Keith Urban & Nicole Kidman Updates 9/19/2012

Keith has been enjoying the first rounds of auditions of American Idol. Word is that the crew has a great chemistry and it should be very interesting to see what they agree/disagree on.

From the exec producer of The Voice Australia

@JulieWardTV: Word from the set of American Idol is that @KeithUrban is fantastic. But we at #TheVoiceAU knew that. We miss him but wish only the best

This comes just as the skeptics in the basement are creating fake posters who are "Australian" or just now "deciding to join in". Spelling mistakes and all. Of course there's the poster that says she has sources which are really Google links she's not posting and her own imagination. They keep trying and failing but that's what happens when you join a board specifically created by an owner that has a desperate need to throw reality out the window.

CNN has a peice profiling the judges on why they decided to join. You can watch that HERE.

CMT has a list of why Keith is a great choice for AI. We have to agree!
You can read the list HERE.


Keith will be the guest host on this weekend's Country Countdown USA with Lon Helton. For more click HERE.


Keith also has the honor of being picked by The Grand Ole Opry as the spokesperson for their new radio campaign. You can read more and listen to the ads HERE.


Keith's segment on this year's Country's Night to Rock is now up!




Nicole is off to France again for pre-preoduction on Grace of Monaco. She'll be back in the States though for The Emmys this weekend. We can't wait.




Speaking of The Emmys, nominated actors were asked what were their favorite tv shows growing up. Nicole has answered this before, around the time of the Bewitched remake. She also borught up th e two miniseries that really started it all for her. Miniseries tend to get a bad rap but the Kennedy-Miller productions were always of such high quality that Nicole's movies have been available on dvd for ages. Check them out if you haven't already. You can read the small story HERE.

Lee Daniels spoke recently about working with Nicole on The Paperboy. To read more click HERE.

Daniels: I said to Nicole, 'Listen, if you can't do your own makeup on this, you can't do this movie because you don't know this character,'" Daniels says. "This chick is, well, she's trailer trash. When one thinks of Nicole Kidman, one doesn't think of that. I thought she'd go running for the hills, but she came back right at me."

She sure did. Kidman, 45, texted Daniels photos of herself in naughty lingerie in which she also did her own—yup!—makeup. By now, most movie fans have heard about the scene in which Kidman urinates on Efron after his character is stung by a jellyfish.
"Nicole gets down and dirty," Daniels said. "But let me tell you what else she does, she sent the crew members champagne. She's in the trenches. She was at craft services helping out. She was one of the guys."

We haven't heard much on The Railway Man. That's because Colin and the crew snuck off to Australia with very little press coverage compared to Scotland. Nicole did not film any scenes there but we did find an interview with Colin where he talks about the film, Australia, and Nicole. Colin quipped on Nicole being his wife in the film "Some things are easy." and that she was an asset in his goal to play a husband returning as a tortured man.

You can read more and watch the video HERE.

More Nicole Kidman Updates!

It's been announced Nicole will be the official ambassador for Australian health and wellness brand Swisse. The campaign launches the company into many markets outside of Australia including the US! For more information visit Swisse's website here.

Nicole Kidman: "“It’s exciting to be part of the growth of a small Australian family-built company that is dedicated to good health and wellbeing. I joined Swisse because I wanted to help bring awareness to the importance of living a healthy lifestyle in a busy, often stressful world. I love feeling healthy and fit. They are wonderful attributes of the Australian way of life – and I am a very proud Australian."

A set of promotional photos have been released as well that were taken in Australia earlier this year. Nicole looks gorgeous!









If you happen to be in Nice, France you can apply to be an extra for Nicole's Grace of Monaco. Here's the orginal link for the casting call. If your French isn't up to speed you can click here to find out all the details.

And as Keith has been touring the east coast of Canada and the US, Nicole, Sunday, and Faith have been spending time in New York. There's been sightings of Nicole at the production of Into The Woods with Amy Adams. Keith and Nicole have been sighted dining in the city and also at the off-broadway shows Tribes and Cockfight Play. And a Nicole fan spotted Nicole, Keith and the girls at the Children's Museum of the Arts playing with flubber and getting messy with the glue!


Thanks to everyone who has stuck with the blog, keeps reading, keeps sending messages. It's all appreciated!

More August Keith Urban Nicole Kidman Updates!

Keith's episode of Yahoo's "Going Home" series is up. Watch below to see some of Keith's favorite things about Nashville and history with his adopted hometown!

Variety is reporting that Tim Roth has been cast as Prince Rainier in Grace of Monaco as well as Frank Langella as the priest who sets up Rainier with Grace.


Another tidbit from the set of Nicole's The Paperboy. Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly .

THE PAPERBOY

In director Lee Daniels' first film since Precious, Nicole Kidman plays an unhinged sexpot who entices a journalist (Matthew McConaughey) and his brother (Zac Efron) to help free her pen pal (John Cusack) from death row. Daniels initially had jitters about directing Kidman, but realized the A-lister was game for almost anything — including on-camera lovemaking and an already notorious scene in which she urinates on Efron to treat a jellyfish sting. But the actress drew the line at saying the N-word. "I complained about it," says Daniels, "but my producer said, 'She just finished getting bent over a pink washing machine, she's peeing...give the girl a break!'

And fans have been taking photos with our favorite couple. An aspiring Nashville musician took a photo while jamming and talking with Keith.




Another fan snapped a photo of Nicole on her flight home from Paris.

Kidman Urban Updates 08/14/2012

It's been only a short while but we've got some great updates!

Nicole's The Paperboy has been chosen as a special selection for the Toronto International Film Festival this year. The screening will take place during the festival next month.

Meanwhile Nicole has been in Paris, in preparation for Grace of Monaco. Reportedly she has already done a photo shoot which probably ties in with Grace. However, she could be in France ahead of schedule to do pre-production makeup and costume tests. We'll have to see. Grace is scheduled to start filming sometime in September.

Nicole is part of a new campaign, Everyone Matters, which raises awareness for inclusion and tolerance. As an ambassador she's been chosen along with other celebrities like Sir Paul McCartney and Daniel Craig to spread the word. You can find out more at www.everyonematters2012.com




Keith's been busy working on the new album and just did another night at the Grand Ole Opry. He did an acoustic set with hits old and new including "But For The Grace of God", "For You", and "Without You". He'll be back at the Opry Spetember 4th with the Bellamy Brothers but he couldn't have gotten warmer welcome that night with Bill Anderson proclaiming Keith as one of the nicest guys in the business.


Want more Keith and Nicole on your phone? There's a new game available called SongPop in both free and paid versions. You compete against others in identifying songs as quickly as you can in a wide range of musical categories. Keith is included in the modern country category as well as several "top hits" categories. Selections from Moulin Rouge, Birthday Girl, Happy Feet, and Practical Magic have shown up in the Movie Soundtracks and Animated categories! Check your phone's app store for availability.

And last but not least for some new tunes, STS highly recommends Jana Kramer's new self-titled cd. If you'd like Ashton Shepherd with a little less twang you might want to check her out. She's got some great songs including tracks co-written by Jerry Flowers ("I Hope It Rains") and Keith concert openers Gordie Sampson and Katrina Elam ("Over You By Now").