The Heath Ledger factor and Terry Gilliam’s cult appeal have combined to lure hefty Italian audiences into The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Even with the presence of the late Heath Ledger in his final performance, Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus always looked like it might struggle to recoup its $45m budget. Gilliam’s films, after all, have something of a habit of haemorrhaging cash, and the movie struggled to find a distribution deal in the US. But the former Python can rest assured that his film is, at the very least, wildly popular in Italy.

Variety reports that Parnassus took a whopping $2.7m in its first weekend there, enough to put it at No 2 on the box-office chart. Distributors had clearly underestimated the appeal of a bit of fantastical Gilliam whimsy, for the film only screened in 227 cinemas. It will expand to more than 300 from this weekend to cope with demand, but the meagre number of screens available for viewers wanting to see the film meant that it scored the country’s third-highest per-screen average of the year, an impressive $11,870 for each cinema.

Gilliam’s film, the tale of a travelling theatre company which offers audience members the chance to enter a fantastical world beyond its dusty curtain, is also faring decently in the UK, where it entered the chart at No 3 with a bow of £905,000 two weekends ago. The prospects therefore look a little better for the film’s US debut on Christmas Day, though so far it is only being tested on limited release there.

Roberto Proia, head of Italian distributor Moviemax, said Ledger’s huge fanbase had undoubtedly helped Parnassus to achieve success in Italy. “We also found out that teenagers massively love Gilliam, and we did not expect this,” he said. “He really has rock-star status.”

Gilliam’s most successful box-office take is his $57m haul for 1995′s science fiction thriller 12 Monkeys. His last film, 2006′s fantasy drama Tideland, however, took just $566,000 across the world.

Oscar-winning writer of Crash and Million Dollar Baby denounces tolerance of ‘gay-bashing’ after 35 years in church

The Church of Scientology lost one of its most high-profile members when the Hollywood film-maker Paul Haggis quit the organisation in protest at its stance on same-sex marriages. In an explosive letter of resignation, Haggis claimed he could no longer “be a member of an organisation where gay-bashing is tolerated”.

Haggis, the writer of the Oscar-winning dramas Crash and Million Dollar Baby, had earlier called on spokesman Tommy Davis to denounce statements made by the church’s San Diego branch in support of Proposition 8, the controversial legislation that bans gay marriage in California. “The church’s refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly,” Haggis wrote in a letter addressed to Davis.

“Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.” The resignation was later published on a blog by the former Scientology official, Marty Rathbun.

The Church of Scientology was founded in 1952 by the pulp novelist L Ron Hubbard. It is a system of beliefs that promises members a form of “spiritual rehabilitation” through a set of counselling sessions known as “auditing”. Scientology is recognised as a tax-exempt religion in the US where it has attracted a list of celebrity devotees that includes Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Lisa-Marie Presley.

However, Haggis’s outburst looks likely to be seized on by critics as proof of the organisation’s alleged heavy-handed tactics and lack of transparency. The film-maker goes on to list the other grievances that prompted his departure, accusing officials of waging a smear campaign against former members by leaking details of their private life to the press. For good measure, Haggis also suggests that Davis was lying when he publicly insisted that the organisation did not practise the policy of “disconnection”, whereby followers are encouraged to break off all contact with those who have criticised the church.

“I was shocked,” wrote Haggis. “We all know this policy exists. I didn’t have to search for verification – I didn’t even have to look any further than my own home. You might recall that my wife was ordered to disconnect from her own parents … although it caused her terrible personal pain, my wife broke off all contact with them.”

Haggis was a member of the Church of Scientology for 35 years. During that time, he wrote, “I saw the organisation – with all its warts, growing pains and problems – as an underdog. And I’ve always had a thing for underdogs.
But I reached a point several weeks ago where I no longer knew what to think. You had allowed your name to be allied with the worst impulses of the Christian Right … Despite all the church’s words about promoting freedom and human rights, its name is now in the public record alongside those who promote bigotry, intolerance, homophobia and fear.”

His letter ends: “I am only ashamed I waited this many months to act. I hereby resign my membership of the Church of Scientology.”

The Church of Scientology has yet to publicly respond to Haggis’s allegations. In the meantime, the Oscar-winner has hopped from one illustrious list to another. The roll-call of celebrities who have first joined and then abandoned the organisation reportedly includes Nicole Kidman, Van Morrison and comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

Oscar-winning writer of Crash and Million Dollar Baby denounces tolerance of ‘gay-bashing’ after 35 years in church

The Church of Scientology lost one of its most high-profile members when the Hollywood film-maker Paul Haggis quit the organisation in protest at its stance on same-sex marriages. In an explosive letter of resignation, Haggis claimed he could no longer “be a member of an organisation where gay-bashing is tolerated”.

