27 Jun 2008

Modesty prevails

"IT'S AN awful era in a sense because it's the age of narcissism. It's probably worse than global warming," says Murray Bail, leaning over his macchiato with theatrical gloom. "It must have something to do with the flood through every part of society of popular culture, of film, photography, television and performance. All this 'look at me' stuff. People don't read as much, they can't write; you get film stars giving their views on everything. It's quite serious but nothing can be done about it. As soon as you complain you look like an antique."

Bail is the antithesis of narcissism. He once walked off the stage during a session at Adelaide Writers' Week. ("I wouldn't do that now; I've got better manners. I wouldn't be there in the first place.") He recently installed an answering machine at his Potts Point apartment but it has no message, so the caller hears a long, disconcerting silence and a beep.

If he could avoid this interview he would but, having agreed, he creeps across Macleay Street, a mixture of urban dude and downcast Eeyore in a grey suit, black suede shoes and sunglasses. Curled into a booth in a French bistro, he will talk for the next five hours. He is, once started, an erudite and amusing companion, a droll storyteller and an attentive gossip.

His slim yet intricate new novel, The Pages, is in part an argument against narcissism. It is ostensibly the story of Wesley Antill, an enigmatic philosopher who has died leaving his work-in-progress in a shed on his family's property in western NSW. Hoping to discover his genius, his brother and sister invite Erica, an academic philosopher, to assess the scattered papers. For company Erica brings Sophie, a psychoanalyst at the end of an affair with a married man. Two women in their 40s, they represent different ways of viewing life and making both a success and a mess of it.

This is Bail's first novel since Eucalyptus, which came out 10 years ago in more than 20 countries, sold more than 100,000 copies in Australia, was a New York Times notable book and won the Miles Franklin Award, the ASAL Gold Medal for Literature and the Commonwealth Writers Prize. It almost became a film starring Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman (and there are hints it could be revived, without Kidman, if Baz Luhrmann's Australia proves popular).

Eucalyptus had universal appeal, Bail says, because of its mythological, Shakespearean premise: a grazier who challenges the suitors of his 19-year-old daughter to name every gumtree on his property and the young man who conjures a tale from each one. The new novel is less obviously myth-based but still uses archetypal characters. "It's very dangerous to disobey archetypes in art; it's so deep-structured in us," Bail says.

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25 Jun 2008

Nicole Kidman and Ann Kagawa Lee

Attorney Ann Kagawa Lee made it to the finals of the Charmin-sponsored Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest! Encouraged to enter by a friend, it took Ann two weeks and four rolls of toilet paper . The final judging took place at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum last week in New York City, where Ann placed third. Her dress will soon be on display at the Ripley museum in Korea ...

What a party...last week’s grand opening of The Mala Wailea Restaurant at Wailea Beach Marriott Hotel - a benefit for the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. I had a blast - greeted by hosts Shep Gordon, Mark Ellman and Alice Cooper, with surprise sommelier Mick Fleetwood pouring his wonderful wines (including my personal fave, his Cabernet Sauvignon.

And the food! The surprise of the night came when Alice joined Maui’s top party band, Dr. Nat & Rio Ritmo, and sang No More Mr. Nice Guy. And then super drummer Mick Fleetwood joined Alice and the band performing Satisfaction, followed by a killer rendition of Sympathy For The Devil. Opening restaurant parties in Hawaii don’t get any better. Mala is getting rave reaction. Recent dinner guests include Dennis Quaid, Pierce Brosnan, Virginia Madsen and Slash …

Speaking of Dennis Quaid, he had quite a joyous Father’s Day with wife Kimberly Buffington and their adorable 7-month-old twins Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace. The twins have fully recovered from their well-publicized near-fatal medical mixup last November…

Nicole Kidman turns 41! Kidman, born June 20, 1967, in Honolulu, spent her first three years here before moving to Sydney…

Former Oldies 107.9 program director and morning drive DJ John Matthews left Hawaii to join lovely wife Jocelyn in St. Louis where she’s studying for her law degree. He’s just been named P.D. of the St. Louis Rams’flag-ship station 103.3 KLOU FM. Hawaii fans can hear him via internet “http://1033.com/” weekdays from 3-7 p.m....

