Nicole Kidman Chats Science Legacy, PHOTOGRAPH 51 and Possible Broadway Run?

Nicole Kidman recently spoke with the Daily Mail during her third week ("which is apparently the toughest," she says) of rehearsals for her role as DNA pioneer Rosalind Franklin in Anna Ziegler's PHOTOGRAPH 51, beginning performances with Michael Grandage Company this weekend on 5 September. The play opens at the Noel Coward Theatre on 14 September and runs until 21 November.

And Kidman is already hoping her schedule will allow her to bring the show to Broadway!

The actress revealed that her father, Dr. Anthony Kidman, was a biochemist before taking up his career in medicine. "I grew up in laboratories," Kidman told the Mail. "My father subsequently became a psychologist. But when I was little, he was a biochemist and we went to see him in his lab. I have photographs of him in lab coats."

Fittingly, a white lab coat will be her only costume in PHOTOGRAPH 51. She insists, however, that she doesn't have "a scientific brain" despite the family legacy. After reading Ziegler's script, Kidman discussed the play with her father, who "knew all about [Franklin]," before his death last year. She will play the role in his honor -- the night before PHOTOGRAPH 51's opening is the anniversary of his passing.

This will be Kidman's first return to the stage since starring in David Hare's THE BLUE ROOM at Donmar 17 years ago, and her nerves are mounting. She told the Mail she is "terrified" and added, "Maybe I'm just shellshocked. But if I hadn't done it now, I'd never have done it. I couldn't wait another 17 years...I'm just hoping I'll get on stage and it will all come together. No re-takes, no re-shoots, no safety nets. It's terrifying. And I love it!"

Describing Rosalind, Kidman said: "I think she was prickly. Are men afraid of a prickly woman? I think Rosalind was up against it. I think she was brilliant, I think she was committed and I think she was defensive and protective of her work. They say she would come into the lab when she was dying and crawl to her desk. She wanted to discover the secret of life just as much as the others. She was fierce about her work and she was fierce about it being right."

Kidman will be joined in the cast by Will Attenborough (James Watson), Edward Bennett (Francis Crick), Stephen Campbell Moore (Maurice Wilkins), Patrick Kennedy (Don Caspar) and Joshua Silver (Ray Gosling).

The official description of PHOTOGRAPH 51 reads: "Does Rosalind Franklin know how precious her photograph is? In the race to unlock the secret of life it could be the one to hold the key. With rival scientists looking everywhere for the answer, who will be first to see it and more importantly, understand it? Anna Ziegler's extraordinary play looks at the woman who cracked DNA and asks what is sacrificed in the pursuit of science, love and a place in history."

For more information about the production, click here.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride