Dogville is a 2003 Danish drama film written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, and James Caan. It is a parable that uses an extremely minimal, stage-like set to tell the story of Grace Mulligan (Kidman), a woman hiding from mobsters, who arrives in the small mountain town of Dogville, Colorado, and is provided refuge in return for physical labor. Her stay there ultimately changes the lives of the local people and the town in many ways.

The film is the first in von Trier's projected USA – Land of Opportunities trilogy, followed by Manderlay (2005) and to be completed with Wasington. The film was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival^[1] but Gus Van Sant's Elephant won the award. It was screened at various film festivals before receiving a limited release in the US on March 26, 2004.

Plot structure[link]

Prologue[link]

Dogville is a very small American town by an abandoned silver mine in the Rocky Mountains with a road leading up to it and nowhere else to go but the mountains. The film begins with a prologue in which we meet a dozen or so of the fifteen citizens. They are portrayed as lovable, good people with small flaws which are easy to forgive.

The town is seen from the point of view of Tom Edison Jr. (Paul Bettany), an aspiring writer who procrastinates by trying to get his fellow citizens together for regular meetings on the subject of "moral rearmament." It is clear that Tom wants to succeed his aging father (Philip Baker Hall), a physician, as the moral and spiritual leader of the town.

Chapter 1[link]

In which Tom hears gunfire and meets Grace

It is Tom who first meets Grace (Nicole Kidman), who is on the run from gangsters who we are led to believe shot at her. Grace, a beautiful but modest woman, wants to keep running, but Tom assures her that the mountains ahead are too difficult to pass. As they talk, the gangsters approach the town, and Tom quickly hides Grace in the nearby mine. One of the gangsters asks Tom if he has seen the woman, which he denies, and so the gangster offers him a reward and hands him a card with a phone number to call in case Grace shows up.

Tom decides to use Grace as an "illustration" in his next meeting—a way for the townspeople to prove that they are indeed committed to community values, can receive a gift, and are willing to help the stranger. They remain skeptical, so Tom proposes that Grace should be given a chance to prove that she is a good person. Grace is accepted for two weeks in which, as Tom explains to her after the meeting, she has to convince the townspeople to like her.

Chapter 2[link]

In which Grace follows Tom's plan and embarks upon physical labor

On Tom's suggestion, Grace offers to do chores for the citizens—talking to the lonely, blind Jack McCay (Ben Gazzara), helping to run the small shop, looking after the children of Chuck (Stellan Skarsgård) and Vera (Patricia Clarkson), and so forth. After some initial reluctance, the people accept her help in doing those chores that "nobody really needs" but which nevertheless make life better, and so she becomes a part of the community.

Chapter 3[link]

In which Grace indulges in a shady piece of provocation.

In tacit agreement, she is expected to continue her chores, which she does gladly, and is even paid small wages in return. Grace begins to make friends, including Jack, who pretends that he is not blind. Grace tricks him into admitting that he is blind, earning his respect. After the two weeks are over, everyone votes that she should be allowed to stay.

Chapter 4[link]

Happy times in Dogville

Things go smoothly in Dogville until the police arrive to place a "Missing" poster with Grace's picture and name on it on the mission house, the mood darkens slightly. The townspeople are divided as to whether they should or should not cooperate with the police.

Chapter 5[link]

Fourth of July after all

Still, things continue as usual until the 4th of July celebrations. After Tom awkwardly admits his love to Grace and the whole town expresses their agreement that it has become a better place thanks to her, the police arrive again to replace the "Missing" poster with a "Wanted" poster. Grace is now wanted for participation in a bank robbery. Everyone agrees that she must be innocent, since at the time the robbery took place, she was doing chores for the townspeople every day.

Nevertheless, Tom argues that because of the increased risk to the town now that they are harboring someone who is wanted as a criminal, Grace should provide a quid pro quo and do more chores for the townspeople within the same time, for less pay. At this point, what was previously a voluntary arrangement takes on a slightly coercive nature as Grace is clearly uncomfortable with the idea. Still, being very amenable and wanting to please Tom, Grace agrees.

Chapter 6[link]

In which Dogville bares its teeth

At this point the situation worsens, as with her additional workload, Grace inevitably makes mistakes, and the people she works for seem to be equally irritated by the new schedule – and take it out on Grace. The situation slowly escalates, with the male citizens making small sexual advances to Grace and the females becoming increasingly abusive. Even the children are perverse: Jason (Miles Purinton), the perhaps 10-year-old son of Chuck and Vera, asks Grace to spank him, until she finally complies after much provocation. Soon thereafter the police, believing they have found a clue—a cap—linking Grace to the town, discuss this with some of the residents on the street. Chuck walks to his house where Grace is watching his children, and threatening to turn her in if she resists, rapes her. The police leave after being told the cap does not belong to Grace, but it has become obvious that she is hardly able to defend herself against exploitation of the townsfolk.

Chapter 7[link]

In which Grace finally has had enough of Dogville, conspires to leave town, and again sees the light of day.

After Tom proposes his idea to help her escape, Vera blames Grace for spanking her son Jason and for seducing her husband Chuck. In revenge, Vera threatens to destroy the porcelain figurines Grace purchased with her hard earned wages from the local town shop. Grace begs for mercy and reminds Vera how she taught her children about the philosophy of stoicism. In response, Vera challenges Grace to demonstrate her own stoicism by not showing any emotion as Vera destroys two of the figurines, which she does. Grace is unable to hold back her tears and Vera proceeds to destroy all seven of the figurines. The symbol of her belonging in the town gone, she knows she must escape. She bribes the freight truck driver Ben to smuggle her out of town in his apple truck. Enroute Ben climbs into the back of the truck where she is hiding and tells her he must charge her a "surcharge" for harboring a police fugitive—and then extracts the surcharge from her by raping her—after which the truck lumbers only to return Grace to Dogville.

The town agrees that they must not let her escape again. The money paid to Ben to help Grace escape had been stolen by Tom from his father—but when Grace is blamed for the theft, Tom refuses to admit he did it because, as he explains, this is the only way he can still protect Grace without people getting suspicious. It is at this point, Grace's humiliating status as a slave is fully confirmed as she is collared and chained to a large heavy iron wheel which she must drag around with her, preventing her from moving anywhere outside of Dogville, and a bell is attached to the collar to announce her presence wherever she goes. Increasingly the townsmen take their turns sexually assaulting her daily.

Chapter 8[link]

In which there is a meeting where the truth is told and Tom leaves (only to return later).

This culminates in a late night general assembly in which Grace—following Tom's suggestion—relates calmly all that she has endured from everyone in town. Embarrassed and in complete denial, the townspeople finally decide to get rid of her. When Tom informs Grace to console her, he attempts to have sex with her, having been the only adult male townperson who has not done so. Grace, however, refuses to have sex with him. Angry partly at Grace's rejection, but even more at himself for his realization that he would eventually stoop to force himself upon her like everyone else in the town, Tom ends up personally calling the mobsters, and later proposes to unanimous approval that she be locked up in her shack.

Chapter 9 and ending[link]

In which Dogville receives the long-awaited visit and the film ends

When the mobsters finally arrive, they are welcomed cordially by Tom and an impromptu committee of other townspeople. Grace is then freed, and we finally learn who she really is: the daughter of a powerful gang leader who ran away because she could not stand her father's dirty work. Her father confronts her in his Cadillac and tells her that she is arrogant for not holding others to the same high standards to which she holds herself. At first she refuses to listen, but as she leaves the car and contemplates the discussion she has just had with her father, she looks again upon the town and its people, and is compelled to agree: she would have to condemn them to the worst possible punishment if she held them to the standards to which she held herself, and it would be self-righteous yet hypocritical not to. Her conclusion is confirmed when Tom then speaks to Grace; though he confesses fear as to what the gangsters will do to the town, he expresses no actual remorse or regret about his actions. His suggestion that the two have learned a great deal about human nature from his betrayal of Grace result in her returning to her father's car with the decision that Dogville must be wiped off the face of the Earth.

She then accepts her role as her father's daughter and orders that the whole town be eliminated. In particular, she gives the order to have Vera look on at the murder of each of her children, with the message that the killings will stop if she can hold back her tears. The film ends in a crescendo of violence. The town is burned and all its citizens are murdered by the gangsters on direct order from Grace, with the exception of Tom, whom she executes personally with a revolver. As the ashes of Dogville smolder around her, she finds and spares the only surviving resident, Moses the dog, who had disappeared while the town was revealing its true nature—ironically, the only resident not to have wronged her.

Cast[link]

Pilot[link]

Dogville: The Pilot was shot during 2001 in the pre-production phase to test whether the concept of chalk lines and sparse scenery would work. The fifteen-minute pilot film starred Danish actors Sidse Babett Knudsen (as Grace) and Nikolaj Lie Kaas (as Tom). Eventually Lars von Trier was happy with the overall results. As a result, he and the producers decided to move forward with the production of the feature film. It is featured on the second disc of the Dogville (2003) DVD, released in November 2003.^[2]

Staging[link]

The story of Dogville is narrated by John Hurt in nine chapters and takes place on a stage with minimalist scenery. Some walls and furniture are placed on the stage, but the rest of the scenery exists merely as white painted outlines which have big labels on them; for example, the outlines of gooseberry bushes have the text "Gooseberry Bushes" written next to them. While this form of staging is common in black box theaters, it has rarely been attempted on film before — the Western musical Red Garters (1954) and Vanya on 42nd Street (1994) being notable exceptions. The bare staging serves to focus the audience's attention on the acting and storytelling, and also reminds them of the film's artificiality. As such it is heavily influenced by the theatre of Bertolt Brecht. (There are also similarities between the song "Seeräuberjenny" ("Pirate Jenny") in Brecht and Kurt Weill's Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) and the story of Dogville.^[3] Chico Buarque's version of this song, Geni e o Zepelim [Geni and the Zeppelin], deals with the more erotic aspects of abjection and bears striking similarity to von Trier's cinematic homage to the song.) The film does however employ carefully designed lighting to suggest natural effects such as the moving shadows of clouds, and sound effects are used to create the presence of non-existent set pieces (i.e. there are no doors, but the doors can always be heard when an actor "opens" or "closes" one).

