When I see Nicole Kidman these days I think of expensive plates that my grandmother kept on high shelves behind glass; she’s not as pretty as some of that china, but she appears more breakable.
Kidman and writer Simon Kinberg have been trying to work together for a while. First on Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which he wrote partially with Kidman in mind, then on an espionage picture that never took off. Now he’s successfully pitched The Eighth Wonder to Fox as a Kidman vehicle. All we’ve got of the action/adventure story right now is a framework — an archeological dig unearths something that sets off a globe-trotting adventure — and the fact that Kidman will be toplining. That is, stepping into the Indiana Jones role. Or, based on THR‘s description (“a movie that will be to Raiders of the Lost Ark what the Bourne movies are to James
Bond movies: a character-driven, treasure-hunting thriller”) possibly something slightly more realistic.
It’s just a pitch right now, with Kinberg meant to write the script in the next couple months, making this an early 2009 start at best. A couple of years ago this package might have sounded interesting and feasible. Now I’m just waiting to hear who takes the role when Kidman drops out halfway through pre-production.