit Hole” straight. He’s set up a terrific family dynamic with Nicole, Aaron Eckhart as her husband, Dianne Wiest as her mom, Tammy Blanchard as her sister, and Giancarlo Esposito as the sister’s boyfriend.

“I read the review of the play in the New York Times.” Nicole told me. “As soon as I saw the script, I knew I could do it.’ She was wide to get the playwright to write the screenplay. “I loved her sardonic sense of humor.”

So do I! A hit for Nicole. If the film can be released in time, we may be seeing her at the Oscars next winter.



A very special tweet from Rabbit Hole castmember Miles Teller
MilesTeller: Walked the red carpet, rabbit hole rocked the room, the after party was great and now headed home. Press tomorrow!! Go team rabbit hole!

kimandr: Rabbit Hole was good, and Nicole Kidman was GREAT. Her performance really drives the film home. Aaron Eckhart was also very good.

JoshFo: I'm thrilled that people are saying Kidman is on form and terrific in Rabbit Hole. It's about time people realised how amazing she is again.

juanmgc: Rabbit Hole- Powerful. Remarkable. Kudos to John Cameron Mitchell for pulling Kidman and Eckhart's best performance of both their careers.

celesteparr: Incendies was astonishingly good; Rabbit Hole was excellent (@milesteller stole the show). Awesome writer party @ Czehoski. + SODEC = #YAY

brad_dworkin: Late night dinner at Frans post films. 2 great films tonight. I smell Oscar buzz for Kidman and Eckhart. #tiff

peterknegt: Bad buzz be damned. "Rabbit Hole" is quietly haunting and very affecting. Very strong and naturalistic work from Nicole Kidman: A- #TIFF1

davidpires: Rabbit Hole was great, not outstanding, I would rather see it on stage. #tiff

kellyleeevans: I really enjoyed the Rabbit Hole. Truly well done. #tiff

leoraheilbronn: Rabbit Hole makes me want to run out and see every play on and off Broadway.I forgot how much I love the theatre.Thank you Cameron Mitchell.

Matt_Mazur: Rabbit Hole was really mediocre. Kidman was great but the rest uninspired. Let down #tiff

GalacticPhantom: Rabbit Hole was sad :( #TIFF

fbi_woman Omg. Just saw Rabbit Hole and it was fucking beautiful. I cried through pretty much the whole thing rofl. It was pretty funny too though.

1basil1: John Cameron Mitchell's RABBIT HOLE: made me tear up at least 3 times & had a great balance of humor. Go see. #TIFF10

KathyBuckworth: Loved the movie. Nicole Kidman - awesome. Dianne Weist stole the show though. Loved it.


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Famosos Online











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CorinasBlog: I just found out tomorrow my uncles gonna meet Nicole Kidman!!

lightboxgallery: Just spotted nicole kidman arriving at her hotel in toronto. Wearing a white top and aviator sunglasses. #tiff10

jen_sweeta: Covering 2 red carpets 2night..Brighton Rock w/Helen Mirren & then Rabbit Hole w/Nicole Kidman & Aaron Eckhart @ Elgin/Winter Garden #TIFF10

oiaeam_me: Looking forward to catch a glimpse of Nicole Kidman and Natalie Portman #TIFF2010

juanmgc: Tonight- Premiere of "Rabbit Hole"- John Cameron Mitchell's new film starring Nicole Kidman! So excited!

curdey: Is very excited for the premiere of 'Rabbit Hole' w/Nicole Kidman later today!

krissweb: On my way to work already!!!! I am so excitmed for tiff to be over!!! Nicole Kidman party tonight maybe Keith urban will come and make It worth my sleeplessness!!!!

ashlangorse: On way to interview Nicole Kidman and Arron Eckhart...and excited to be able to wear heels!!

CHICHIblog: Waiting for Nicole Kidman. http://twitpic.com/2o73ar

dinkywallflower: I want to look like helen miren when I'm older and nicole kidman now.

tinalovespinot: At Elgin theatre wowow lots of people #tiff for rabbit hole.... Or waiting for glimpse of Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart

shhharla: Waiting for aaron eckhart and nicole kidman's arrival!!

callmeburnsie: Filled up on celeb spottings during lunch at Windsor Arms: Nicole Kidman & hubby, Kevin Spacey, Hayden Christensen & Thandie Newton...#TIFF

shhharla: And the crowd goes wild for nicole kidman as she arrives!!! Obvs

justa9url: Just saw Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban and Aaron Eckhart. #TIFF

mt_champion: I looked at Nicole Kidman- grinned and waved. She grinned and waved back. That's all I need. :) #tiff

DougBenn: Watching Rabitt Hole at #TIFF with @brad_dworkin Just walked past Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. I do love this! Primo Seats!!

LauraTeed: Nicole Kidman was radiant!!

DinaPugliese: ttp://twitpic.com/2o7nn9 - Nicole Kidman pierces you with her big blue eyes and her porcelain skin is unreal, lovely woman

leoraheilbronn: So Nicole Kidman isn't as tall or skinny as I remembered her to be. Aaron Eckhart is much younger (and tired) looking in reality.#rabbithole

tinalovespinot: Can't believe we saw her - she looked great! RT @Sarah_Han: at Rabbit Hole premiere #TIFF...yup thats Nicole Kidman http://bit.ly/cA3x5A

DinaPugliese: Nicole brought Keith! He's off to her left http://twitpic.com/2o7odk

LauraTeed: Keith urban!! You are 4 people away!!! #TIFF. He smiled at me!!!!

