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Nicole Kidman Joining Colin Firth in WWII Drama 'The Railway Man'

by Ethan Anderton
March 2, 2012
Source: Variety

There was a lot of news during the Berlin Film Market last month, and we didn't cover all of it. One of the projects that slipped through the cracks was The Railway Man, a World War II drama starring Colin Firth as prisoner of war in Japan and his reconciliation with one of his captors 30 years later. Originally, Rachel Weisz was slated to star in the film as Lomax's wife Patti who took a key role in helping him to face up the psychological damage caused by his wartime horrors, and in bringing him back together with one of the Japanese officers who had participated in his torture. Now Variety says Nicole Kidman has the part.

Weisz simply can't do the film because of additional shooting required for both The Bourne Legacy and Oz: The Great and Powerful. Meanwhile, Jeremy Irvine, the breakout star from War Horse, will be playing a younger version of Lomax (Firth's character) during the WWII scenes. Jonathan Teplitzy is direting the film based on Eric Lomax's autobiography of the same name which chronicles both his horrible experience as a POW in Japan and the reconciliation. Pre-production on the film is already underway and the film is slated to shoot in April. Could Firth get himself another Oscar? We'll see.

Filed under Casting, Movie News

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