Haggis, the writer of the Oscar-winning dramas Crash and Million Dollar Baby, had earlier called on spokesman Tommy Davis to denounce statements made by the church’s San Diego branch in support of Proposition 8, the controversial legislation that bans gay marriage in California. “The church’s refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly,” Haggis wrote in a letter addressed to Davis.

“Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.” The resignation was later published on a blog by the former Scientology official, Marty Rathblum.

The Church of Scientology was founded in 1952 by the pulp novelist L Ron Hubbard. It is a system of beliefs that promises members a form of “spiritual rehabilitation” through a set of counselling sessions known as “auditing”. Scientology is recognised as a tax-exempt religion in the US where it has attracted a list of celebrity devotees that includes Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Lisa-Marie Presley.

However, Haggis’s outburst looks likely to be seized on by critics as proof of the organisation’s alleged heavy-handed tactics and lack of transparency. The film-maker goes on to list the other grievances that prompted his departure, accusing officials of waging a smear campaign against former members by leaking details of their private life to the press. For good measure, Haggis also suggests that Davis was lying when he publicly insisted that the organisation did not practise the policy of “disconnection”, whereby followers are encouraged to break off all contact with those who have criticised the church.

“I was shocked,” wrote Haggis. “We all know this policy exists. I didn’t have to search for verification – I didn’t even have to look any further than my own home. You might recall that my wife was ordered to disconnect from her own parents … although it caused her terrible personal pain, my wife broke off all contact with them.”

Haggis was a member of the Church of Scientology for 35 years. During that time, he wrote, “I saw the organisation – with all its warts, growing pains and problems – as an underdog. And I’ve always had a thing for underdogs.
But I reached a point several weeks ago where I no longer knew what to think. You had allowed your name to be allied with the worst impulses of the Christian Right … Despite all the church’s words about promoting freedom and human rights, its name is now in the public record alongside those who promote bigotry, intolerance, homophobia and fear.”

His letter ends: “I am only ashamed I waited this many months to act. I hereby resign my membership of the Church of Scientology.”

The Church of Scientology has yet to publicly respond to Haggis’s allegations. In the meantime, the Oscar-winner has hopped from one illustrious list to another. The roll-call of celebrities who have first joined and then abandoned the organisation reportedly includes Nicole Kidman, Van Morrison and comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

The director’s estate on Fårö has been bought by a Norwegian inventor and will be turned into an artists’ retreat

A Norwegian inventor and archaeologist has acquired Ingmar Bergman’s home and will turn it into an artists’ retreat, to the relief of campaigners who had been fighting for just such a project. 

Hans Gude Gudesen, who made his fortune in IT, paid an undisclosed sum for the property, which was valued at between €3-4m.

“This is exactly what we were hoping for,” said Ingvar Carlsson, the chairman of the Fårö Bergman Center Foundation, which had led efforts to make the estate open to the public. 

“I have not met Gundesen. But by this act he can only be described as an incredibly generous person,” Carlsson, a former prime minister of Sweden, told the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. 

Gudesen became interested in the property earlier this autumn after reading an article in which Linn Ullmann, the daughter of Bergman and Liv Ullmann, described her dream of turning her father’s home into a place where artists could work on creative projects. The property had been on sale since May and the deadline for bids had passed in August. Gundesen contacted Ullmann and said he was interested in helping fund the venture. 

“Fårö was a working place and now it will continue to be. There new books will be written, new films will be developed and new projects will be made,” Ullmann told the Norwegian daily Dagens Næringsliv.

She added: “I am absolutely thrilled that a satisfying solution for everyone has been found … My nightmare was that it was going to be commercialised, turned into a Bergman Bed and Breakfast.”

It appears Gundesen also bought most of Bergman’s belongings from Fårö, which were put up for auction last month and fetched £2.2m. According to Brit Bildøen, who helped Ullmann in the campaign, Gundesen used different bidding identity numbers during the auction to ensure that the items would not be dispersed away from the property. 

After the auction was over, Ullman and Bildøen received a text message from Gundesen saying, “We have everything”. “Gundesen is very concerned with documentation and evidence. He wanted everything,” Bildøen told Dagens Næringsliv. 

