Nicole Kidman decides against quitting acting – to join Woody

Following the release of her last movie - Baz Luhrmann’s epic Australia - Nicole Kidman (pictured) claimed that she was considering quitting acting altogether. Given the critical battering the film received - one of its more kind critics, Germaine Greer, branded it fatuous and unforgivable - this was not surprising. However, she has now had a change of heart and will appear in a new film to be written and directed by Woody Allen.

The 41-year-old, Oscar-winning actress joins Antonio Banderas, Slumdog Millionaire’s Freida Pinto (who has just been voted one of the top five sexiest women in the world), Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin and Anthony Hopkins in the as-yet-untitled project, which will begin shooting in the summer.

At the peak of the bad press for Australia, Kidman claimed in an interview that she she didn’t have the burning desire to make movies any more. She also spoke of her wish to spend more time with her family: she and her husband, Keith Urban, already have one daughter, Sunday Rose, and she has two adopted children from her first marriage to Tom Cruise.