The movie was shot on high-definition video using a Sony HDW-F900 camera in a studio in Trollhättan, Sweden.

The story of Dogville is given in 9 chapters and a prologue, with a description of each chapter given as it takes place in the film. These descriptions are given above.

Interpretations[link]

Ebert and Roeper criticized Dogville as having a strongly anti-American message, citing, for example, the closing credits sequence with images of poverty-stricken Americans (taken from Jacob Holdt's documentary book American Pictures, 1984) accompanied by David Bowie's song Young Americans.^[4] In 2009, American director Quentin Tarantino named the film as one of his top 20 films that have been made since he has been directing.^[5] He also said to believe that, had the movie been written for the stage, von Trier would have won a Pulitzer prize.^{[citation needed]}

According to von Trier, the point of the film is that "evil can arise anywhere, as long as the situation is right."^[6]

Reception[link]

Critical[link]

The film garnered acclaim from several publications and holds a "fresh" rating of 71% on the movie review website rottentomatoes.^[7]

Commercial[link]

The film grossed $1,535,286 in the US market and $15,145,550 from the rest of the world for a total gross of $16,680,836 worldwide. In the opening US weekend it did poorly, grossing only $88,855. The movie was released in only nine theaters, however, with an average of $9,872 per theater.^[8] In Denmark, the film grossed $1,231,984.^[9] The highest-grossing country was Italy, with $3,272,119.^[9]

Accolades[link]

Award	Category	Recipients and nominees	Result
Bodil Awards	Best Danish Film	Lars von Trier	Won
	Best Actress	Nicole Kidman	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Stellan Skarsgård	Nominated
Robert Award	Best Costume Design	Manon Rasmussen	Won
	Best Screenplay	Lars von Trier	Won
	Best Editor	Molly Marlene Stensgaard	Nominated
	Best Film	Lars von Trier	Nominated
	Best Cinematography	Anthony Dod Mantle	Nominated
	Best Production Design	Peter Grant[disambiguation needed ]	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Stellan Skarsgård	Nominated
	Best Director	Lars von Trier	Nominated
Cannes Film Festival	Palme d'Or	Lars von Trier	Nominated
European Film Awards	Best Cinematographer	Anthony Dod Mantle	Won
	Best Film	Lars von Trier	Nominated
	Best Director	Lars von Trier	Nominated
	Best Screenwriter	Lars von Trier	Nominated
Chlotrudis Awards	Best Cast	Cast of Dogville	Nominated
	Best Screenplay	Lars Von Trier	Nominated
Goya Awards	Best European Film	Lars von Trier	Nominated
Russian Guild of Film Critics	Russian Guild of Film Critics Golden Aries Award for Best Foreign Actress	Nicole Kidman	Won
	Best Foreign Film	Lars von Trier	Won
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists	Best Director	Lars von Trier	Nominated
Guldbagge Award	Best Foreign Film	Lars von Trier	Nominated
Golden Trailer Awards	Best Independent	Lars von Trier	Nominated
David di Donatello	Best European Film	Lars von Trier	Won
Copenhagen International Film Festival	Honorary Award	Lars von Trier	Won
Cinema Brazil Grand Prize	Best Foreign Film	Lars von Trier	Won
Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain	Best Foreign Film	Lars von Trier	Won
Guild of German Art House Cinemas	Best Foreign Film	Lars von Trier	Won
Sofia International Film Festival	Best Film	Lars von Trier	Won

Top ten lists[link]

• 1st – Mark Kermode, BBC Radio Five Live
• 2nd – J. Hoberman, Village Voice
• 3rd – Overall, Village Voice
• 4th – Dennis Lim, Village Voice
• 5th – Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
• 8th – J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
• n/a – David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
• n/a – Ron Stringer, LA Weekly

Source:^[10]

Further reading[link]

• Georg Tiefenbach: Drama und Regie (Writing and Directing): Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2010. ISBN 978-3-8260-4096-2.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Dogville

• Official website
• Dogville at the Internet Movie Database
• Dogville at AllRovi
• Dogville at Box Office Mojo
• Dogville at Rotten Tomatoes
• Dogville at AboutFilm.com: analysis by Carlo Cavagna
• On the Nature of Dogs, the Right of Grace, Forgiveness and Hospitality: Derrida, Kant, and Lars Von Trier's Dogville by Adam Atkinson
• Newsweek review
• BBC Collective review
• Dogville, or, the Dirty Birth of Law theoretical essay

v t e Cinema of France Actors Directors Cinematographers Editors Films A-Z Producers Score composers Screenwriters Film festivals Films by year: 1892–1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

v t e Cinema of Denmark Actors Directors Cinematographers Producers Screenwriters Score composers Studios Films A–Z Films by year: pre-1910 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman at the 2010 Country Music Awards
Born	Nicole Mary Kidman (1967-06-20) 20 June 1967 (age 45) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.
Residence	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Citizenship	Australian and American (dual)
Occupation	Actress, singer, producer[1]
Years active	1983–present
Spouse	Tom Cruise (1990–2001) Keith Urban (2006–present)
Children	4
Relatives	Antonia Kidman (sister)
Website
www.nicolekidmanofficial.com

