Nicole Kidman is a "A Beautiful, Resonant Instrument"

Hedwig himself is making another movie. John Cameron Mitchell's cinematic take on stage hit Rabbit Hole begins filming on June 1st in New York. Here, via Screen Daily, he's talking about why he's directing someone else's material for the first time and the humor that attracted him to this very sad story about a mother (Nicole Kidman) who has lost her young child.



He's really forthcoming about the different approaches required to work with untrained actors (Shortbus) versus stars (Rabbit Hole). He had never worked with stars before and I love this bit on Nicole Kidman and his cast...

There's a different kind of pleasure with working with virtuosic actors --working with the Stradivarius... There's a thrill with working with a beautiful, resonant instrument that can respond to gentle guidance.

And there's nothing Hollywood about this experience which has been fantastic... I'm surprised at how smoothly it's going. This is very pure. We're not getting interference from people who don't have good taste.

Hee. You mean to say that interfering suits don't always have good taste? I'm shocked. Shocked I say.

I've never heard my Kidman referred to as a Stradivarius before but I love the comparison. In part because it makes me think of classical music which immediately causes a reverential hypnotic blissful state as I remember Kidman's opera house close up in Birth. sigh

I also found it intriguing that he feels such a connection to the teenage character in the film who draws comic books.

The art in this is going to be important in the way that Hedwig and Shortbus used animation and art -- in a subtler way, we'll be using that.

I can't wait to see this movie but since they're still only in pre-production, I will have to.
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