Nicole Kidman left with bruises from abuse scenes in Big Little Lies, leaving husband Keith Urban ‘devastated’

In Big Little Lies, the best show you haven’t watched yet, Nicole Kidman has returned to the top of her game – this time on the small screen.

In the book-turned-limited television series, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, Kidman plays Celeste, a woman who is being physically and emotionally abused by her husband (played by a menacing Alexander Skarsgard).

When Kidman met with the book’s author, Liane Moriarty, to persuade her to allow herself and Witherspoon to adapt the story, Moriarty said yes, with one condition: she play Celeste.

While speaking with Vogue recently, Kidman said, “I am playing her and got deeply enmeshed in her. I felt my way through that character because the only way to play her was to feel and be her. There are other characters that are easier to intellectually approach, but this was visceral.”

Those visceral scenes have been noted for their graphic violence and realistic portrayal of an abusive marriage, and that may be partially because Kidman went somewhat method when the series was in production, taking much of the emotional weight of her character home with her to husband Keith Urban.

“I didn’t realize how much of it penetrated me,” Kidman said. “I would go home at night sometimes and be in a lot of pain, and I had to take things like Advil, because I was being thrown around physically. I was really bruised. … At one point, Keith was like, ‘I’m going to take a photo of your back because it’s covered in deep, massive bruises.’ He was devastated seeing it, but then he would say, ‘But I have an artist wife!'”

In an interview with Vulture, Kidman said shooting those scenes with Skarsgard would be so taxing, that she was frequently drained at the end of each day.

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“Afterward, I would just be quiet,” Kidman said. “I would go home and be quiet. After we shot some of the really, really violent scenes, I was in a lot of pain myself. … It was very strange. … It wasn’t a good feeling, I have to say. But women go through this, so I wanted to tap into the truth of it, and I wanted to be real in those scenes, so that’s what it required — an element of violence.”

“The way in which Jean-Marc shoots, where there’s so much documentary style to some of those things,” Kidman added. “I feel weird talking about it. … It’s probably one of the hardest roles I’ve had to talk about because I’m still very raw about it, if that makes any kind of sense. When I walked away from (the character), I remember thinking that was the deepest I’ve gone in terms of finding and losing things.”

Ellen DeGeneres’ Santa Barbara villa brings a bit of Tuscany to California

Talk show host and comedienne Ellen DeGeneres is serious about real estate. DeGeneres and her wife, actress Portia de Rossi, have bought and sold a number of properties. And now they’ve put this $45 million villa, which sits on a 16.88 acre lot, on the market.

“The surrounding gardens and olive trees are almost as wonderful as the interior,” DeGeneres said. “The house truly feels like it was built out of the landscape, rather than plopped on a plot. It feels ancient, like it’s been there forever. Like that hill was never without the house. This is a home that honors nature, and I love that.”

House of the day

Homes and cottages we’d love to have — whether we can afford them or not

Key details:
• 10,500 sq. ft.
• 6 bedrooms, 6 baths, 2 partial baths
• $45 million
• Suzanne Perkins, Sotheby’s International Realty, 805.895.2138
• See the full listing here and the Zillow story here

The home has a media room, multiple libraries and a formal living room.

And there are nine – yes, nine – fireplaces.

The kitchen has marble surfaces and stainless steel appliances.

And it’s easy to eat al fresco…

With six bedrooms, there’s plenty of room for friends and family.

The villa also has a swimming pool and a tennis court.

There are also beautiful terraces, fountains and gardens.

If you have an interesting listing, reno or just a really neat home — whether it’s for sale or not, drop us a line to tell us about it.

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• House of the day archive

Toronto financial district stabbing suspect wrote judge to insist she is innocent: ‘Real criminal(s) are free’

Prosecutors say a woman accused of stabbing a stranger and piercing her heart while she was shopping in Toronto two weeks before Christmas in 2015 should not be held criminally responsible.

They have filed an application with Ontario Superior Court to begin the process of trying to have Rohinie Bisesar committed to a psychiatric facility.

“There are reasonable grounds to doubt that (Bisesar) is criminally responsible for the murder on account of mental disorder,” the Crown wrote in the application to have her mental health assessed.

Justice John McMahon has said he also plans to raise the issue of a psychiatric assessment in his own motion after he received two letters from the alleged murderer.

Current charge is a distraction, I am innocent…. I have no medical disorder as spun in the media

It’s a move usually made by the defence, but Bisesar has said she intends to fight any attempt to have her declared mentally ill.

She has already fired two lawyers appointed to her case and says she may represent herself if she cannot find a lawyer who considers her trial a matter of “national security.”

A “decision won’t be made until you have an opportunity to be heard,” McMahon told Bisesar on March 1, but he suggested she hire a new lawyer and reconsider her position before her next court date, on March 24.

Bisesar, 42, has been found fit to stand trial for the first-degree murder of 28-year-old newlywed Rosemarie Junor. However, the Crown’s application says she has a history of mental illness. She was hospitalized in 2014 and has missed three court appearances since her arrest because she was taken to the hospital “apparently unwell.”

Bisesar has repeatedly claimed she is an innocent victim caught up in a vast conspiracy to cover up mind control experiments. She said a microchip implanted in her directed her the day Junor was stabbed in a Shoppers Drug Mart in the underground PATH network near her office on Dec. 11, 2015.

“I am the person who has gone through the interaction/control I mention so I am the best to provide input on what is needed to solve the case, which really is to find the true criminal(s),” she wrote to the judge on Feb. 2.

The Crown’s application describes some of the theories Bisesar has shared with the court. On Jan. 30 she claimed that the U.S. election result was connected to her case, and on Feb. 8 she said “the Crown was present on the day of the stabbing.”

Bisesar has spent the last 15 months at the Vanier Centre for Women in Milton, Ont., where she has written at least four letters since last October, and hundreds of pages of notes expounding on her theory that someone is using a microchip or other foreign object implanted in her body to control her mind and actions. The letters are included in the Crown’s application.

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• Toronto financial district stabbing suspect hospitalized over concerns about her mental health, lawyer says

She has opted not to have a preliminary hearing, yet has had more than 40 court dates since her arrest as her case inches toward a Jan. 18, 2018 trial date.

The letters reveal that she has been in contact with like-minded individuals from the Organization of Victims of Psychotronic (Mind Control) Weapons, a small group that believes governments are experimenting with mind control on their citizens.

“Current charge is a distraction, I am innocent,” she wrote in an Oct. 15, 2016 letter to the Supreme Court. “I have no medical disorder as spun in the media.”

The letters also provide insight into how she has tried to run her case from her jail cell and why she says she fired her lawyer, David Connolly, on Feb. 8.

“David has neglected me, lied many times, for sure misrepresented me as have only spoke for a total of approximately 40 minutes since May 2016 and never went through my notes. He has acted as a criminal. He continues to not include me in the case process. Why I see many mistakes and, lies, and misrepresentations he has done now,” she wrote to the judge on Feb. 2. “I do no trust or feel safe that justice is being sought, rather a cover-up/silencing and moving towards sentencing for an innocent person while the real criminal(s) are free.”

A letter sent to the Financial Services Commission of Ontario describes her case as “fundamentally about spying and stealing from the Toronto financial district,” and asks for help finding a new lawyer or experts in “Biological Warfare.”

She asks for someone to visit her in jail because her phone calls are being monitored and her mail is being read, and accuses prison staff of restricting her communications.

“I think whoever is behind this knows how serious of a crime they committed/are committing, including what I am charged with (I am innocent), and are trying their best to cover it up (including trying to say I have a mental disorder giving me drugs and then no one will try to find the real reasons of the crime and their crimes and find who they are),” Bisesar wrote in an Oct. 11, 2016 letter addressed to the commission.

“I need your help and support to push to find who is behind this…. Press to see me if people try to keep you away.”

All professionals and uniformed individuals who did not do their jobs professionally, properly, accountable, responsibly should be charged with treason and sentenced to the maximum. I would like military involved

She wrote that an implant allows someone to see and hear everything that she is doing and it even made her “look up at” former Ontario premier Bob Rae in a Metro grocery story on Front Street at an unspecified time. She suggested that she was targeted because she had access to “private deals” and “confidential meetings” and computer servers. Bisesar graduated with an MBA from York University in 2007 but struggled to launch a career in Toronto’s financial district.

A second letter to McMahon describes how she has tried and failed to discuss her case with Toronto Police. This too, is part of the coverup, she writes.

“All professionals and uniformed individuals who did not do their jobs professionally, properly, accountable, responsibly should be charged with treason and sentenced to the maximum. I would like military involved,” she wrote.

During past court appearances, Bisesar has grown emotional as she urged the court to take her theories seriously, but on March 1 she appeared more poised as she asked the judge for time to “internalize what was said” by a number of lawyers she has interviewed over the past few weeks from jail.

Bisesar told the court that she was still considering representing herself, and she wanted to “make the right choice.”

She will notify the court of her decision on March 24.

Hurricanes goalie Eddie Lack stretchered off the ice after collision following Red Wings’ overtime goal

RALEIGH, N.C. — Andreas Athanasiou chased down the puck in overtime and skated hard toward Carolina goalie Eddie Lack.

As Athanasiou scored the winning goal, he crashed into the goaltender — and Lack didn’t get up.