GalacticPhatom: John Cameron Mitchell + Nicole Kidman + Aaron Eckhart are on stage.

tinalovespinot: #tiff rabbit hole intro by @cameron_tiff w/ director + cast Nicole Kidman & Aaron Eckhart....ACTION! http://plixi.com/p/45001811

leoraheilbronn: So Nicole Kidman plays with her hair a lot and Keith Urban plays the doting husband very well. Notes on unintentionally sitting close 2 them

canadagraphs: Nicole Kidman just signed a tonne of #autographs leaving her #TIFF10 premiere. I got 1. Keith Urban signed too.


marggag: Nicole Kidman just said 'hi' to me :l #tiff. #torontolifestyle #hihi


mellyboo: so nicole kidman touched my hand while i worked the carpet. How sweet.

melonphobia: NICOLE. FUCKING. KIDMAN. I LOVE HER. SHE IS A RADIANT GODDESS.

clickeric: Io am at the same party as Nicole Kidman how awesome is that


krissweb: Just met Nicole Kidman and Keith urban!!!!

CoreyCaplan: Was at the vitamin water #TIFF10 afterparty tonight w/Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart and Sloane from Entourage. NBD.... #fb


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TIFF Co-director Cameron Bailey talks with Xtra, a Canadian gay and lesbian news outlet

Keith Urban & Nicole Kidman Updates 09/11/10

Find out what Keith's doing "dating" by listening to
this clip from Chicago's US99.


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http://twitpic.com/2mv6fr
Where's the trailer for Rabbit Hole? 2 hrs online found a cute pic with Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman at least





http://twitpic.com/2mguod
Keith Urban held a breakfast press conference today where he debuted his new single, "Put You In a Song."





http://i55.tinypic.com/ipbps4.jpg
Keith with Kris Allen and the bands.

The Buzz For Nicole Kidman & Rabbit Hole Begins!

The buzz for Nicole's new movie Rabbit Hole is just beginning. The premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 13th is already sold out!


Actors put on the director's hat at the Toronto Film Festival

The grass may not always be greener on the other side of the camera. And, in some cases, neither is the paycheck. But that hasn't kept movie actors from checking out the view from the director's chair.

This year, there's a bumper crop of stars turned filmmakers who are bringing their latest work to the 35th Toronto International Film Festival, North America's premier celebration of cinema, which kicks off today.

JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL, Rabbit Hole (Available for acquisition)

The scoop: The Broadway and TV acting veteran, 47, made his directing debut with (and starred in) the 2001 film version of his gender-bending rock musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He then followed with 2006's sexually explicit Shortbus, which made a splash at Cannes and in Toronto.

The story: The 2006 Pulitzer winner examines the effects of a car-crash death of a boy on his parents (Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhardt), especially after the mother connects with the teen boy who was driving.

Why he picked Toronto for a world premiere: "Toronto is so sophisticated. We feel this is the perfect place for Rabbit Hole. Our film is like the kind made by Hollywood in the late '70s and early '80s, heartfelt family dramas like Ordinary Peoplebut not huge."

Why so mainstream? "This kind of story has always moved me. I lost a little brother at 4 years old when I was a teenager. Rabbit Hole made me want to drop everything to get the job. It was a chance to move into a more realistic tone where the direction is more invisible."

How it was to work with Kidman, who also produces: "This was her baby. We learned from each other. I learned how to work with a great actress and star. She learned to work quickly and keep expenses down to the low. She chose me over others who were more experienced because of my passion. We had one conversation, and she went with her instinct. I am grateful."

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Toronto's Top 10 Oscar Contenders

by Dave Karger

I’m headed up north tomorrow for the Toronto International Film Festival, which usually manages to clarify the awards season a bit. Though many of this year’s potential big guns (How Do You Know, True Grit, Love and Other Drugs, The Fighter, The Social Network) are skipping the festival, there are still a bunch of possible nominees screening. Now that I’ve seen 20 of the Toronto entries (a couple of which I’m not allowed to say), here are my top 10 films to look out for.

Rabbit Hole I’m hearing good things about Nicole Kidman’s performance as a grieving mother in John Cameron Mitchell’s adaptation of the 2007 play. The role won Cynthia Nixon a Tony so it clearly has potential. As of now the film has no distributor, but it seems like one of the hottest acquisition properties of the festival.


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Black Sheep @ TIFF 2010

Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Black Sheep @ TIFF 2010

After three years of trying, I can very happily say that I am bringing Black Sheep Reviews to the Toronto International Film Festival ... officially! I've been before but only with limited access, my not being an actual member of the accredited press. Each year, my coverage has gotten wider and this year, with a little help from the great people at Movie Entertainment magazine, Black Sheep will be covering TIFF like never before! That is to say, I am fully accredited and will be floating in and out of movies from all over the world and interviews with some of the most celebrated filmmakers of my time. I said a little help before but I wouldn't have this opportunity without Movie Entertainment magazine and I intend to do right by them by covering as much as possible and likely sleeping very little.

Here are the Top 10 films I am most excited to catch and cover this year at TIFF:

127 HOURS
Directed by Danny Boyle
Starring James Franco

BIUTIFUL
Directed by Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu
Starring Javier Bardem

BLACK SWAN
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel

BLUE VALENTINE
Directed by Derek Cianfrance
Starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams

BURIED
Directed by Rodrigo Cortes
Starring Ryan Reynolds and a Zippo

HEARTBEATS (LES AMOURS IMAGINAIRES)
Directed by Xavier Dolan
Starring Xavier Dolan, Niels Schneider and Monia Chokri

IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY
Directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden
Starring Zach Galifianakis

THE KING'S SPEECH
Directed by Tom Hooper
Starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush

NEVER LET ME GO
Directed by Mark Romanek
Starring Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley

RABBIT HOLE
Directed by John Cameron Mitchell
Starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhardt

YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER
Directed by Woody Allen
Starring Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin and Freida Pinto


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