Kidman Injury Jars Panic Shoot

ByABC News
January 26, 2001, 2:06 PM

January 26 -- It might be time to send some Valium over to the set of The Panic Room, Fight Club director David Fincher's new thriller starring Nicole Kidman, Jared Leto, and Forest Whitaker.

Just two weeks into shooting, it looks like The Panic Room has lost Kidman to a nasty knee injury. According to Variety, Columbia must struggle to find a new female lead, stat an incredibly tough chore in these pre-strike days, when most A-list actresses have packed their spring and early summer schedules with projects.

Kidman hurt her knee while filming the Baz Luhrmann-helmed musical Moulin Rouge, and it appears that either the old injury has flared up again or she has damaged her other knee. Pending a doctor's final word, it looks like the redheaded beauty will have to drop out of The Panic Room.

The suspense film is a big deal for Columbia and director Fincher, who chose it over multiple other deals, Variety notes. In the story, Leto portrays a burglar, who, along with Whitaker and Dwight Yoakam, tears through a dead millionaire's home searching for his hidden money. The man's widow (Kidman) is forced to hide in the so-called "panic room," where the fortune is supposedly buried.

Last month, Hayden Panettiere, who was set to play Kidman's daughter, dropped out of the film.