Kidman heads for Venice premiere

Nicole Kidman will grace the Venice Film Festival tonight for the premiere of her new movie, Birth.

The actress stars in one of her most controversial parts to date as a woman who believes her dead husband has been reincarnated in the body of a 10-year-old boy.

Kidman, 37, will attend the screening with co-star Lauren Bacall.

Birth is a front-runner for this year’s prestigious Golden Lion prize, competing with the likes of Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair and the Kate Winslet movie Finding Neverland.

The unusual subject matter has already provoked controversy weeks before its release.

The film was booed yesterday at a pre-view screening for journalists.

Kidman plays Anna, a wealthy New Yorker whose husband collapses and dies while jogging in Central Park.

Ten years later she is about to marry another man.

Their engagement party is interrupted by Sean, a 10-year-old boy who announces he is her dead husband.

At first she is disbelieving, but soon becomes convinced Sean is telling the truth and begins to fall in love with him.

In one scene, Kidman and the boy are naked as they share a bath together.

Sean is played by 11-year-old American actor Cameron Bright in an extraordinary performance.

Kidman arrived in Venice on Monday – three days after ex-husband Tom Cruise left. He was there to promote his new film Collateral.

Tonight’s premiere will be held amid tightened security after a series of hoax bomb threats and fears that anti-globalisation protesters may attempt to disrupt the event.

The protesters have already invaded one press conference and have threatened more action.

The Palazzo cinema on the Venice Lido will be sealed off prior to the screening while police sweep the building for suspect devices.

Europe’s oldest film festival has attracted more Hollywood stars this year than ever before.

As a result, the organisers have brought in a raft of new security measures - leading to severe delays and criticism that the event has become a shambles.

On Saturday, the Premiere of Al Pacino’s latest film The Merchant of Venice was further disrupted by a computer glitch which led to scores of tickets being printed twice.

It meant more than 200 people arrived to find they had no seats – including Pacino himself. Riot police were called in to quell angry cinemagoers.

Several Hollywood executives have threatened to boycott the event next year.