News Service from House Harris

US: Kidman set for gender-bending role in 'Danish Girl'

LOS ANGELES, Nov 10 AFP - Australian Nicole Kidman is set to play the world's first transsexual in an independent film starring fellow best actressOscar-winner Charlize Theron, it was reported today.

Australian beauty Kidman will star and produce "The Danish Girl," a movie based on the true story of Danish artists Einar and Greta Wegener, accordingto entertainment industry daily The Hollywood Reporter.

Einar Wegener, who will be played by Kidman, was a male artist who underwent groundbreaking surgery to become a woman in 1931 after pretending to be afemale model in a series of successful portraits painted by Greta Wegener.

Theron, a best actress Oscar-winner for "Monster," will play Greta Wegener,the report said. The film is to be adapted from David Ebershoff's successful 2000 novel of the same name.

Kidman, who celebrated the birth of a daughter earlier this year, has not appeared on screen since last year's fantasy tale "The Golden Compass."

She will next be seen in Baz Luhrmann's epic "Australia" due for release inthe United States later this month.

AFP wf=0A