Nicole Kidman thrilled local fans at the Australian premiere of her film “Cold Mountain” Wednesday, shaking hands and signing autographs for some who’d waited hours for her arrival.
With her trademark red curls dyed blond and wearing a gold Karl Lagerfeld dress, the statuesque Oscar-winner said she was happy to be home and would spend Christmas in Sydney.
“I am relieved, relieved to have made it,” Kidman told reporters.
Local celebrities walked a white carpet rather than the traditional red one, in honor of director Anthony Minghella’s Civil War epic, which also stars Renee Zellweger and Jude Law.
Minghella said the film couldn’t have been made in North Carolina, where it was set, because the landscape had changed so much since the 1800s. Instead, much of it was shot in Romania.
“When you see the film, you see the landscapes look like the 19th century in a way that nowhere in America looks like the 19th century now,” he said.
Kidman shrugged off the Oscar buzz surrounding her performance as Ada, a woman born into privilege who’s forced to fend for herself, protecting her father’s farm from ruin and attack.
“I don’t buy into any of that until it happens,” she said.
The 36-year-old won the best-actress Oscar this year for her portrayal of troubled author Virginia Woolf in “The Hours.”
“Cold Mountain” opens in the United States on Christmas Day.