Nicole Kidman Finds Her Golden Compass

After months of negotiations and tons of internet rumors, the highly anticipated first adaptation of the Phillip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy entitled The Golden Compass has just landed an Oscar winner in its most villainous role. The newly married Nicole Kidman is in final negotiations to star in the film, both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter announced today. Nicole Kidman would play Mrs. Coulter (no relation to Ann that we know of), a villainous socialite with a very dark side who has a secret link to Lyra Belacqua, the series' lead schoolgirl character. After a very long audition process, Lyra will be played by newcomer Dakota Blue Richards and The Golden Compass will be produced by New Line.

The Golden Compass starring Dakota Blue Richards and now Nicole Kidman (and maybe Paul Bettany as Lord Asriel if the rumors are true) has been written and will be directed by Chris Weitz, who brought About a Boy, In Good Company, and American Dreamz to the big screen. In The Golden Compass, yet another kick start for a possible franchise a la Chronicles of Narnia, Eragon and Harry Potter, Lyra Belacqua must save her best friends from a mysterious organization that conducts awful experiments and, to do so, she must travel on a long journey where she encounters, according to The Guardian Unlimited, "shape-shifting creatures, witches and a variety of otherworldly characters." Sounds like fun.

Production on The Golden Compass will begin in September in the United Kingdom with the film already scheduling to have a release date of November 16th, 2007. The budget, according to Zap 2 It, is rumored to be in the range of $150 million, making The Golden Compass the biggest project for New Line since The Lord of the Rings trilogy changed that studio's future forever.

The Daily Mail has reported that Nicole Kidman will move to England in September with her new husband, country star Keith Urban. The two were recently wed in Australia at a high profile wedding. Apparently, it took two months to finalize the negotiations for Nicole Kidman to star in The Golden Compass, probably because Nicole Kidman's character plays a major role in all three novels and New Line would probably like to sign the same actress for all three films. No word for sure on if that's happened.

Nicole Kidman, the now-39 year-old actress, won an Oscar for 2002's The Hours and also broke hearts in Moulin Rouge and Cold Mountain. She will star in the upcoming Fur and The Visiting. In Fur, Nicole Kidman will play Diane Arbus, the acclaimed photographer, alongside Robert Downey Jr. In The Visiting, Nicole Kidman uncovers an alien epidemic with Daniel Craig and Jeremy Northam co-starring. Fur should hit theaters before the end of the year with The Visiting scaring audiences in late January 2007.

[Additional Sources: Reuters, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, IMDB]