Nicole Mary Kidman, AC (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian actress, singer, film producer,^[1] and humanitarian. Kidman began her career in 1983, starring in various Australian film and television productions until her breakthrough in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. Following several films over the early 1990s, she came to worldwide recognition for her performances in Days of Thunder (1990), Far and Away (1992), and Batman Forever (1995). Kidman followed this with other successful films in the late 1990s. It was her performance in the musical, Moulin Rouge! (2001) which earned Kidman her second Golden Globe Award and first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Her performance as Virginia Woolf the following year in the drama film The Hours (2002) received critical acclaim and earned Kidman the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Kidman's other notable films include To Die For (1995), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Cold Mountain (2003), The Interpreter (2005), and Australia (2008). Her performance in 2010's Rabbit Hole (which she also produced) earned Kidman further accolades including a subsequent Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Kidman has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF since 1994^[2] and for UNIFEM since 2006.^[3] Kidman's work has earned her a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, three Golden Globe Awards, one BAFTA, and an Academy Award. In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia's highest civilian honor,^[4] and was also the highest-paid actress in the motion picture industry.^[5] As a result of being born to Australian parents in Hawaii, Kidman has dual citizenship in Australia and the United States.^[6]

Early life[link]

Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her parents were in the United States on educational visas at the time. Kidman can thus claim both U.S. and Australian citizenship.^[7] Her father, Dr. Antony David Kidman, is a biochemist, clinical psychologist, and author, with an office in Lane Cove, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.^[8][9] Her mother, Janelle Ann (née Glenny), is a nursing instructor who edits her husband's books and was a member of the Women's Electoral Lobby. Kidman's ancestry includes Scottish and Irish.^[10] At the time of Kidman's birth in 1967, her father was a graduate student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He soon after became a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States. Opposed to the War in Vietnam, which was causing social unrest in both Australia and the United States, Kidman's parents participated in anti-war protests while they were living in Washington, DC.^[11] The family returned to Australia when Kidman was four and her parents now live on Sydney's North Shore. Kidman has a younger sister, Antonia Kidman, a journalist and TV presenter.

Kidman attended Lane Cove Public School and North Sydney Girls' High School. She was enrolled in ballet at three and showed her natural talent for acting in her primary and high school years.^[12] Kidman revealed she was timid as a child, saying, "I am very shy – really shy – I even had a stutter as a kid, which I slowly got over, but I still regress into that shyness. So I don’t like walking into a crowded restaurant by myself; I don’t like going to a party by myself".^[13] In 1984, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, which caused Kidman to temporarily halt her education and help provide for the family by working as a massage therapist at age 17.^[12] She studied at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Victoria, and at the Phillip Street Theatre in Sydney, with actress and friend Naomi Watts who had attended the same high school as she did.^[12][14] This was followed by attending the Australian Theatre for Young People.^[12] Here she took up drama, mime and performing in her teens, finding acting to be a refuge. Due to her fair skin and naturally red hair, the Australian sun forced the young Kidman to rehearse in halls of the theatre. A regular at the Phillip Street Theatre, she received both encouragement and praise to pursue acting full-time.^[15]

Career[link]

1983-1994[link]

In 1983, aged 16, Kidman made her film debut in the Australian holiday season favourite, Bush Christmas.^[15] By the end of 1983, she had a supporting role in the television series Five Mile Creek and began gaining popularity in the mid-1980s after appearing in several film roles, including BMX Bandits, Watch the Shadows Dance, and the romantic comedy Windrider (1986), which earned Kidman attention due to her racy scenes. Also during the decade, she appeared in several Australian productions, including the soap opera A Country Practice and the miniseries Vietnam (1986). She also made guest appearances on Australian television programs and TV movies. She also appeared in Sesame Street.

In 1988, Kidman appeared in Emerald City, based on the play of the same name. The Australian film earned her an Australian Film Institute for Best Supporting Actress. After appearing in the Australian miniseries Bangkok Hilton, Kidman starred in Dead Calm (1989) as Rae Ingram, playing the wife of a naval officer. The thriller garnered strong reviews and brought Kidman to international recognition; Variety commented: "Throughout the film, Kidman is excellent. She gives the character of Rae real tenacity and energy."^[16] Meanwhile, critic Roger Ebert noted the excellent chemistry between the leads, stating, "Kidman and Zane do generate real, palpable hatred in their scenes together."^[17] She moved on to star alongside her then-boyfriend and future husband, Tom Cruise, in the 1990 auto racing film Days of Thunder, playing a young doctor who falls in love with a NASCAR driver. This was Kidman's American debut and was among the highest-grossing films of the year.^[18]

In 1991, she co-starred with former classmate and friend Naomi Watts and Thandie Newton in the independent film Flirting. Kidman and Watts portrayed two high school girls in this coming of age story, which won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film.^[19] That same year, her work in the film Billy Bathgate earned Kidman her first Golden Globe Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. The New York Times, in its film review, called her "a beauty with, it seems, a sense of humor".^[20] The following year, she and Cruise re-teamed for Ron Howard's Irish epic Far and Away (1992), which was a modest critical^[21][22] and commercial^[23] success. In 1993, she starred in My Life opposite Michael Keaton and the thriller, Malice opposite Alec Baldwin.

