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Kidman's upcoming roles received equally lavish attention, particularly her character in ''The Human Stain,'' which reunites her with ''Billy Bathgate'' director Robert Benton for an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel about a classics professor (Anthony Hopkins) with a life-changing secret. To prepare for her portrayal of Hopkins' lover, a victim of physical abuse, Kidman visited women living in shelters. ''One woman said, 'Please just be sure to let people know we're not dumb.' They get judged a lot for that, and something there grabbed hold of me,'' she says. ''I really want to honor that.''

But it's her long stint with director Anthony Minghella for ''Cold Mountain,'' based on Charles Frazier's elegiac Civil War-era novel, that's currently most alive to her. She plays Ada, a woman left waiting for her soldier lover (Jude Law). ''I call Anthony the Poet,'' she says. ''He's so lyrical. [And] he loves his actors. It's why you go and live in Romania with him for seven months and then miss him. I felt very, very attached.''

Other projects are queuing up. She'll soon begin filming ''Birth,'' a mystery directed by Jonathan Glazer (''Sexy Beast''), and she's signed on to a dark-comedy update of ''The Stepford Wives'' (to be written by Paul Rudnick and produced by Rudin).

Crowded hours, but Kidman's eager for them. ''There are times in your life when creatively you're very alive,'' she says. ''I was focused for so many years on other things, and my passion wasn't as committed to my work. I'm now in a condition where creatively, it's very rich for me. I just cherish the chance of putting these women on screen that I have enormous love for.'' In other words, you'll be seeing a lot more of Nicole Kidman. If you can spot her. (Additional reporting by Daniel Fierman)

Originally posted Jan 10, 2003 Published in issue #690 Jan 10, 2003 Order article reprints
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