For months Ullmann and others tried to find a wealthy financier with a fondness for Bergman’s work. An ad was even taken in the Hollywood trade paper Variety, showing a photo of Bergman’s home with the caption: “Do YOU want to own it?” 

Part of the problem was that Bergman’s will, which dates from the 1970s, stipulated that his home “should be sold to the highest bidder”. Another was that the Swedish government was not interested in buying the house. 

Bergman lived for four decades on the island, situated about 87 miles off Sweden’s south-east coast. He fell in love with the place in the early 60s while scouting for locations for Through a Glass Darkly. He built his home there in 1966-1967, moved in soon after and lived there until his death in 2007. The property consists of four main buildings, including an old barn that housed his private cinema. 

The island’s barren landscape has featured in at least seven of Bergman’s films, including Through a Glass Darkly, Scenes from a Marriage and Persona.

The director’s estate on Fårö has been bought by a Norwegian inventor and will be turned into an artists’ retreat

A Norwegian inventor and archaeologist has acquired Ingmar Bergman’s home and will turn it into an artists’ retreat, to the relief of campaigners who had been fighting for just such a project. 

Hans Gude Gudesen, who made his fortune in IT, paid an undisclosed sum for the property, which was valued at between €3-4m.

“This is exactly what we were hoping for,” said Ingvar Carlsson, the chairman of the Fårö Bergman Center Foundation, which had led efforts to make the estate open to the public. 

“I have not met Gundesen. But by this act he can only be described as an incredibly generous person,” Carlsson, a former prime minister of Sweden, told the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. 

Gudesen became interested in the property earlier this autumn after reading an article in which Linn Ullmann, the daughter of Bergman and Liv Ullmann, described her dream of turning her father’s home into a place where artists could work on creative projects. The property had been on sale since May and the deadline for bids had passed in August. Gundesen contacted Ullmann and said he was interested in helping fund the venture. 

“Fårö was a working place and now it will continue to be. There new books will be written, new films will be developed and new projects will be made,” Ullmann told the Norwegian daily Dagens Næringsliv.

She added: “I am absolutely thrilled that a satisfying solution for everyone has been found … My nightmare was that it was going to be commercialised, turned into a Bergman Bed and Breakfast.”

It appears Gundesen also bought most of Bergman’s belongings from Fårö, which were put up for auction last month and fetched £2.2m. According to Brit Bildøen, who helped Ullmann in the campaign, Gundesen used different bidding identity numbers during the auction to ensure that the items would not be dispersed away from the property. 

After the auction was over, Ullman and Bildøen received a text message from Gundesen saying, “We have everything”. “Gundesen is very concerned with documentation and evidence. He wanted everything,” Bildøen told Dagens Næringsliv. 

For months Ullmann and others tried to find a wealthy financier with a fondness for Bergman’s work. An ad was even taken in the Hollywood trade paper Variety, showing a photo of Bergman’s home with the caption: “Do YOU want to own it?” 

Part of the problem was that Bergman’s will, which dates from the 1970s, stipulated that his home “should be sold to the highest bidder”. Another was that the Swedish government was not interested in buying the house. 

Bergman lived for four decades on the island, situated about 87 miles off Sweden’s south-east coast. He fell in love with the place in the early 60s while scouting for locations for Through a Glass Darkly. He built his home there in 1966-1967, moved in soon after and lived there until his death in 2007. The property consists of four main buildings, including an old barn that housed his private cinema. 

The island’s barren landscape has featured in at least seven of Bergman’s films, including Through a Glass Darkly, Scenes from a Marriage and Persona.

• Joint venture with Curzon could deliver earnings of £3m
• UK cinema admissions increased 1% to 164m in 2008

“It’s like two of your best friends getting married,” gushed Four Weddings and a Funeral director Richard Curtis. “Can’t think of a better combination,” enthused Stephen Fry.

At advance screenings last week, actors and Hollywood glitterati gave rave reviews to a partnership between HMV and cinema operator Curzon that could create a new national chain.

The joint venture is part of HMV chief executive Simon Fox’s plans to turn the retailer into an entertainment group for all seasons.

It taps into a rich vein, as cinemas are booming. The downturn, and cheap DVDs at the supermarket, have not deterred cinema-goers, with the industry enjoying increases in box office and admission numbers. There is also a buzz around a new wave of 3D films thanks to the cartoon Up and James Cameron’s hotly anticipated Avatar. “Cinema tends to be recession resistant as it offers inexpensive escapism,” says Philip Knatchbull, chief executive of Curzon Artificial Eye, which is joining forces with HMV.