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24 Jun 2008

Keith Urban serenades Nicole Kidman on her birthday

Keith Urban surprised pregnant wife Nicole Kidman with a special rendition of Happy Birthday at a gig over the weekend.

The country star was performing at the Chicago Soldier Field Stadium on Saturday when he broke into the song. Nicole turned 41 on Friday.

And Keith, 40, even got the crowd to join in.

‘It would be nice to have 50,000 people sing Happy Birthday,’ he told fans.

A smiling Nicole expressed her gratitude by blowing a kiss to the audience.

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Peta Hellard: Nicole Kidman celebrates ahead of birth

AS she awaits the birth of her first baby next month, Nicole Kidman has had another reason to celebrate.

The eight-months-pregnant Oscar-winner, who has two adopted children with ex-husband Tom Cruise, yesterday celebrated her 41st birthday.

Kidman - who is believed to have spent her birthday at her rural property outside Nashville in Tennessee - reportedly received a present from Cruise's new wife Katie Holmes.

US reports yesterday said Holmes, 29, had shipped the Moulin Rouge star a deluxe gift basket from luxury Beverly Hills department store Neiman Marcus, one of Kidman's regular shopping haunts.

Kidman and her country music husband Keith Urban have another milestone to celebrate ahead of their baby's arrival: the couple will have their second wedding anniversary on June 25.

US magazine People quoted a friend of Kidman's saying the willowy screen star was enjoying a leisurely last few weeks in Nashville while she awaited the birth of her child.

"She's never been happier or healthier,'' the friend said.

"She is absolutely radiant and enjoying nesting and home-making with Keith at their new home in Nashville. They are so relaxed.''

Kidman is tipped to give birth in Tennessee or Los Angeles, where the couple also have a home. The new arrival is expected to attract a swarm of paparazzi.

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23 Jun 2008

Friend: Kidman happy with Nashville life

NASHVILLE, June 21 (UPI) -- Actress Nicole Kidman, who just turned 41, is very happy with her pregnancy and her new life in Nashville, a friend says.

The unidentified friend said the actress, who celebrated her birthday Friday, is eagerly anticipating the birth of her first child with country music singer Keith Urban, People magazine reported.

"She's never been happier or healthier," the friend says. "She is absolutely radiant and enjoying nesting and homemaking with Keith at their new home in Nashville."

They are so relaxed," the friend added regarding the expectant couple.

Meanwhile, a source said Kidman appeared to be "very happy" while attending a Broadway performance of "August: Osage County" last week with the 40-year-old singer.

"Nicole is always very gracious, and she doesn't run from people," the anonymous source said of the "Moulin Rouge" actress. "She looked wonderful, and they seemed very happy."

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Mother of all roles - Nicole Kidman interview

Nicole Kidman. After the heartache of her divorce from Tom Cruise, an ectopic pregnancy and a miscarriage, Nicole Kidman just can't wait for her happy ever after At a distance, Nicole Kidman looks like one of those exquisitely delicate women in the Romantic style of myth and legend, but up close she's an Australian who has always put her cards squarely on the table, enjoys a good laugh and seems to be one of the gang.

She is 41, having celebrated her birthday last Friday, and has, in recent years, had a lot of unwelcome attention. There was all the hullabaloo about her divorce from Tom Cruise in 2001, a much-publicised ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage, her supposed romances with actor Russell Crowe, singer Lenny Kravitz and producer Steve Bing, the persistent rumours about her weight and being too thin even before pregnancy (which she puts down to hard work), and sceptical comments about the likely longevity of her marriage to country-music star Keith Urban.

