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Topic: Kidman in BIRTH: inappropriate scenes with 10 year old boy

Pravin Ratnam
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 844
From: Atlanta, GA,USA
Registered: Sep 2002

posted 06-14-2004 07:31 PM

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004271117,00.html

NICOLE Kidman has sparked outrage with her new film in which she gets passionate in the bath with a ten-year-old boy.

The shocking movie Birth will feature bizarre scenes of her nude and getting romantic with an underage lad she believes is the reincarnation of her dead husband.

But horrified executives may have to pull the plug on the £30million production after seeing the final version of the movie, according to a US magazine.

The weird flick sees Kidman playing a widow, and two scenes have got New Line Cinema hot under the collar. Kidman and the boy strip off together to submerge in bubbles and then they even lock lips.

Insiders say the film has been plagued by constant creative battles and rewrites. Now angry executives have protested to producers that the bath and kissing scenes are “borderline disgusting” to watch.

And the PR companies who are supposed to be promoting the film are calling it “a publicity nightmare,” reports The National Enquirer.

END OF NEWS ITEM FROM THE SUN.

My take:
I heard about this on the morning radio stations and I even checked imdb forums. I am still shocked that a hollywood director would be this stupid to film this. I am not a stiff prude as people can tell by my previous posts. But there is a line that people should draw. I heard about Tin Drum and from a magazine article I read, that was edited together well to prevent the actors from engaging in anything seriously inappropriate. Even for Lolita, they upped the age of the actress, because the novel had a younger age for the character. Plus they used body doubles for Swain.

For scenes like this, even the 13-15 age range will have most people uncomfortable. But for a 10 year old?? I think one should draw the line. I haven't seen the scene. But it would have been very easy to make the same point without having the kid in that scene to such a degree. All they had to do was show Kidman taking off her clothes in one angle, and then show her getting into the bathtub without showing the boy's face. Then they could do a fadeaway from the boy's point of view showing only Kidman's face approaching the camera to make out. That in itself would make quite a few people uncomfortable, but would at least not have the audience worried about whether the child actor was mde to be part of the scene. If anything, i think it detracts from the narrative because no matter what people say along the lines of "Hey it's only a movie , and not real life" , one can't avoid thinking "Hey , but the kid was in the bathtub making out with a naked Kidman in real life, even if it was for a shoot."

Then you will have people who will say "hey , if you were that boy , wouldnt' you have wanted to be doing that with Kidman". My view is this "hey maybe if he was at least 13 or 14." Yeah kids are maturing faster lately, but 10 is still 10 in any era. I think the parents should have put their foot down and not given permission for the scene. Then again, I thought scenes were needlessly explicit for Pretty Baby.

I don't know. I haven't seen any angry denials yet. So it makes me think the article is fairly accurate. I would actually be interested in audience reactions when this movie comes out.

[ 06-16-2004, 02:24 PM: Message edited by: Pravin Ratnam ]