Kidman takes on Dusty: could Oscar beckon?

Unwritten rule of Oscar strategy #476: playing a troubled popular music icon will probably net you at least a nomination. Just ask Marion Cotillard, Reese Witherspoon, Joaquin Phoenix, Jamie Foxx, Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek, Gary Busey, Diana Ross, Susan Hayward… the list goes on.

It’s not hard to figure out why. Academy voters have long had a bias towards biopics, somehow believing that interpreting a real-life figure, whose physicality, voice and mannerisms are already established, is more of a challenge than creating a fictitious character from scratch. Playing a real-life entertainer only ups the ante, allowing the actor to build multiple performance personae within the character, as well to show off any singing/dancing/playing skills we didn’t know they possessed. (Singing being optional, of course, as Cotillard and Foxx can attest.) Throw in the mental breakdowns and substance abuse problems that generally go with the territory, and you have Academy Award bait of the highest order.

So the news that Nicole Kidman, arguably the foremost leading lady of her generation, is set to produce and play in a biopic of the late Dusty Springfield, inarguably the greatest white soul singer of all time, can’t fail to prompt early Oscar speculation.

Even laying aside Springfield’s astonishing musical legacy for a moment, the woman is a fascinating character: born and raised in London, she overcame crippling self-confidence issues to top the U.S. charts in the 1960s, confusing the barriers between what was perceived as “white” and “black” music. As her hold on the charts loosened, however, she descended into a reclusive lifestyle of alcoholism, drug abuse and self-harm, all the while conflicted between her emerging bisexuality and her Catholic faith. Finally clean, she made something of a comeback in the late 80s, before being diagnosed with breast cancer, finally losing the battle in 1999. All this, and with a British accent to boot. Like I said, baity stuff.

More interesting still is that the film is being written by Michael Cunningham, the great Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Hours.” His screenwriting record is pretty green still, with only the underrated “A Home at the End of the World” and last year’s disappointing “Evening” to his credit, but Springfield’s life story is an interesting match for his talents. Given the thematic preoccupations of his other work, I would hazard a guess that the film will spotlight Springfield’s struggle with her sexual identity, which makes it a more intriguing – albeit less commercially friendly – cinematic prospect than just another “Ray.”

The pairing also augurs well for Kidman, who, after all, won her Oscar for playing a sexually conflicted real-life figure in a Cunningham adaptation. I, for one, am excited to see such a big, meaty opportunity for this gifted actress, who seems to have become something of a critical punch bag of late, be it for her risky, hit-and-miss choice of roles (apparently it’s less admirable to take a chance on a “Birth” or a “Fur” than to do yet another safe, money-grubbing romcom) or the complete non-issue of her alleged Botox use. Playing Springfield poses massive challenges, not least vocally: Kidman pleasantly crooned her way through “Moulin Rouge!,” but Springfield’s rich, husky tremor is an altogether different proposition. If she nails the role, though, something tells me the sky could be the limit on this one.

Of course, that’s assuming she overcomes the slight obstacle of a rival Springfield biopic, currently being planned by Universal, with Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth in the frame. As we’ve learned from recent instances of dueling biopics, one film tends to fall by the wayside before production begins (Baz Luhrmann’s abandoned Alexander the Great project) or simply gets lost in the shuffle (“Infamous”). With Chenoweth, best known outside of the theatre world for her supporting role in “Pushing Daisies,” a relatively untested big-screen presence, it seems Kidman and Cunningham’s project has the advantage here, but mark my words – the studios are going to be racing to get their picture into theatres first.

Either way, with these two films in the works, and a wave of new Brit soul singers like Amy Winehouse and Duffy appropriating her sound and taking it to the top of the charts, we seem to be heading for a Dusty Springfield revival. Grab a copy of the awesome “Dusty in Memphis” and get in early.