NICOLE KIDMAN - KIDMAN SNUBS 'VILLAINOUS' PULLMAN ROLE

Actress NICOLE KIDMAN initially snubbed the villain role in THE GOLDEN COMPASS - and was only persuaded to star in it after receiving a personal letter from its writer PHILIP PULLMAN. The Oscar-winning star was offered the part of Mrs Coulter in the movie based on a trilogy of books by Pullman, but was reluctant to play a baddie. But it was only because of a letter from Pullman - one of the world's most popular fantasy authors - that she finally agreed. She says, "The thing for me is that she's a villain, and my thrust a lot of the time is that I don't mind playing characters that are 'complicated', but at this stage in my life I'm looking to do things that are much more warm and fuzzy."