Kidman
Ending a month of speculation, Nicole Kidman has made a pay-or-play deal to star with Will Ferrell in "Bewitched" for Columbia Pictures.
Nora Ephron will direct a comedy she scripted based on the classic TV series about a mortal man married to a fetching witch.
Red Wagon partners Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher are producing. Shooting will start this summer.
While Kidman became enchanted with the project and attached herself last year, she flirted heavily with several other studio projects with strong female roles. Any of them would have gone into production right after Kidman became available after the Sydney Pollack-directed "The Interpreter" with Sean Penn. Projects included "Class Action," the Warner Bros./Industry drama to which "Whale Rider" director Niki Caro recently committed.
The surplus of suitors created an anxious few weeks for Wick and Fisher.
"Of course we were nervous, because she's perfect casting," Wick said. "Once you imagine Nicole's talent and that perfect nose, it's hard to think of anyone else in the role. It didn't hurt that when she was doing publicity overseas for 'Cold Mountain,' she told us the one question she got over and over again was whether she was going to do 'Bewitched.' We knew the world wanted the pairing of Nicole and Will Ferrell. He's the perfect embodiment of humanity, she's the perfect embodiment of otherworldly."
Wick and Fisher are also set for a September start on "Memoirs of a Geisha," the adaptation of the Arthur Golden novel that Columbia is making in partnership with DreamWorks. Even as Robin Swicord readies a new draft of the script, Rob Marshall has begun assembling his creative team, which will include many of his "Chicago" collaborators.
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