Kidman says divorce
changed her career focus

updated 4:39 p.m. ET Oct. 19, 2004

PARIS - Blondes may have more fun, but Nicole Kidman says she’d rather have been born a brunette.

In an interview with French magazine Paris-Match, the Oscar-winning actress also said she doesn’t see herself pursuing her film career indefinitely. And she revealed that her 2001 divorce from Tom Cruise changed her criteria for selecting roles.

“Since my divorce, I lean, consciously or not, toward characters who are strong women taking control of their destiny, personal and professional,” the weekly quoted Kidman as saying.

“The position of a so-called ‘powerful’ actress is comforting for a single woman like me,” she added. “It gives you a character of hardened steel.”

Kidman, envied for her golden curls and porcelain skin, said she believes a darker complexion would have left her less susceptible to the sun’s damaging rays. She said she worries about skin cancer.

“I would, all things said, have preferred to be a brunette with a dark complexion. But I work with what I have.”

Kidman’s upcoming films include “Bewitched,” “The Interpreter” and “The Producers,” also starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.

MORE FROM MOVIES

Movies Section Front

You’ll wish you didn’t ‘Hear About the Morgans’ Midnight ‘Avatar’ screenings pull in $3.5M Sarah Jessica Parker can’t wait for Christmas Jeff Bridges is Bad to the bone in ‘Crazy Heart’ Clooney, Streep, Bullock earn SAG Award nods Cameron aims for ‘Titanic’ results with ‘Avatar’ Effects wow, but story in ‘Avatar’ is unsatisfying This was not the decision Lucas was looking for ‘Avatar’ joins tradition of Hollywood colossi 70 years on, ‘Gone With the Wind’ still holds up Movies Section Front   Add Movies headlines to your news reader: