January 2003
From Woman's Weekly (Australian magazine)
Text only version from scanned article featured here
Baz and Nic's Next Big Thing
Director Baz Luhrmann knew exactly who he wanted to play Leo's sexy mama - Nicole!
She's just seven years older than Leonardo
DiCaprio but Baz Luhrmann has cast Nicole Kidman as Leo's mum in Alexander the Great.
The movie is Baz's much anticipated follow-up to the Oscar nominated Moulin Rouge, and who
better to be his stars than Nicole, and Leo - who appeared in his hit Romeo + Juliet?
"This is Baz's most ambitious movie ever," says an Alexander the Great insider,
"And he's going all-out with the casting. He wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to play the
mighty Alexander and that's just what he got. Next he demanded his good friend Nicole be
cast as Leo's mum! And he got her! She signed to play Olympia just before Christmas - and
what a Christmas present for the movie!"
"Leonardo is especially psyched to have Nicole on board. He was pushing hard to get
her the part. There was a lot of talk about how Nicole was just a few years older that
Leonardo. The studio was especially concerned about the age discrepancy. They were
thinking of an older actress to play Olympia, someone like Sharon Stone or Glenn Close. So
when Baz came up with Nicole the studio thought he had lost it."
Executives were afraid there would be sexual chemistry between Nicole and Leo, and that it
would be off-putting for audiences. But Baz convinced them Nicole is a great actress who
can make an audience believe she's any age she wants - and that the sexual tension between
mother and son is exactly what he's after! He believes there was a definite Oedipal theme
running through all the historical accounts of Alexander's life.
The young king, leading the tiny Macedonian army, had conquered most of the known world by
age 25. The movie concentrates on his eight-year battle against the mighty Persian Empire
- as well as his relationship with his boyhood friend and battle-mate, Hephaestion.
"Alexander had one great love of his life and it was Hephaestion," the source
reveals. "It's a central part of the script. Alexander's mother, Olympia, didn't much
care for Hephaestion and she made life difficult for her son and his lover."
The resulting fireworks between the three characters made the role of Olympia too juicy
for Nicole to pass up. But there were a few tense moments when it came to finding the
money to pay her. "It's a supporting actress part and Nicole commands a lead
price," says the source. "But everyone finally agreed that getting Nicole in the
part was worth every penny and they'd find ways to slash the budget down the road."
Once money was set aside there was just one more hurdle to overcome - Nicole's schedule.
She's filming the remake of The Stepford Wives and doing promo work for Dogville, so Baz
rearranged filming to shoot her scenes in the windows of time she had available. "Leo
said he'd be willing to work 24 hours a day to accommodate Nicole. She was really
flattered by that."
Baz has also promised to put a very honest depiction of a gay relationship on screen. The
studio was initially concerned that Leo's core audience of teenage girls wouldn't go for
him kissing a man on screen, but Baz insisted it was the right approach.
"The studio finally caved and agreed to let Baz film it the way he wants to."
The movie will be shot in Ouarzazate, Morocco, where three soundstages are being built
just for this production. Baz intends to do some of the additional filming at the GOx
soundstages in Sydney. The budget for Alexander the Great is $260 million and Ted Tally
(Silence of the Lambs) has written the script.
"Baz has wanted to do this movie for ages," says our source. "He's
fascinated by how much there is to discover about Alexander. Baz has a theory that
Alexander invented western civilisation as we know it and he's going to show why in the
film."