1995–2003[link]

In 1995, Kidman appeared in her highest-grossing live-action film as of 2011,^[24] playing Dr. Chase Meridian, the damsel in distress, in the superhero film Batman Forever, opposite Val Kilmer as the film's title character. That same year Kidman appeared in Gus Van Sant's critically acclaimed To Die For, earning praise for her portrayal of murderous newscaster Suzanne Stone Maretto.^[25][26]

Kidman next appeared in The Portrait of a Lady (1996), based on the novel the same name, alongside, Barbara Hershey, John Malkovich and Mary-Louise Parker. The following year she appeared in the action-thriller The Peacemaker (1997) as White House nuclear expert Dr. Julia Kelly, opposite George Clooney. The film received mixed reviews but grossed some $110,000,000 worldwide.^[27][28] That same year she appeared opposite Sandra Bullock in the poorly received fantasy Practical Magic as a modern-day witch.^[29] Kidman returned to her work on stage the same year in the David Hare play The Blue Room, which opened in London.

In 1999, Kidman reunited with then husband, Tom Cruise, to portray a married couple in Eyes Wide Shut, the final film of Stanley Kubrick. The film opened to generally positive reviews but was subject to censorship controversies due to the explicit nature of its sex scenes.^[30] The film received further attention following Kubrick's death shortly before its release. After brief hiatus and a highly publicized divorce from Cruise,^[31] Kidman returned to the screen to play a mail-order bride in the British-American drama Birthday Girl.

Kidman at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival promoting her film, Moulin Rouge!

In 2001, Kidman appeared in two of her most critically and commercially successful films. In the first she played the cabaret actress and courtesan Satine in Baz Luhrmann's musical Moulin Rouge!, opposite Ewan McGregor. Subsequently, Kidman received her second Golden Globe Award, for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, as well as other acting awards. She also received her first Academy Award nomination, for Best Actress. Also in 2001, she had a well-received starring role in Alejandro Amenábar's Spanish horror film The Others as Grace Stewart. Grossing over $210,947,037 worldwide, the film also earned several Goya Awards award nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for Kidman. Additionally she received her second BAFTA and fifth Golden Globe nominations.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, Kidman won critical praise for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry's The Hours, which also featured Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. Kidman wore prosthetics that were applied to her nose making her almost unrecognisable playing the author during her time in 1920s England, and her bouts with depression and mental illness while trying to write her novel, Mrs. Dalloway. The film earned positive notices and several nominations, including for an Academy Award for Best Picture. The New York Times wrote that, "Kidman tunnels like a ferret into the soul of a woman besieged by excruciating bouts of mental illness. As you watch her wrestle with the demon of depression, it is as if its torment has never been shown on the screen before. Directing her desperate, furious stare into the void, her eyes not really focusing, Ms. Kidman, in a performance of astounding bravery, evokes the savage inner war waged by a brilliant mind against a system of faulty wiring that transmits a searing, crazy static into her brain".^[32] Kidman won numerous critics' awards, including her first BAFTA, third Golden Globe, and the Academy Award for Best Actress. As the first Australian actress to win an Academy Award, Kidman made a teary acceptance speech about the importance of art, even during times of war, saying, "Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil? Because art is important. And because you believe in what you do and you want to honour that, and it is a tradition that needs to be upheld."^[33]

Following her Oscar win, Kidman appeared in three very different films in 2003. The first, a leading role in Dogville, by Danish director Lars von Trier, was an experimental film set on a bare soundstage. The second was an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel The Human Stain, opposite Anthony Hopkins. Her third film, Anthony Minghella's war drama Cold Mountain, was a critical and commercial success. Kidman appeared opposite Jude Law and Renée Zellweger, playing Southerner Ada Monroe, who is in love with Law's character and separated by the Civil War. TIME magazine wrote, "Kidman takes strength from Ada's plight and grows steadily, literally luminous. Her sculptural pallor gives way to warm radiance in the firelight".^[34] The film garnered several award nominations and wins for its actors; Kidman received her sixth Golden Globe nomination at the 61st Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress.

