I hate nicole! I've been waiting for people to pipe up. I have bile. I have hate. I've seen her smoke! ( STC foyer in the early nineties- she looked great!).

well actually i don't hate anyone- not even tom. he is a dick, sure. but i don't have the same level of passion as others on this board.. but boy I love reading it!

But i do think nk is terribly overrated. she can act. that is her job- she gets paid for it. She doesn't stink and she ended up, after every single break in the world, being a *pretty* good actor- but she is just not emotionally intelligent enough or emotionally blank (or whatever that special something is) to be a really wonderful actor.

Yes, she was great in 'dead calm' and 'to die for' . Anyone want to give some credit to her directors? or her costars? NK was terribly miscast in dead calm- but Billy Zane made her believable imnsho. Joachin Pheonix wasn't bad in TDF either. Look at her in Jane Campion's Portrait of a lady.. NK wasn't real good in that. she offered the most banal interpretation of that character ( but that may be jane campion - NK is no holly hunter) Ditto her work in 'the hours'- it was so hammy, no wonder she got an oscar. hilarious! ( but I do agree with whoever said she looked great with nose- she did!)

Geoffrey Rush - yes. Meryl Streep - yes. Cate BLanchett- yep. but NK? no way. not even in the same breathe.
She is a beautiful wannabe who was lucky enough to find a dumb rich moviestar and she pseudo-fucked her way to the top. I can so vividly recall when NK married TC. The press here tracked her progress obssesively. There were articles about her voice coaching classes (to learn the US accent), about how TC got her a small part in Billy Bathgate, her grooming for stardom. And TC paid for it all. He groomed her and she was a sickeningly willing pupil. I see very little difference between NK and KAK. ( except NK has a much better stylist)

I've circled in overlapping sydney networks of hers for years and i know lots of people who know her.(went to school with her, worked with her both here and the states). i've heard lots of stories, but none of them are terribly scandalous unfortunately.. none are them really positive either.

My take, she is beautiful, when you see her ( or as she was) in the flesh, she is so pretty, you almost can't look. she is that kind of beautiful in the flesh. really striking. I labour this point because she is an ambitious actress and looks really can take you so many places in that world. She's also one of those girls who is clever enough to know what to say, clever enough to ask the right questions and seems genuinely interested in art and the art of her craft, but she simply isn't that good or clever. A friend of mine who worked really closely with her on moulin rouge described her as 'kittenish and manipulative'. from everything i have heard that sounds like the most apt description.

I am also in the camp, that believes that Tom and Nicole did not have a 'contract' marriage, but it was a marriage based on mutual shared ambition and convenience (a perfect marraige for narcissists). They knew how good they looked for each other. I am sure that she fucked around and good luck to her ( i bet he didn't care- so long as it was discreet) I am also sure that scientology is the real reason for the break-up.

and finally, even though every queen i know who works in hollywood, sydney theatre and aussie films claims they know for sure that tom is gay. "oh sure. everyone knows that'. None of them are first source. BUt people i know who are first source (and also gay and lesbian. it is an art scene ater all) , who have worked with her and have socialised with the both of them say, no. he doesn't give a gay vibe , just wierd one. He is either very quiet and out of his depth or very intensely hyperactive. And while i am sure that a lesbian relationship would probably do nicole a power of good, she just ain't that kind of girl. she is straight and stupid when it comes to men. ok back into lurkdom..