Cinemas began to disappear from towns in the 1980s as developers anchored their new retail parks with giant multiplexes.

But Knatchbull says there is a gap in the market: “There are the multiplexes on one side and the indies on the other. The same person can enjoy a blockbuster like Dark Knight and the Palme d’Or winner White Ribbon.”

Unlike in the US and Spain where attendance is dwindling, UK cinema admissions increased 1% to 164m in 2008.The industry enjoyed its best summer since 1969 as films including Abba romp Mamma Mia pulled in the crowds. According to UK Film Council data, the box office take rose 3.5% to £850m, with figures pointing to significant growth again this year.

Fox says the HMV Curzon is a new breed of cinema that is miles from the “coke and popcorn” experience of the multiplex. “This is about bringing cinema to the high street, not visiting a soulless retail park.” If it is well received, the two companies plan to begin converting dead space above HMV’s stores into cinemas.

The first venue, which opened in Wimbledon last Friday, has a studenty feel with licensed bar and pictures of Clint Eastwood and Audrey Hepburn signalling the gents and ladies’ loos. Unlike some theatres, customers can take their drinks in with them. “We want this to be a superior experience,” says the lanky Fox, as he settles into the roomy seat before a screening of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Fox has a tough brief. He needs to rebuild profits at HMV Group, which also owns Waterstone’s bookshops, and is proceeding on many fronts, converting stores into gaming centres and buying 50% of music venue operator MAMA Group to gain a foothold in the lucrative live music scene.

This imaginative thinking attracted the attention of headhunters seeking a new leader for troubled broadcaster ITV but he has publicly demurred several times over: “I am very happy where I am,” he said.

Fox still has a long way to go. Annual profits of £62.5m are still half those enjoyed by the group back in the heady days of 2005 when it made £131m.

The cinema landscape is dominated by five chains which have three-quarters of the market. Odeon, the largest, with 107 cinemas, is owned by private equity firm Terra Firma. Behind it Cineworld and Vue have 74 and 63 sites respectively. Curzon has just 5 sites in its own right but the link up with HMV means it has scope to gain scale quickly should the Wimbledon trial be deemed a success. Singer analyst Matthew McEachran estimates a 20-strong chain could deliver earnings of £2-3m. Recent speculation has focused on the health of Waterstone’s rather than HMV. Industry magazine the Bookseller has reported delays with customer orders and other problems arising from its new state-of-the art distribution “hub” in Burton-on-Trent. Fox dismissed the reports, adding: “I am very confident there won’t be a problem supplying stores this Christmas.”

There is no doubt cinema is a neat fit for HMV. The audience for the top 20 films in the UK is predominantly young, with 7-34 year-olds making up 64% of the audience. Now the resurgence of 3D means the industry is entering a new phase some have billed as being as important as the shift from silent films to talkies. “3D is a fantastic step forward for the industry as it’s an experience that can be created at home,” says Cineworld chief executive Steve Wiener. From now on all Disney and Pixar’s animated films will be in 3D, with Wiener pointing to a pipeline of 30 movies including Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland next year.

Progress means the tacky red-and-green glasses required to watch Jaws 3D in 1983 have been replaced with Aviator-style sunglasses. It will be up to investors to judge whether the future for HMV is bright enough to wear shades.

• French film aims to shatter myths about underworld
• First jailed at 17, director is bank robber turned writer

He robbed his first bank at 17 and spent years in prison writing scripts from his cell. She is one of France’s biggest screen stars. Together Frank Henry and Isabelle Adjani plan to make a dark and complex gangster film which will counter the myths about the criminal underworld in France.

The film, with a projected budget of €7.5m (£6.75m), is set for release next year. Its backers hope it will be the latest in a string of crime movies to be French box office hits. Last year saw an ambitious two-part biopic, starring Vincent Cassel as the bank robber, kidnapper and hitman Jacques Mesrine, win critical and public acclaim.

The 2004 film 36 Quai des Orfèvres – the address of the French equivalent of Scotland Yard – directed by a former policeman and starring Gérard Depardieu won international plaudits. But few in cinema anywhere have the credentials of Henry.

“We did some research and could find no one who has my kind of criminal record,” said the 49-year-old, who started stealing motorbikes when a teen and then became part of the “Wig Gang” known for their elaborate disguises and their technique of spending hours thoroughly looting bank vaults.