In a frightening end to the Detroit Red Wings’ 4-3 victory over Carolina on Monday night, Lack remained down on the ice for several minutes before he was taken off on a stretcher.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers as Eddie Lack is taken off the ice on a stretcher following tonight's game. pic.twitter.com/aOyMaTukF1

— Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) March 28, 2017

Both teams remained on the ice and formed a semicircle to watch him. Lack flashed a thumbs-up as he was wheeled away, and the team released a statement saying Lack has “full feeling in his extremities” but was taken to a hospital for tests.

Lack said via his verified Twitter account shortly before midnight that he would be discharged from the hospital overnight and that “everything looks alright.”

Thanks for all thoughts and prayers🙏everything looks alright and I'll be able to go home tonight! Thanks for thinking of me👍

— Eddie Lack (@eddielack) March 28, 2017

Eddie Lack gave a thumbs up on his way off the ice.

We're with you, @eddielack! pic.twitter.com/Nt9rGKWujq

— Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) March 28, 2017

“We’re not going to try to regroup. We are going to regroup,” Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. “We’re going to come back with the right answer tomorrow, and right now, I think everyone’s thinking about their teammate, and that’s kind of where our thoughts are.

“And then we’ll come in (Tuesday) and we’ll know more about that situation and we’ll refocus on hockey.”

An official review determined that the puck was in the net before Athanasiou made contact with Lack. Replays indicated that Carolina’s Victor Rask hit Athanasiou just before the Detroit centre collided with Lack.

“I had no idea I hit him,” Athanasiou said. “I just tried driving the net, and I felt (Rask’s) stick on my back. He hit me pretty hard. I just tried to put the puck in the net, and even after, I had no idea I came in contact with him. I didn’t know if it was me or (Rask).”

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Lack finished with 23 saves for Carolina.

Athanasiou’s goal was his second OT winner in as many days. He beat Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk on Sunday.

“Sometimes the puck just kind of finds you and gets you in the right spot,” Athanasiou said.

This game originally was scheduled for Dec. 19, but was postponed when a Freon leak at the arena made for unplayable ice.

Toronto Blue Jays banking on more big-game heroics from Marcus Stroman

DUNEDIN, FLA. — Good on Marcus Stroman for being named the World Baseball Classic MVP following one of the most sensational performances of his young career.

But be honest, if you have anything to do with the Blue Jays — fan, teammate, manager, ownership — the biggest question in the aftermath of the latest episode of the Stro Show is: What’s in it for you?

The answer? Possibly a fair bit as Stroman seems determined to be the ace on a Jays starting rotation full of like-minded hurlers and has plenty to build on after his breakthrough month of March.

Not that confidence has ever been an issue with the Jays right-hander, but his performance in the WBC has the fiery hurler in what sure looks like peak form.

Stroman’s masterpiece in the final on Wednesday night in Los Angeles — sparking the American’s 8-0 cruise past Puerto Rico — was in stark contrast to the underwhelming interest in the event.

He was nothing short of sensational, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning as he rode a sinker that stymied batter after batter in the powerful Puerto Rican order. It was vintage Stroman as well, with all the flashy intensity and on-field histrionics that have endeared him to Jays fans.

Before he left Dunedin for Miami and, eventually, California, where the later rounds of the WBC were contested, Stroman was all-in on the Team USA experience, showing off his Stars and Stripes gear in the Jays clubhouse.

But now that he has brought the Puerto Rican hitters to their knees, it’s back to the team that pays him and to see if he can translate that success against the big bats of the AL East.

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“I mean, it’s baseball, there’s no letdown,” Stroman said in his post-game news conference when asked about a potential regression following the WBC. “You go back to camp, get your work in and opening day (is) in a week-and-a-half.

“I pretty much take the same intensity into each and every game so I don’t think there is any such thing as a letdown.”

Stroman shut down a strong Puerto Rican lineup that had compiled a 7-0 record in the event, and was presumably an easy choice for tournament MVP.

Prior to leaving Florida, he was sharp in his 4.2 innings of work over two appearances for the Jays and a tidy 1.93 ERA.

While they will be impressed with the latest Stro show, it’s doubtful many of the Jays will be surprised. With a strong training camp a year ago, he earned the opening day starter role and Gibbons went to him for the AL wildcard game against the Orioles in October.

“He’s the perfect guy for the perfect game,” Gibbons said. “There’s something about the kid. He rises to the occasion. If there’s one guy I’d want on the mound and know his heart and soul is going to be in it, it’s Stro.”

In his three WBC appearances, Stroman pitched 15 1/3 innings and had an ERA of 2.35. Because of the pitch-count restrictions, he was never going to get the no-hitter in L.A. But it’s worth noting that the performance matched the longest no-hit flirtation of his career. Stroman also went six hitless innings against the Red Sox back in July 2014.

“I love pitching in these moments,” Stroman said in the aftermath of the WBC win. “I love the atmosphere. I feel like the bigger the game, the more I’m able to get up, the more effective I am.

“I truly try to pride myself on being a big-game pitcher.”

And the Jays are banking on more of the same.