Kidman denies Pullman film is anti-Catholic

BY ANABEL INGE
THE HOLLYWOOD actress Nicole Kidman has denied that her forthcoming film, based on a novel from Philip Pullman's controversial trilogy His Dark Materials, is anti-Catholic.
Kidman told an American magazine that she would not have considered accepting a role ' in The Golden Compass, based on the Pullman novel known in Britain as Northern Lights, • if she had thought that the film would be at odds with the faith.
She told Entertainment Weekly that the film has been "watered down a little".
"I was raised Catholic, the Catholic Church is part of my essence," she explained. "1 wouldn't be able to do this film if I thought it were at all anti-Catholic."
Pullman's bestselling Northern Lights portrays Church-controlled scientists who snatch children in order to conduct gruesome experiments on them. The scientists are investigating a strange elementary particle that the Church believes to be evidence of Original Sin.
But no overt references to Catholicism appear in the film, though the organisation behind the kidnappings is described as "the agisterium".
When Chris Weitz was hired as director he suggest. ed, to the disappointment of fans of the novels, that the film would omit direct references to religion or God — two key themes in the books. He said that the film distributors were conscious of the effect that "perceived anti-religiosity" would have on the film's success in America.
Kidman grew up in Australia and was taught by the Sisters of Mercy.
She flirted with Scientology for years during her marriage to actor Tom Cruise, a renowned Scientologist, whom she married in 1990, but finally admitted: "Catholicism guides me. 1 certainly have a strong belief. I try to go to church regularly, and I try to go to Confession." The Oscarwinning actress is currently filming Australia, an "outback epic", with director Bar Luhnnann.
, Kidman is to play the sinister Mrs Coulter in The Golden Compass, and she and co-star Daniel Craig have signed on for two more sequels. The fantasy film, which was co-written by Tom Stoppard, is due for release on December 7.
Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy was adapted for a hugely successful National Theatre production and the third volume, The Amber Spyglass, was the first children's book to win the Whitbread prize.