Henry, the son of a factory worker from the once-tough but now gentrified eastern Paris neighbourhood of Belleville, grew up among gang fights, but studied and read in prison, eventually completing a master’s degree. After his last incarceration, five years ago, he published a collection of short stories, bought by a publisher while Henry was still in jail, and two novels. The film project sprung from work for a well-known director who subsequently testified on his behalf at Henry’s most recent court appearance.

Henry said the proposed film drew on his experience to reveal “a justice system in thrall to political power, a police in thrall to the justice system” and criminals who “have nothing very sympathetic about them either … There is art and there is reality. Most dead criminals have been killed by other criminals. They are not nice guys. It’s a harsh world. There’s no glamour.”

At the centre of the plot is an imaginary female head of the Brigade de Répression du Banditisme, France’s elite police armed robbery unit, who is to be played by Adjani. “What seduced me to start with was very personal,” she told Le Monde last week. “I’ve never played a cop before and there is nothing more exciting in this profession than discovering a new world.”

Adjani, 54, who has made few screen appearances in recent years, said she was impressed by Henry’s passion, desire to direct and intensity. She planned to spend time with the police to research the role.

Her character is both a hardened investigator and leader in “a world charged with testosterone” and a mother whose teenage son is getting drawn into a world of crime. “It was this contradiction that interested us both,” Adjani, who has two children, told Le Monde.

Last week, a bank in eastern Paris was the site of a holdup and siege, but such events are increasingly rare now. “That era is over,” Henry said. “Now it’s all slot machines and coke.”

Three of Hollywood’s leading men are in the frame to star in Martin Scorsese’s forthcoming Frank Sinatra biopic

Together they have earned almost £3bn at the box office. But with only one best supporting actor Oscar between them, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp are all fighting to land the role that will surely give the victor the best chance yet of securing the critical acclaim to match their earning power.

All three A-listers are in the frame to play Frank Sinatra in Martin Scorsese’s forthcoming biopic, and each has a powerful backer. Scorsese, who won his first best director Oscar in 2006 for The Departed, wants his current muse DiCaprio to play the Rat Pack singer. The two are putting the finishing touches to Shutter Island, their fourth film together, before Scorsese turns his attention to making Sinatra next year.

Executives at Universal, the studio financing the film, are pushing for Depp to play Sinatra, after being impressed by his performance as bank robber John Dillinger in Public Enemies this year.

But Sinatra’s daughter, Tina, has her own view of how her father should be portrayed, which critics feel would be a sanitised life story. She favours Clooney, in what would be his most challenging role to date, as a safe pair of hands.

Reports in America suggest she is worried that Scorsese, who did not flinch at portraying the dark side of boxer Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull and billionaire Howard Hughes in The Aviator, may favour giving Sinatra the same treatment. The New York Post quoted a source close to the Sinatra family saying: “Marty wants it to be hard-hitting and showcase the violent, sexually charged, hard-drinking Frank, but Tina wants to show the softer side of her dad and let the focus be on the music. The 60s were a very swinging time for Frank – he was having sex with a garden variety of bimbos and cementing his Rat Pack status. It’s a really key time to his mythology. And Tina really wants to make sure that a sanitised Frank comes through, and that it’s not overly negative.”

“Clooney would be my choice,” said Dan Jolin, features editor at Empire magazine. “I think he has the requisite easy charisma to pull it off in terms of Sinatra’s onstage persona, although I think all three choices are perhaps too likeable to sell me Sinatra’s dark side – the rages, the vindictiveness, and so on. It should be a warts-and-all story, hands down. That’s where the real drama will come from and it certainly worked for Jake LaMotta. Also, there’s nothing people enjoy seeing more than an icon being creatively and excitingly tarnished.”

Brandon Lee, from the Independent Film Channel, said: “I’ve got high hopes that someone will have an intervention with Scorsese regarding his Leonardo DiCaprio addiction in time for the casting. Scorsese is the right director to helm such a picture, his love and deft handling of cool, macho packs of guys is half the battle. But it’s his choice of lead that worries me. Of course, Scorsese wants a violent, sexed-up, mob-related picture. Tina reportedly prefers a softer approach that focuses on the music. Clearly, she should be removed from the decision-making process, but we can’t blame her either.”

As the executive producer who has granted permission on behalf of the Sinatra estate for Scorsese to use all of her father’s famous songs, it is Tina’s opinion that could hold sway.