2004–2008[link]

In 2004 she appeared in the film, Birth, which received controversy over a scene in which Kidman shares a bath with her co-star, 10-year old Cameron Bright. At a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, Kidman addressed the controversy saying, "It wasn't that I wanted to make a film where I kiss a 10-year-old boy. I wanted to make a film where you understand love".^[35] Though the film received negative to mixed reviews, Kidman earned her seventh Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actress – Motion Picture. That same year she appeared in the black comedy-science-fiction film The Stepford Wives, a remake of the 1975 film of the same name. Kidman appeared in the lead role as Joanna Eberhart, a successful producer. The film, directed by Frank Oz, was critically panned and a commercial failure. The following year, Kidman appeared opposite Sean Penn in the Sydney Pollack thriller The Interpreter, playing UN translator Silvia Broome. Also that year she starred in Bewitched, based on the 1960s TV sitcom of the same name, opposite Will Ferrell. Both Kidman and Ferrell earned that year's Razzie Award for "Worst Screen Couple". Neither film fared well in the United States, with box office sales falling well short of the production costs, but both films fared well internationally.^[36][37]

In conjunction with her success in the film industry, Kidman became the face of the Chanel No. 5 perfume brand. She starred in a campaign of television and print ads with Rodrigo Santoro, directed by Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann, to promote the fragrance during the holiday seasons of 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008. The three-minute commercial produced for Chanel No. 5 made Kidman the record holder for the most money paid per minute to an actor after she reportedly earned US$12million for the three-minute advert.^[38] During this time, Kidman was also listed as the 45th Most Powerful Celebrity on the 2005 Forbes Celebrity 100 List. She made a reported US$14.5 million in 2004–2005. On People magazine's list of 2005's highest paid actresses, Kidman was second behind Julia Roberts, with US$16–17 million per-film price tag.^[39] Nintendo in 2007 announced that Kidman would be the new face of Nintendo's advertising campaign for the Nintendo DS game More Brain Training in its European market.^[40]

Kidman portrayed photographer Diane Arbus in the biography Fur (2006), opposite Robert Downey Jr.. Though the film was released to mixed reviews, both Kidman and Downey Jr. received praise for their performances. She also lent her voice to the animated film Happy Feet (2006), which grossed over US$384 million worldwide. In 2007, she starred in the science-fiction movie The Invasion directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, a remake of the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers that proved a critical and commercial failure. She also played opposite Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black in Noah Baumbach's comedy-drama Margot at the Wedding, released to positive reviews and earning Kidman a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. She then starred in the commercially successful fantasy-adventure, The Golden Compass (2007), playing the villainous Marisa Coulter. In 2008, she reunited with Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann in the Australian period film Australia, set in the remote Northern Territory during the Japanese attack on Darwin during World War II. Kidman played opposite Hugh Jackman as an Englishwoman feeling overwhelmed by the continent. Despite the film's mixed reviews, the acting was praised and the movie was a box office success worldwide.^[41] Kidman was originally set to star in the post-World War II German drama, The Reader, working with previous collaborators Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella, but due to her pregnancy prior to filming she had to back out.^[42] The role went to Kate Winslet, who ultimately won the Oscar for Best Actress, which Kidman presented to her during the 81st Academy Awards.

2009–present[link]

Kidman at Tropfest 2012

Kidman appeared in the 2009 Rob Marshall musical Nine, portraying the Federico Fellini-like character's muse, Claudia Jenssen. She was featured alongside fellow Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz and Sophia Loren. Kidman's, whose screen time was brief compared to the other actresses, performed the musical number "Unusual Way" alongside Day-Lewis. Although the film was released to mixed reviews, it received several Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, and earned Kidman a third Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, as part of the Outstanding Cast. Also in 2009, Kidman was the face of an international Schweppes advertisement.^[43] In 2010, she starred with Aaron Eckhart in the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rabbit Hole, for which she vacated her role in the Woody Allen picture You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger.^[44] She lent her voice to a promotional video that Australia used to support its bid to host the 2018 World Cup. The five-minute video was broadcast at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.^[45]

TV Guide reported in 2008 that Kidman will star in The Danish Girl, a film adaptation of the novel of the same name, playing Lili Elbe, the world's first postoperative transsexual.^[46] Screen Daily reported that shooting would begin in Germany in July 2011.^[47] However the project has been delayed following the exit of the director, Lasse Hallström and Kidman's co-star Rachel Weisz.^[48] In 2009, Variety said that she would produce and star in a film adaptation of the Chris Cleave novel Little Bee, in association with BBC Films.^[49][50]

In June 2010, TV Guide announced that Kidman and Clive Owen will star in an HBO film about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn. entitled Hemingway & Gellhorn. The film, directed by Philip Kaufman,^[51] began shooting in March 2011, with an air date scheduled for 2012.^[52] She also stars alongside Nicolas Cage in director Joel Schumacher's action-thriller Trespass, with the stars playing a married couple taken hostage.^[53]

On 17 September 2010, ContactMusic. com said Kidman will return to Broadway to portray Alexandra Del Lago in David Cromer's revival of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth, with Scott Rudin producing^[54] On 30 August 2011 Cromer spoke to the The New York Times and explained that the production will not meet its original fall 2011 revival date but that it remains an active project.^[55] In February 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported Kidman is in talks to join the cast of Park Chan Wook's Stoker.^[56] In May 2011 it was reported that Kidman would star and produce in Spectre, a supernatural thriller directed by James Wan. The film closed major territory deals at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.^[57] In June Kidman was cast in Lee Daniels' upcoming adaptation of the Pete Dexter novel, The Paperboy^[58] and began filming the thriller on 1 August 2011.^[59] On 2 November 2011, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Kidman is attached to star in My Wild Life, a Philip Noyce-directed biopic of conservationist, Daphne Sheldrick. Production for the project is scheduled for the first quarter of 2012.^[60]

