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American Morning
Showbiz Today Reports: Kidman Discusses `The Others'
Aired August 09, 2001 - 11:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Laurin Sydney is checking in with the showbiz news -- Laurin.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Laurin.
LAURIN SYDNEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, there's definitely one Leon Harris and only one.
HARRIS: As deemed by the authorities, too, so no choice in that matter.
SYDNEY: Daryn, the other day I had Goran and today you get Tom.
KAGAN: Not bad.
SYDNEY: Right. And Leon has both of us.
HARRIS: Gee, lucky me.
SYDNEY: That's right, Leon!
SYDNEY: Anyway, another Hollywood celebrity, unfortunately, is in trouble with the law this morning. Rebecca Gayheart, the star of such movies as "Urban Legends" and "Jawbreaker" faces possible manslaughter charges. Police say that Gayheart hit a 9-year-old boy crossing the street in Hollywood June 13. The boy died of his injuries.
Police say Gayheart was talking on a cell phone at the time of the accident. Following a police investigation, the district attorney will decide whether to press criminal charges.
The reclusive Woody Allen made a rare West Coast appearance last night. His New Orleans-style jazz band is on a concert tour, now in Los Angeles, to help promote his new film, "Curse of the Jade Scorpion." Allen plays a private detective in the movie, a funny one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOODY ALLEN, DIRECTOR: You're always a comedian by second choice. You know, all comedians could rather be, you know, I would have rather have been born so I could have played the parts that Marlon Brando played or Humphrey Bogart played or John Wayne played or John Wayne played or Clint Eastwood. But you become a comedian because you can't do those roles and you struggle for some other way to get in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SYDNEY: True.
Nicole Kidman is officially single today. Her divorce to Tom Cruise was granted in a Los Angeles court yesterday, although financial matters are still to be worked out. But meanwhile, she is out and about promoting "The Others," a horror flick that her ex- husband produced.
She sat down with our very own Michael Okwu for this very revealing interview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICOLE KIDMAN, ACTRESS: I play a mother of two children, and it's at the end of the war. Her husband has gone to war and she's not sure if he's alive or dead. And the children have a disease where they cannot go out in the sunlight. And it's about, then, how these three servants who come to work for them start to play with them. It's scary.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All the tension that's created in this house is simply by dint of the setting, the script and the acting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE OTHERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: I've seen them too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KIDMAN: Alejandro Amenabar, who's the director said to me, I really want this to be about the performance, and so therefore you and I have to work really closely together, because through the character is how the audience will -- how much they feel for her is how they will react, because that's who, that will be the thing that makes them frightened.
OKWU: These kids are really sophisticated actors. Now, you were a child actor.
KIDMAN: I started acting when I was 14.
OKWU: Both your parents were both very academically minded, but you decided, I'm going to leave this all and become an actress. Why were they...
KIDMAN: Oh, come on, being an actress is very academic.
OKWU: Why do you think your parents were so supportive? Is it because they knew at that age this is a woman who definitely gets what she wants?
KIDMAN: I don't think that's true. No I think they just -- they both have a love of the arts, and I think they gave it great credence and value. So I was exposed a lot to a lot of culture, and I really -- that's what I try to do for my children as well, because it does inspire you, and that's certainly one of the things that drew me towards acting, was having been exposed to that at such an early age.
OKWU: Now Tom Cruise, obviously, executive produced this film.
KIDMAN: His partner did most of the producing on this film. He was there with me, and he was, you know, with the kids, taking care of -- you know, while I was working and stuff like that. But he was very helpful with the script, and he was involved in the post-production.
OKWU: Is it tough having his name attached to a project of yours now, when you're trying to move on with your life?
KIDMAN: It puts, you know, once again it brings up all the stuff in terms of questions and stuff like that. So it puts an added pressure on me. And it's slightly strange in terms of just what's been going on. But, hey, it's been a strange year. Just another part of it.
But I'm so glad that he's supporting the movie and I'm glad that he's, you know, still involved with it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE OTHERS")
KIDMAN: Where is my daughter?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: I am your daughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OKWU: It's important for you to be an actress and not just a movie star.
KIDMAN: Oh, absolutely.
OKWU: Is it tough for you sometimes to watch yourself on screen?
KIDMAN: Yes. I mean, I'm very critical. I mean, and it is hard -- it's really hard because you always see what you could have done better. And I love the process of acting far more than I like sitting and watching myself on screen.
OKWU: Now, you're on the short list of elite Hollywood actresses, and yet you've never been nominated for an Oscar.
KIDMAN: No.
OKWU: Do you think about that? Do you need that kind of recognition?
KIDMAN: It would be lovely. I mean, I've won awards, you know, different critics awards and stuff before, which is always a huge honor, because it's an acknowledgement.
OKWU: Do ever say this is the one, this is the time I'm going to get nominated?
KIDMAN: No, you sort of -- I mean, if you start to choose roles for that reason then, you know, then you're -- it's going to be too difficult because you can never predict those things.
One of my best friends, Russell Crowe, won the Academy Award last year, which was amazing to see, you know. I was watching and I went -- ah!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYDNEY: And later today, on "Showbiz Today Reports," we are going to have a live interview with "American Pie 2" cutie pie Shannon Elizabeth -- didn't come out right, but you know what I mean. And a performance from talented singer Nanci Griffith.
Daryn and Leon, stop laughing.
HARRIS: Good deal.
(CROSSTALK)
SYDNEY: I tried...
KAGAN: We're not laughing at you, we're with you, Laurin.
HARRIS: There you go.
SYDNEY: Thank you.
HARRIS: All right, see you later on.
KAGAN: Good to see you.
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