At least whoever wins does not have to worry about singing. Any music in the film will come from Sinatra’s own recordings, after Universal and production partners Mandalay successfully spent two years negotiating with Frank Sinatra Enterprises for the right to use his voice. The script will be written by Phil Alden Robinson, who served as both screenwriter and director of Field of Dreams and Sneakers.

Scorsese’s picture is the first big-screen movie depicting the man known as the Chairman of the Board, who died of a heart attack in 1998 aged 82. Sinatra was raised in New Jersey by Italian immigrants and won 10 Grammy awards and a best supporting actor Oscar.

Off screen he led the Rat Pack, famous for their parties as much as performances at Las Vegas casinos during the 1960s. The group also included Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. Sinatra’s life filled the pages of gossip columnists with tales of sexual intrigues, presidential friendships and mafia links. Producer Cathy Schulman said: “Everyone knows Marty Scorsese is a final-cut director. So there had to be a lot of trust that he would tell this story in a way that didn’t destroy Sinatra’s memory.”

Roman Polanski expected to appeal if Swiss agree to request to send him to US over statutory rape charge

The US has asked Switzerland to extradite the director Roman Polanski, who was arrested last month as he arrived in Zurich to attend a film festival.

“The US extradition request is based on a warrant issued by the superior court of the state of California for the county of Los Angeles on 1 February 1978, on which date Polanski had failed to appear before the judge as was required by his bail conditions,” the Swiss justice department said in a statement.

Polanski is expected to appeal if the Swiss government agrees to the extradition request. This week, Switzerland’s top criminal court rejected his appeal to be freed from prison, citing a “high” risk that he would try to flee.

The 76-year-old Oscar-winning director, who holds dual French and Polish citizenship, was arrested at the request of the US when he flew to Switzerland to receive a lifetime achievement prize. The arrest followed a tip-off by Swiss officials to the US authorities, who have been pursuing the director since his admission to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old in 1977.

Polanski was accused of plying a teenager with champagne and drugs during a modelling shoot, before raping her. He was initially indicted on six counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy. Polanski pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse and fled in 1978 amid a legal dispute over his sentence.

Emails from the Swiss justice office show that it alerted the US office of international affairs (OIA) as to Polanski’s presence in Switzerland. The Swiss sent an urgent fax stating that Polanski was expected in Zurich to receive a film award – as the website of the city’s film festival had already announced.

The emails, released to the Associated Press, show that on 22 September Swiss officials asked the US if it wanted him arrested. The officials also alerted the Los Angeles district attorney’s office, which immediately began drafting an arrest warrant. Polanski was arrested four days later.

Actor heads to Washington in her role as a UN ambassador to support legislation aimed at tackling abuse

The Academy award-winning actor Nicole Kidman used an appearance before the US Congress to accuse Hollywood of contributing to violence against women by portraying them as sex objects.

Kidman was speaking yesterday in her role as a UN ambassador to a House foreign affairs subcommittee that is considering legislation to tackle violence against women overseas.

When asked by Republican representative Dana Rohrabacher whether the film industry “played a bad role” in the way it portrayed women, Kidman replied “Probably”, before going on to say that she refused to take roles that portrayed women as weak sex objects. “I can’t be responsible for all of Hollywood, but I can certainly be responsible for my own career.”

The International Violence Against Women Act is draft legislation that has been before Congress since 2007, but never passed. If enacted, it would require the US government to actively assist in anti-violence campaigns overseas, through both diplomacy and funding.

Kidman’s own acting career has seen her take on controversial roles in terms of the cinematic portrayal of women. Dogville (2003), directed by Lars von Trier, required her character to be humiliated, raped and chained to a large iron wheel. In Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut, she played a woman whose husband (her then real-life spouse Tom Cruise) is tortured by visions of her infidelity.

She also took the lead role in the 2004 remake of perfect-marriage satire, The Stepford Wives, and appeared in the most expensive perfume advert ever made.

But early in her career Kidman was cast as the freethinker Isabel Archer in The Portrait of a Lady, Jane Campion’s adaptation of Henry James’ novel, and went on to play radical modernist writer Virginia Woolf in The Hours. One of her early roles saw her playing a weather presenter who plots to kill her husband to further her career in Gus van Sant’s black comedy To Die For. She is due to play transsexual Elinar Wegener in the forthcoming film The Danish Girl, about the first full sex reassignment operation.

Kidman has represented the UN Development Fund for Women (Unifem) since 2006, but has worked for the UN since 1994 when she became a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). She merged her professional and ambassadorial roles in 2005, when she played a UN employee who discovers an assassination plot in the film The Interpreter.