Although an unexpected pregnancy is usually a producer’s worst nightmare, Nicole Kidman’s recent announcement couldn’t have come at a better time.  Her decision to drop out of The Reader, an adaptation of a 1995 novel, allowed the filmmakers to cast their original choice: Kate Winslet.

Winslet, who had expressed interest in Reader a while back, couldn’t commit due to a scheduling conflict.  (She was busy filming Revolutionary Road with her Titanic co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio, and director-husband, Sam Mendes.)  That was when Nicole Kidman stepped in.  Months down the road, their roles have reversed.  With her work on Road now complete, Kate is free to star opposite Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient) as an older woman who has an affair with a teen in Post-WWII Germany.

Given Kidman’s role in 2004’s unsettling Birth, this whole thing may have worked out for the best.  One movie about a relationship with a much younger man is really enough.