Australian actress Nicole Kidman began her professional career in 1983 with an appearance in the holiday movie “Bush Christmas”, and immediately afterwards starred in Brian Trenchard-Smith's highly watchable action film “BMX Bandits”, which is all about teenagers. She was 16 years old then. However, Kidman was a striking presence on screen and immediately launched a busy career that has not slowed down since. For six years, Kidman graced Australian television and cinema, and in 1989 the actress finally broke into Hollywood with a role in the suspenseful thriller Dead Calm. In 1990, she starred alongside Tom Cruise in Tony Scott's “Days of Thunder.” and her superstar status was cemented. That same year, she also began dating Cruise, and in 1990 they married, remaining one of Hollywood's most visible and influential couples for a decade.
Kidman has been involved in a variety of projects, appearing in costume dramas, comedies, FX-driven blockbusters, Oscar-bait nonsense and wacky experiments like “Dogville,” “Fur” and “Birth.” She seems open when it comes to the films she wants to act in.
Kidman had an incredible year in 2001 with the gripping musical “Moulin Rouge!” and the suspenseful horror film “The Others.” She was also to appear in “The Hours” as Virginia Woolf, which won her an Academy Award. She was probably offered a whole host of scripts around this time and probably had her pick of them.
One of the many projects she worked on in 2001 was David Fincher's “Panic Room,” a film about a home invasion and a mother-daughter team who must fend off infiltrators from a locked safe room. Unfortunately, Kidman had to drop out of the project due to a knee injury she suffered on the set of “Moulin Rouge!” Eventually, Jodie Foster stepped in.
Nicole Kidman had to quit 'Panic Room'
“Panic Room” received a lot of attention when it was released in 2002. It was the first film Fincher made after Fight Club. so the director was already established as a wunderkind worth watching. The script was also written by David Koepp, the author of such genre hits as “Jurassic Park”, “Shadow” and “Mission: Impossible”, as well as creative sci-fi and horror films such as “I Come in Peace” and “Death Becomes her.” “Panic Room” also starred Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto and country star Dwight Yoakam as invaders, which is why many viewers were interested in the film. She was only 12 years old at the time, but “Panic Room” also featured Kristen Stewart in one of her earliest and most visible roles.
Kidman's resignation report was discussed in a 2002 article in EW. Kidman was noted to be still recovering from a knee injury in “Moulin Rouge!” It appears that while performing “Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend” in Baz Luhrmann's musical, Kidman suffered a nasty fall and tore her cartilage. “Panic Room” required a lot of running, crawling and physical exertion, and Kidman still wasn't able to do it. EW suggested she be replaced by Angelina Jolie.
In May 2024, Kidman and Jodie Foster spoke to the Hollywood Reporter. about “Panic Room” and that Kidman was relieved when Foster finally stepped in to take on the role. Foster cited the film as an illustration that Hollywood actresses often support each other and that they are not as fiercely competitive as one might think. Foster mentioned that she took part in an unknown film that Kidman left, and Kidman happily admitted it. She said:
“Yes! And thank you. I was in really bad shape. I thought, “I'm having a breakdown.” And Jodie took over, thank God.”
Foster did an exemplary job, and Kidman moved on to The Hours. It looks like everything worked out.
