Nicole Kidman’s Transgender Film Shelved 

Nicole Kidman’s movie about the Lili Elbe, who reportedly underwent the world’s first gender reassignment surgery, has been shelved. The Danish Girl was supposed to be a $10 million biopic based on the bestselling book about artist Lili Elbe, who was born a man (known as Einar Wegener). The film, according to the Daily Mail, should have started shooting in Germany this month with Kidman playing the lead role. Her production company, Blossom Films, was behind the project.

Fundraising difficulties and several cast and crew withdrawals have dogged the film recently, pushing Kidman to halt production indefinitely. First director Lasse Hallström withdrew; later so did co-star Rachel Weisz, presumably because of scheduling complications. The Daily Mail says Weisz was among a long line of actresses who withdrew from the film, quoting an unnamed movie source as saying, “Nicole initially approached Gwyneth Paltrow to play the artist’s wife and fellow artist Gerda Gottlieb, but she was too busy. Charlize Theron then took the role but had to pull out because of scheduling conflicts. Rachel Weisz signed up last year but now she’s pulled out and the whole production has been thrown into disarray.”

Those same unnamed sources say Kidman is still determined to make the film, but at this time she's mum on how that’ll happen.