Don't call Kidman a legend - she's just a beginner, snaps Bacall

[emad]

Helen Carter
Thursday September 9, 2004
The Guardian
Snip
Lauren Bacall, the veteran film star famous for her smouldering eyes and sexy voice, launched an attack yesterday on Nicole Kidman, who co-stars in her latest film.

Bacall, widow of Humphrey Bogart, with whom she appeared in classics such as The Big Sleep and Key Largo, took offence at the Venice film festival when Kidman was described by an interviewer as a screen legend.

The two actors were at a press conference to promote their controversial new film Birth, by the British director Jonathan Glazer.

As question after question was directed at Kidman, the tension was palpable as she pleaded: "Please ask somebody else." She was keen to play down her status as one of the world's most famous actors, insisting: "I certainly don't feel like a big star in Hollywood."
http://film.guardian.co.uk/venice/story/0,15051,1300356,00.html



Kidman fends off movie hostility

Nicole Kidman has defended her new film at its Venice Film Festival premiere after attending a frosty press conference with co-star Lauren Bacall.
The premiere of Birth followed a booing from critics, while in an interview, Bacall dismissed suggestions Kidman was a legend, labelling her a "beginner".

In Birth, Kidman's character believes her husband is reincarnated as a boy, with whom she shares a bath and a kiss.

"I wanted to make a film where you understand love," said Kidman.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/3640424.stm

[JVS]

1. Bacall is still alive?

[emad]

4. Together at the film festival:

[Xipe Totec]

2. Bacall said: "She can't be a legend, you have to be older"

I think it was meant as a compliment.

[vi5]

3. I have never liked Kidman...

I always thought she was a b-list actress who only came to prominence after marrying Tom Cruise. But since they split up she's been in some incredibly challenging movies and is on her way to winning me over. She hasn't taken the easy route by any means.

[StClone]

9. Tom Cruise isn't much better

He plays the same icy, sterile pretty boy type with occasion flashes of a smile to assure that he is not a borg.

[vi5]

10. I'm sorry..I didn't make it clear...I LOATHE Tom Cruise...

When they were together I didn't like either one of them, mostly because I didn't like him. But since they've separated her stock has risen in my opnion. His stayed the same. Didn't like him then, don't like him now.

[StClone]

11. Boy this may get me burned

But I think she is one of the most beautiful women, but average actress -- same for Tom. I did love "Rain Man" Hoffman made it go as did the story itself. Cruise punched in, read the lines and didn't have to act because he lives the part of a narcissistic iceman.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

15. And the people around here where they filmed rain man...

Said that Tom Cruise acted like it was a chore to meet people and he was rude. Just the opposite with Dustin Hoffman. When he wasn't relaxing or shooting, he was mingling with the fans, and he's got a ton of fans here in Oklahoma because of it. Tom Cruise can suck my big toe.
Duckie

[Beware the Beast Man]

20. I heard during the highway accident scene in Rain Man

That they had to do numerous takes because Hoffman was cracking up the extras doing dirty jokes.

[antigone382]

23. Funny, I've heard just the opposite about Cruise

It was a long time ago, but I heard that he likes to do things like take homeless people out to lunch...could be totally bogus though, I don't know.

Since they split up, I've started to like Kidman a lot. I still haven't seen The Hours, Cold Mountain, Stepford Wives...three movies that look really good from the outside...but I'd like to.

[NashVegas]

12. I Had the Same Prejudice

Then I saw Eyes Wide Shut and realized there was one actor in the family and its name wasn't "Cruise." NK was amazing in the scene where she smashes his ego with her confession of a wandering eye.

[vi5]

13. Have you seen Dogville?

It's a very difficult movie to sit through but that is largely because she is so good in it and there is a lot of emotional masochism to the role.

[NashVegas]

17. No, I Haven't

a lot of emotional masochism to the role.

That's Lars for you. See Breaking the Waves & Dancer in the Dark.