The latest – and biggest – news, however, has been the impending birth of Kidman and Urban's first baby together, which is due next month. Much of the comment has centred on how she has kept her physique during the pregnancy.

Some people were alarmed that for most of the pregnancy she kept her stick-thin figure and wondered if she was wise to do so. She says she's stuck to a strenuous training regime, sweating it out at the gym in a plain white T-shirt and black leggings, being put her through her paces by her fitness guru and practising yoga at home with her instructor.

She certainly doesn't seem to have put on any surplus weight. "I'm so happy, I couldn't ask for anything – except bigger boobs," she joked. "I've wanted curves my whole life. I eat all the time but I don't change because of my physical make-up. I was even more scrawny as a kid."

Although her physical appearance has been largely unchanged during this pregnancy, except for her neat bump, motherhood in general has changed her a lot, she says. "I am somebody who is attracted to dangerous things. It is something I have to fight in myself, especially now that I've got the kids. I'm a fanatical sport freak. I love being able to use my body in that way and used to do things like sky-diving rather than hiking which was definitely more sensible."

Her older children, Isabella, 14, and Connor, 12, both adopted during her marriage to Cruise, grew up mainly in London, LA and Australia. She has joint custody of them with Cruise, who also has a daughter, Suri, with actress Katie Holmes.

Kidman admits openly she has always yearned to have her own child. "I would be very sad if I wasn't able to have a baby. I am very close to my own family and I want my kids to have an Australian identity as well as an American one.

"It's interesting, as an actor, to raise kids because you set up home wherever you're working, almost always in a transitional period. It's crazy when you're all togged up in a glamorous costume and you're fixing a snack for the kids in your trailer or helping them with their homework."

Kidman talks at breakneck speed, and her cool exterior often cracks as she breaks into a fit of giggles – she's a lady in a rush. With her frank and straightforward gaze, she genuinely seems interested in other people, what they have to say and how they're doing.

She says their real home is the house in Sydney – "where our furniture is" – with its floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, surfaces sprinkled with snapshots of her wedding and her children, and gorgeous views of the boats on Double Bay.

The couple also have a 1960s mansion in Brentwood, Los Angeles, close to her friend, the Australian actress Naomi Watts, and a ranch in Nashville, Tennessee, which she says is her "escape". "We lie low there," says Kidman. "We just have our own little bubble that we exist in. And I can completely disappear. I'm really good at it and I don't need much.

"Divorce from Tom was hell but it made me grow up. After the divorce, I did many things that interested me, as I was single and had been through a period of my life when I wasn't able to move around as much and explore, so I was able to 'catch up'."

She met Urban, also born in 1967, at an Australian promotional event in Los Angeles in January 2005. She says it wasn't as though the earth shook, but within months they were dating. After he had proposed, she introduced him to Isabella and Connor, and by February 2006 they were engaged. That June they had a fairy-tale wedding in front of 200 friends and relatives in Sydney.

Since then, there have been ups and downs – four months after their marriage, Urban checked into the Betty Ford Centre for 90 days' worth of rehab for alcohol abuse – but their life seems to have settled down well. Urban surprised Kidman with a romantic fireworks display for her 40th birthday and she says they are still very much in love. "I think we were two lonely people, who managed to meet at a time when we could open ourselves to each other. We were a mixture of frightened and brave," she says.

"Since getting married, I've 'passed' on things, cleared my schedule. I do not want to be living my life away from the person I love. I think I've settled into enjoying my life. I'm happy and I'm content."

Born in Hawaii to Australian Catholic parents – her father, a professor of biochemistry, was studying there in the 1960s – when her parents moved back to Sydney, little Nicole Mary got hooked on the theatre at school. Aged six, she upstaged baby Jesus in a nativity play, playing a sheep clad in car-seat covers. Aged ten she was sent to drama school and she started working in film at 14. Three years later she was voted Best Actress of the Year by the Australian public for the TV mini-series Vietnam, which was followed shortly afterwards by Bangkok Hilton, in which she starred opposite Denholm Elliott, and in 1989 she made her international breakthrough in the sailing thriller Dead Calm.

