Nicole Kidman - Nicole Kidman Stresses The Importance Of New Film 'the Railway Man'

Nicole Kidman has been speaking about her forthcoming film 'The Railway Man,' hoping that the topics within the film will cause the public to think about the struggle of war veterans to get on with their lives after coming home from conflict. 'The Railway Man' - which also stars Colin Firth - focuses on a Japanese prisoner of war's struggles to overcome the torture that he suffered whilst being held captive, and Kidman explained that to get into character she read several real-life stories that were horribly similar.

"It was basically about women who are married or in relationships with men who have come back from Afghanistan or Iraq right now and I thought there's a sign that this is still incredibly relevant," she said at a press conference reported by the Daily Telegraph. "It was very informative for helping to mould the character for me. I read it and I was moved. I am that spontaneous in my decisions. I just found the subject matter very moving and that's what drew me to it - the power of somebody loving someone through trauma. I find that appealing and I can relate to it."

Colin Firth, who was also in attendance, commented "We do somehow see stories of what it's like coming home from a war but we very rarely see stories about what it's like decades later. This isn't just a portrait of suffering. It's a very, very specific story about how that kind of damage interacts with intimate relationships, with love." He added: "I think with an experience that is so difficult to talk about for the veterans themselves, the way back into any kind of recognisable life is a tortuous one. People won't understand even if you could talk to them." Filming on the film starts in Scotland next week and continues for there for two months.