In April 2012, various sources, including Variety, announced that Kidman was in talks to star in upcoming Grace Kelly biopic Grace of Monaco. The film will focus on the 1962 crisis, in which Charles de Gaulle blockaded the tiny principality, angered by Monaco's status as a tax haven for wealthy French subjects.^[61]

Singing[link]

Her collaboration with Ewan McGregor on "Come What May" peaked at No.27 in the UK Singles Chart.^[62] Later she collaborated with Robbie Williams on "Somethin' Stupid", a cover of Williams' swing covers album Swing When You're Winning. It peaked at No.8 in the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart, and at No.1 for three weeks in the UK.^[63]

In 2006, while voicing a role in the animated movie Happy Feet, she provided vocals for Norma Jean's "heartsong", a slightly altered version of "Kiss" by Prince.^{[citation needed]} Kidman sang in Rob Marshall's movie musical Nine.

Personal life[link]

Relationships and children[link]

Kidman has been married twice, first to actor Tom Cruise, and then to singer Keith Urban. She has an adopted son and daughter with Cruise, as well as two biological daughters with Urban.

She met Cruise in November 1989 on the set of their 1990 movie Days of Thunder. Kidman and Cruise were married on Christmas Eve 1990 in Telluride, Colorado. The couple adopted a daughter, Isabella Jane (born 22 December 1992),^[64] and a son, Connor Anthony (born 17 January 1995).^[64] On February 5, 2001, the couple's spokesperson announced their separation.^[65] Cruise filed for divorce two days later, and the marriage was dissolved in August of that year, with Cruise citing irreconcilable differences.^[66] Kidman was three months pregnant at the time; shortly afterward, she suffered a miscarriage.^[67] In Marie Claire, Kidman said she had an ectopic pregnancy early in their marriage.^[68] In the June 2006 Ladies' Home Journal, she said she still loved Cruise: "He was huge; still is. To me, he was just Tom, but to everybody else, he is huge. But he was lovely to me and I loved him. I still love him." In addition, she has expressed shock about their divorce.^[69]

Nicole Kidman in August 2006, prior the start of filming as Marisa Coulter in The Golden Compass

Prior to marrying Cruise, Kidman cohabited with Australian stage actor Marcus Graham in the late 1980s.^[70] In the mid-1980s, Kidman dated her Windrider co-star Tom Burlinson,^[71][72] with whom she lived with on and off for three years, according to biographer Andrew Morton.^[73] She dated musician Lenny Kravitz from 2003 to 2004.^[74] Robbie Williams stated that he had a short romance with Kidman on her yacht during the summer of 2004. In a 2007 interview, Kidman revealed that she was secretly engaged to someone between her marriages to Cruise and Urban, but did not identify who.^[75]

Kidman met her second husband, New Zealand country singer Keith Urban, at G'Day LA, an event honouring Australians, in January 2005. They married on 25 June 2006, at Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel in the grounds of St Patrick's Estate, Manly in Sydney.^[76][77] They maintain homes in Sydney, Sutton Forest, New South Wales, Los Angeles, California,^[78] and Nashville, Tennessee.^[79] The couple's daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, was born on 7 July 2008, in Nashville.^[80] Kidman's father said the daughter's middle name was after Urban's late grandmother, Rose.^[81] On 28 December 2010, Kidman and Urban welcomed his second daughter and her third daughter, Faith Margaret Kidman Urban, via gestational carrier^[82] at Nashville's Centennial Women's Hospital. The child is biologically Kidman and Urban's. Faith's middle name is after Kidman's late grandmother.^[83][84]

Religious and political views[link]

Kidman is a practicing Roman Catholic.^[85] She attended Mary Mackillop Chapel in North Sydney. Following criticism of The Golden Compass by Catholic leaders^[86] as anti-Catholic,^[87] Kidman told Entertainment Weekly that "the Catholic Church is part of her 'essence'", and that her religious beliefs would prevent her from taking a role in a film she perceives as anti-Catholic.^[88]

During her divorce from Tom Cruise, she stated that she did not want their children raised as Scientologists.^[89] She has been reluctant to discuss Scientology since her divorce.^[90]

Kidman has donated to U.S. Democratic party candidates.^[91]

Wealth, philanthropy, and honours[link]

Kidman signing autographs at the premier of The Golden Compass in 2007

In 2002, Kidman first appeared on the Australian rich list published annually in the Business Review Weekly with an estimated net worth of A$122 million.^[92] In the 2011 published list, Kidman's wealth was estimated at A$304 million, down from A$329 million in 2010.^[93]

Kidman has raised money for, and drawn attention to, disadvantaged children around the world. In 1994, she was appointed a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF,^[2] and in 2004, she was honoured as a "Citizen of the World" by the United Nations.^{[citation needed]} Kidman joined the Little Tee Campaign for breast cancer care to design T-shirts or vests to raise money to fight the disease;^[94] motivated by her mother's own battle with breast cancer in 1984.^[95]