She has had a hugely successful career of three dozen films, including Moulin Rouge, The Hours (for which she won a Best Actress Oscar), Cold Mountain, The Golden Compass and Margot at the Wedding. She is also a singer, a goodwill ambassador for Unicef and Unifem (UN Development Fund for Women) and the recipient of Australia's highest civilian honour, the Companion of the Order of Australia.

"I flinch at the word 'career,' she says, "because acting is all about your emotions. I love what I do. It is not a job. I never think about taking a role in relation to who I am, to who Nicole is," she muses. "That would not be pure, artistically. I don't know whether that's my biggest strength or weakness.

"I adore this job but it certainly takes its toll," she continues. "I think that making a film is like a boxing match – you have to take the punches and you can easily fall. I plan to slowly dwindle away, bring the train to a halt, when the time comes. I am not sure when the resources are going to run out in terms of what I have to offer.

"The life I lead is a burn-out life," she says, rearranging legs that are too long for the sofa. "From cracked ribs (in Moulin Rouge) to freezing in Romania (Cold Mountain) and being hospitalised after a car chase went wrong (Invasion). You have to step away from it because you are required to give so much of yourself to do it well. I don't mind stepping away when I need to and going to ground. Or doing a comedy to re-stoke.

"I hate the interest in celebrities that comes with it. Being recognised is part of the territory. I was a kid who waited to see Abba. And I have been in that position. I remember also being taken to the set of The Year of Living Dangerously by a production designer friend of ours. I saw Mel Gibson from afar and I shrieked: 'He looked at me!' He has no recollection – I was about ten.

"I try to make contact and go over and shake someone's hand. I think it is important to remember where you are at, and where you come from, so you never get trapped in the world you work in. I have tried to not court celebrity.

"In New York I go around without an 'entourage'. I am always with my kids, walk quickly, with my hair pulled back, and I can make myself invisible. I do most things. I go to the cinema with my kids just like any other member of the public. We love all going away to have a bit of an adventure together, away from the bright lights.

"When I was single and bringing up my two older children I tended to take one day at a time. As a single parent, I think you do your best and hope it will be good enough. And you know something? I found that usually it is good enough.

"As a kid I hated any sort of unconventional stuff because you want to conform. I was embarrassed by it. I was not one of those kids that wanted to stand out. I was 5ft 10in when I was 11 years old and had the awful nickname of 'Storky'. I was also white as a sheet in bronzed surfer paradise Australia.

"I didn't need any more humiliation, such as my feminist mother. But my kids seem incredibly willing and easy about it all. They don't seem to give a damn about what I do."

Despite her childhood embarrassment at her mother Janelle's interests and activities, Kidman has taken up some of the causes dearest to her heart. It was Janelle Kidman who drew her attention to Cambodia, where a United Nations project was underway to revive silk weaving, offering women economic independence. After a meeting with the executive director of Unifem, dedicated to advancing women's rights and achieving gender equality around the world, Kidman became a Unifem goodwill ambassador, concentrating on raising awareness of violence against women.

She has said she was attracted to Unifem because its programmes were "solution-based" and because, as a child, she would accompany her mother to the hospital where she saw people who were suffering, which "leaves a powerful imprint on your psyche".

"Obviously, I'm emotionally connected to this," Kidman says of her Unifem role. "I think it's very important. At the same time, I'm a mother. I have a child on the way… and a lot of it is realising the things that are wrong and what I can contribute to help my children have a better life, and to help other children around the world have a better life.

"I believe if people are given the information, most of them will say, 'I had no idea – what can I do to help?' Awareness is just the first step."