[vi5]

18. Yeah, strangely enough I love those 2 movies...

And I loved Dogville as well.

What that says about me, I shudder to think.

[HughBeaumont]

5. Not a beginner, but not a legend either

I think it was more a commentary of how our mainstream press tends to toss the "legend" superlative around too loosely to modern artists whether they deserve it or not.

Good examples of this would be Eminem and Kurt Cobain.

[terrya]

6. Until Kidman does voiceover ads for Fancy Feast...THEN she'll be a legend

:-)

[fudge stripe cookays]

8. Don't forget the Tuesday Morning commercials!

:P

[Westegg]

21. Nice to see Jonathan Winters working again, though.

[WilliamPitt]

7. meow

[DinahMoeHum]

14. "Mythology is not fast food" - as Jimmy Buffett once said. . .

from the novel "Where Is Joe Merchant?"

"...nobody wants to put in the time it takes to become a legend..."


:evilgrin:

[noonwitch]

16. I don't think that this was an attack on Nicole Kidman by Lauren Bacall

Just a statement that she is not quite in the same category yet of legends like Bacall, Katherine Hepburn, Bette Davis, etc.

Actually, the only younger actress I would put in that category is Jodie Foster, who has the Oscars to back it. She was an amazing actress as a kid ("Taxi Driver", "Freaky Friday"). The performances she won Oscars for were both great movies, and I never expected her to win for "The Silence of The Lambs", just because up until then, those kind of movies hadn't really won many Oscars.

[Susang]

19. Harsh words from an actress whose best work was done before she was 25

If a bright early career, followed by mediocre films, made for TV movies and commercial voiceover work is what it takes to be a "legend" in Ms. Bacall's mind, then perhaps I should re-think my definition of the word.

[miss_kitty]

22. ahhahahahahaha! i read this in the sun!

i love it for the trash-in fact, i never read gossip trash or watched it until i found 'the sun' online last year...what a piece of murdochian shit!

Lauren sounds threatened-hey! you can only be a smouldering-eyed 19 year old forever on film, sweetie-be happy to be a healthy 79.

[Dookus]

24. I don't think Bacall was attacking Kidman

I think she was simply pointing out that Kidman is in fact too young to be considered a legend. They seem to get along well - this was their second movie together.

I also don't think Bacall was calling herself a legend - although she is. Yes, her legendary performances were long ago, but they hold up, and we still watch them today.

I believe Kidman WILL be a legend someday. Despite what a lot of people here say, she is incredibly talented and undeniably beautiful. She also works hard - she makes movie after movie, many of them offbeat independent films. Julia Roberts makes what, one film a year, tops? And it's always mainstream hollywood.

Kidman will have a large, varied body of work before she 40.

[Westegg]

25. Poor Betty. She's getting reamed for that quote...

which I think has been largely misinterpreted. She was basically saying, "Eh, it's eraly days yet. Stop tossing the word 'legend' around so freely because that devalues its meaning." Basically, she's right, too.

Bacall's a tough, plain-spoken old broad---an 80-year-old New Yawker who made her first movie 60 (60!) years ago. Still, as far as her quote goes, it's perhaps worth noting that she burst on the scene at 19 opposite Bogart, whom she soon married (he was 25 years her senior). Kidman is 37---not exactly an ingenue. Bacall's movie career wasn't an enduring one. She had a love/hate relationship with Hollywood and, like many of her generation, spent a lot of time on Broadway. So for my money, Kidman will have the more important movie career in the long run. She's grown on me slowly over the years.

[Obamarama]

26. I think Lauren is right on.....

Today there is such little true talent in Hollywood it's pathetic. Lauren Bacall was one of the early stars that has remained in the business for the last five decades. Yeah, she constitutes a legend.

I actually think Kidman is an okay actress, but certainly not a legend. I wouldn't even classify Meryl Streep or Glenn Close legends...they are WONDERFULLLY TALENTED actresses but they just haven't been around enough to be called a 'film legend.'