U.S. audiences are finally going to have the opportunity to see Nicole Kidman’s portrayal of Gertrude Bell in “Queen of the Desert.” The biopic of the renowned British archaeologist, explorer, writer, traveler, cartographer, spy, and political officer’s life will be released April 7 in LA and NY, and will also be available on VOD, a press release has announced.
Written and directed by Werner Herzog (“Grizzly Man”), “Queen of the Desert” made its world premiere at the Berlinale in 2015. The drama follows “a trailblazing woman who found freedom in the faraway world of the Middle East,” its official synopsis details. “Gertrude Bell (Kidman) chafes against the stifling rigidity of life in turn-of-the-century England, leaving it behind for a chance to travel to Tehran. So begins her lifelong adventure across the Arab world, a journey marked by danger, a passionate affair with a British officer (James Franco), and an encounter with the legendary T.E. Lawrence (Robert Pattinson). Stunningly shot on location in Morocco and Jordan, ‘Queen of the Desert’ reveals how an ahead-of-her-time woman shaped the course of history.”
“I think I’m good at casting and that’s a very decisive part of what I do. And Nicole Kidman is the ideal,” Herzog has said. “She gives a performance that is unprecedented. I have not seen anything like this at least in a whole decade from any actress in any film. So it’s of a phenomenal caliber.”
The “Lion” actress is receiving excellent reviews for her performance in HBO’s “Big Little Lies.” The limited series sees Kidman playing a woman in an abusive relationship. Kidman is also serving as an executive producer on the murder mystery.
Kidman’s upcoming projects include Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled,” set during the Civil War, Season 2 of Jane Campion’s feminist mystery series “Top of the Lake,” Rebecca Miller’s comedic drama “She Came to Me,” and “Photograph 51,” the story of an X-ray crystallographer and the role she played in the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.
Check out the new trailer for “Queen of the Desert” below. “I’m not afraid. For the first time in my life I know who I am,” Gertrude says. “My heart belongs to no one but the desert.”