Kidman has continued supporting the project throughout her pregnancy and the issues will always remain close to her heart. However, in these last stages of her pregnancy, she is looking forward to more family time together. "When I get older, I am going to veer in the direction of hedonism and live somewhere like Tuscany, surrounded by my grandchildren, and rest and dance and eat and drink and read and sit up over big home-cooked meals, talking late into the night in different languages. I want to age gracefully and naturally."

Speaking of ageing gracefully, she denies she has ever gone under the knife or that her famous porcelain skin has ever encountered so much as a single botox needle. "To be honest, I am completely natural," Kidman has said. "I have nothing in my face or anything. I wear sunscreen, and I don't smoke. I take care of myself. I'm proud to say that."

The closest thing to plastic surgery Kidman has undergone is laser eye correction. Her sight was so bad that she "was walking around legally blind''. "I don't judge those who have had treatments. Anybody can do anything to their bodies. I'm just lucky that I get to change my looks in every film and get paid to do so! I love being an actor – that is my commitment and my passion. But there are other things I want to do in life, so many that to list them all would be trivial," she says.

"As an actor I think you suffer from burnout after a time because you give so much of yourself. I look at it as something that will finish in its own time. It wouldn't be, 'Oh, now I am suddenly going to quit.' It will just slowly just dwindle away…"

She purses her rosebud lips, adding: "I will make more films in Australia, like the new Baz (Moulin Rouge) Luhrmann-directed film called Australia which I made while Keith was away touring. It is set in the remote Northern Territory during the Japanese attack on Darwin during World War II. I play an English woman feeling overwhelmed by the continent.

"But I'd also like to learn Russian so one day I could play Chekhov's Uncle Vanya on stage." She giggles. "I can see the critics already dipping their pens in vitriol!"

Right now, though, babies are her focus and she hopes that she will be able to have more. "Keith and I would really love to have a big family," she says, "but I am so happy right now I couldn't ask for anything more."

Kidman's leading men

Tom Cruise

Cruise first spotted Kidman in the thriller Dead Calm, and in 1989 asked her to play his leading lady in the car-racing movie, Days of Thunder. He invited her to a casting session where sparks flew, followed by a ten-year marriage, two adopted children and joint film projects, before the couple's high-profile divorce in 2001.

Robbie Williams

Kidman was said to have found new love with the singer after her divorce from Cruise. The couple bonded during the recording of their duet, Something Stupid and the single proved a smart move for both stars, becoming the UK Christmas number one. But while they may have finished the year on top, single mum Kidman returned home to Sydney with the kids for New Year's Eve.

Jude Law

Overblown American Civil War drama Cold Mountain got a huge boost from the (false) rumours of love between Law and Kidman in 2004. British tabloids printed pictures of the pair together during filming, proving that an off-screen affair can be a publicist's dream. While it did their careers no end of good, Law's marriage to Sadie Frost suffered and later ended in divorce after an affair with their nanny.

Lenny Kravitz

Kidman was romantically linked with the rock Lothario in 2004. When Kidman wore a diamond sparkler on her engagement finger, speculation followed but both parties denied a romance. Kidman went on to marry Keith Urban in June 2006, while Kravitz has since taken a vow of celibacy.

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Nicole Kidman gets surprise gift from Katie Holmes

Nicole Kidman. AS she awaits next month's stork arrival, Nicole Kidman has plenty of reasons to smile, including a big surprise birthday present from her ex Tom Cruise's wife, Katie.

The Oscar-winner celebrated her 41st birthday at the weekend at her rural property outside Nashville in Tennessee, with a present from an unlikely giver.

US reports said Katie Holmes, married to Kidman's ex Tom Cruise, shipped the star a deluxe gift basket from luxury department store Neiman Marcus, one of Kidman's regular shopping haunts.

Kidman and her country muso hubby Keith Urban have another milestone before their bub's arrival -- their second wedding anniversary on Wednesday.

Kidman is enjoying a leisurely last few weeks in Nashville before the birth. "She's never been happier or healthier," a friend said. "She is absolutely radiant."

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