Nicole Kidman having a big year

It’s easy to see why stars like coming to Japan. Nicole Kidman only had to say “konnichiwa” and the media burst into applause. After hearing she was four months’ pregnant (or five as they count it different in Japan), there was another round of applause. “It’s great,” said the 40-year-old Australian, making her first visit to Japan since 2004. Wearing a revealing black Prada outfit with feathers on her shoulders, Kidman was on the last leg of a worldwide tour to promote “The Golden Compass,” a fantasy film directed by Chris Weitz and featuring a big name cast of live and voice actors, including Daniel Craig, Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Elliott, Kathy Bates, Eva Green and 13-year-old Dakota Blue Richards in her film debut.

“The Golden Compass” is an adaptation of “The Northern Lights,” the first book in British author Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” fantasy trilogy. It tells the story of Lyra (Richards), a young girl at a parallel-universe Oxford, who sets off on a journey with a magical compass of gold to save her best friend. Posters of the film have been plastered all over Tokyo subway stations for the past few months and to commemorate the film, a Tokyo jeweler unveiled a compass made of 18-carat gold worth 30 million yen.

Kidman plays Mrs Coulter (no Ann Coulter jokes please) – a villainous woman who takes Lyra under her wing. Director Weitz (“American Pie,” “About a Boy”) said the cast, rather than the special effects, make the movie. “Without the human element, visual effects are meaningless,” he said. “My main concern was casting the film because you don’t want to disappoint the book’s fans who have already cast the film in their minds.” It was a long process, he said, adding that Richards was chosen from more than 10,000 applicants at open auditions.

Overseas, the big talking point after the film was released was the removal of the book’s religious themes. In Pullman’s novel, the world is ruled by the Catholic church-like Magisterium which disciplines dissenters and controls scientific knowledge. Weitz said he and author Pullman spent a lot of time going back and forth over the script, but the decision was ultimately made by the film’s U.S. distributor.

Following in the footsteps of “Lord of the Rings,” “The Chronicles of Narnia” and the “Harry Potter” series, “The Golden Compass” features eye-popping special effects, which proved a challenge for Richards. “I’ve never really liked imaginary things,” she said. “With this being my first movie, it was very confusing at times.” Not so for Kidman. “One of the reasons I became an actor was because I could conjure images up in my head. I am very good at imagining things that are not there. Sometimes that can be detrimental, but in acting, it is beneficial. As long as I have the director there, I feel safe.”

Asked what advice she has for aspiring actors, Kidman said: “Don’t listen to people who say you can’t do something. I was told I was too tall to be an actor, that as an Australian, I would never be able to make it in Hollywood. But I had a passion and you need that as your driving force if you are to withstand all the criticism, gossip and fame. If you have that inside you, stick to it, otherwise don’t bother.”

Married to country singer Keith Urban, Kidman has just finished Baz Luhrmann’s epic “Australia” (set against the backdrop of Japan’s bombing of northern Australia during World War II) and will now take some time off for the birth of their first child, due in July. She has two adopted children, aged 13 and 15, and said they both loved “The Golden Compass.”

She said that becoming a mother will affect her choice of roles. “Once you have kids, it makes you want to balance your work. I have made a lot of adult films and now I want to make movies that I can celebrate with my children, so they can attend premieres with me. But it is a challenge making films that boys and girls under 15 will like. It requires different skills.”

© Japan Today