On Australia Day 2006, Kidman received Australia's highest civilian honor when she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. The citation acknowledged Kidman's service to the performing arts as an acclaimed motion picture performer, to health care through contributions to improve medical treatment for women and children and advocacy for cancer research, to youth as a principal supporter of young performing artists, and to humanitarian causes in Australia and internationally.^[96]

Kidman was appointed goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in 2006.^[2] In this capacity, Kidman has addressed international audiences at UN events, raised awareness through the media and testified before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs to support the International Violence against Women Act. Kidman visited Kosovo in 2006 to learn about women's experiences of conflict and UNIFEM's support efforts. She is the international spokesperson for UNIFEM's Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence against Women initiative.^[97] Kidman and the UNIFEM executive director presented over five million signatures collected during the first phase of this to the UN Secretary-General on 25 November 2008.^[98]

In the beginning of 2009, Kidman appeared in a series of postage stamps featuring Australian actors. She, Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe, and Cate Blanchett each appear twice in the series: once as themselves and once as their Academy Award-winning character.^[99] On 8 January 2010, Kidman, alongside Nancy Pelosi, Joan Chen and Joe Torre, attended the ceremony to help Family Violence Prevention Fund break ground on a new international center located in the Presidio of San Francisco.^[100][101]

Filmography[link]

As of November 2010^[update], Kidman's movies have grossed more than $2 billion (US), with 17 movies making more than $100 million.^[102]

Awards[link]

Kidman at 83rd Academy Awards

In 2003, Kidman received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition to her 2003 Academy Award for Best Actress, Kidman has received Best Actress awards from the following critics' groups or award-granting organisations: the Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globes), the Australian Film Institute, Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, Empire Awards, Golden Satellite Awards, Hollywood Film Festival, London Critics Circle, Russian Guild of Film Critics, and the Southeastern Film Critics Association. In 2003, Kidman was given the American Cinematheque Award. She also received recognition from the National Association of Theatre Owners at the ShoWest Convention in 1992 as the Female Star of Tomorrow and in 2002 for a Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film.

Government honours[link]

In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honour, for "service to the performing arts as an acclaimed motion picture performer, to health care through contributions to improve medical treatment for women and children and advocacy for cancer research, to youth as a principal supporter of young performing artists, and to humanitarian causes in Australia and internationally."^[109] However, due to film commitments and her wedding to Urban, it was 13 April 2007 that she was presented with the honour.^[110] It was presented by Governor-General of Australia, Major General Michael Jeffery in a ceremony at Government House, Canberra.^[111]

Discography[link]

• "Come What May" single (Duet with Ewan McGregor – October 2001) AUS #10, UK #27
• "One Day I'll Fly Away" – October 2001 (Moulin Rouge! soundtrack)
• "Sparkling Diamonds" (with Caroline O'Connor) – October 2001 (Moulin Rouge! soundtrack)
• "Hindi Sad Diamonds" – October 2001 (Moulin Rouge! soundtrack)
• "Somethin' Stupid" single (Duet with Robbie Williams – December 2001) AUS #8, UK #1
• "Kiss" / "Heartbreak Hotel" – Nicole Kidman / Hugh Jackman – November 2006 (Happy Feet soundtrack)
• "Unusual Way" – December 2009 (Nine soundtrack)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Thomson, David (2006). Nicole Kidman. Knopf. ISBN 1-4000-4273-9. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nicole Kidman

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Nicole Kidman

• Official website
• Nicole Kidman at the Internet Movie Database
• Nicole Kidman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Nicole Kidman at AllRovi
• Nicole Kidman at Yahoo! Movies
• Nicole Kidman at People.com
• Nicole Kidman's charity work

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Anthony Dod Mantle BSC (born 1955) is a British cinematographer notable for his work in digital cinematography.

Career[link]

Dod Mantle directed photography on three Dogme 95 films and the first two episodes of Wallander. He used the Red One digital camera on Wallander, the first British television production to do so.^[1] He won the British Academy Television Craft Award for Photography & Lighting (Fiction/Entertainment) for his work on the series^[2] and was nominated for a RTS Craft & Design Award for Lighting, Photography & Camera—Photography—Drama.^[3] He was also cinematographer on Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle, 2008), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in 2009.

Dod Mantle lives with his family in Copenhagen, Denmark.^[1]

Filmography[link]

• Festen (1998)
• Mifune's Last Song (1999)
• Julien Donkey-Boy (1999)
• Bornholms stemme (1999)
• 28 Days Later (2002)
• It's All About Love (2003)
• Dogville (2003)
• Millions (2004)
• Dear Wendy (2005)
• Manderlay (2005)
• Brothers of the Head (2005)
• The Last King of Scotland (2006)
• Just Like Home (2007)
• Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
• Antichrist (2009)
• 127 Hours (2010)^[4]
• The Eagle (2011)^[4]
• Dredd (2012)^[4]
• Trance (2012)
• Rush (2013)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Anthony Dod Mantle at the Internet Movie Database