Cold Mountain, the critically acclaimed romance set during the American Civil War is out to buy on DVD from 5th July. Here Nicole Kidman talks about her experiences shooting the film

What was it like working on the movie in Romania?
The thing that was amazing about shooting there was that it was so different, even in terms of taking a walk. The first morning I was there I got up at 6am and decided to take a walk to help me get over my jet lag. I went into the forest, and said I didn't need anyone with me, I'd be fine. But there was a huge pack of wild dogs there, and I came running back. There's a lot of wild animals around. We proceeded to see bears - Saturday nights would be our weekly bear-spotting time. We'd all have dinner together in the guest house, and then we'd all go out together; you'd drive to work and there'd be sheep around. It was a remote mountain town.

Could you live in the time in which Cold Mountain is set?
You conjure up those images because you're playing the character. I remember we were sitting out on the porch of the big house that we were in. There was something that we were shooting in that Dante had built, and there was something so simple about it that you could see the way people existed then. It was incredibly satiating. The way Ada learns to take care of herself, of course I could eventually learn to do that. That, to me, is one of the most powerful parts of the film.

What did you think of the romance at the heart of Cold Mountain?
It was really this triangle in terms of Anthony, Jude and I, when we embarked on this together. It was a very strange coming together during our rehearsal period. We all took it on, Jude and I both wondered how to make it that believable that these people share, at most, a kiss and a few glances and the occasional touch of a hand. How do we make it believable that would stay present in somebody's head and actually be their light for such a long period of time and draw them back. I would constantly be asking Anthony if he had enough, because it was more up to him to know what he'd captured because we were so existing within it that we really were in the hands of the director, and we hoped that people will buy into it. Jude and I were basically passing each other because he would be carrying one part of the film and I would be going back to America and then I would come back and he would go back to London. So we were crossing in the night a lot, but we were constantly trying to remind each other of each other in the scenes; keeping in each other's presence because we were both very much aware of trying to feed that into each scene to the point where you feel snow and you remember Inman. Everything somehow has a presence of the person, that you're still seeing the world through their eyes, which I think is when you are existing with the thought of somebody, you view the world with them even if they're not there.

Would you like to return to the stage?
I would love to do something [on the stage] again. I've talked to different people but I haven't been offered anything recently. I was going to do the stuff with Sam Mendes at The Donmar but I ended up doing Cold Mountain instead. I'm going to do a recording of Ann Carson, the Canadian poet who Anthony introduced me to. We're going to do a recording of 'The Glass Essay', which is one of her poems and is beautiful. I would love to come back and do something on stage, though.

What excited you about your role in Cold Mountain?
This was something I needed to do because it was about belief in someone, not actually losing belief in somebody. I felt that Ada was not damaged, she still has this beautiful innocence to her, she can still believe. When somebody says that he'll come back she believes that he will. Even though that wavers within, the basis of it is always there. Something like Dogville is very different, and it certainly stays with you. I think each role takes a little from you and circles around you for the rest of your life. I don't ever think you abandon any of them.

What about the accent you use in Cold Mountain?
In terms of the Charleston accent, it is very different to the accents that the other actors were doing. Some of the sounds do seem unusual, but they are very, very precise and you have to do them because to a well-trained American ear - a Southern ear especially - they can be heard. They can absolutely hear everything. Luckily, Charles Frazier gave me the thumbs up on the accent, which was all I cared about, and so did his wife and daughter. I remember when Charles visited the set quite early on in production. He had spent six years writing this book, the idea of meeting the author and knowing that you're portraying something that existed in their head for that amount of time is very intimidating. To actually meet somebody and to be playing a person who didn't exist, except to them, was difficult. But he was very generous, and he came to Romania and he has since embraced all of us really. That's very important to me, in the same way as it was with Philip Roth with The Human Stain and Michael Cunningham and The Hours. My last few films have been based on important novels.

What about your costumes in Cold Mountain?
There was a conscious decision by Ann Roth in terms of the trajectory of the character. That's why she dresses me in that cream outfit when I'm walking up that dirty mountain - believe me it's very hard to walk up a dirty mountain wearing cream, with Ann Roth going 'Don't get it dirty, we only have one!' But the costumes and that veil really fed into the character. I felt like this really strange, exotic bird. It was wonderful to have those things, because the way you moved was affected. She would have us in the real corsets, the real boots - the soles are very slippery and they're tiny and not easy to walk in. But that was great because when Renee was running me around the mountain saying we need this and that, I was tripping and falling and trying desperately to keep up with her because all of my things changed the way I moved. There was a huge emphasis on their hair, the size of their waist, the embroidery on their gloves, all of those things were very important, particularly to a woman from Charleston. By the end it was just trying to stay warm, and braiding my hair. That was actually what I much preferred.

What was the experience of working with Donald Sutherland like?
I would say I had a crush on Donald Sutherland! He has such a lot of stories, he's been in some of the greatest films. I'd just sit there next to him and get him to tell me about Klute, about Jane Fonda, about Don't Look Now, about THAT love scene, and ask what was Julie Christie like. And he's very, very open. He's a wonderful actor, and in terms of his knowledge, in terms of books, he's very willing to share. I just adored him, and I was so glad he was playing my father.

After all the drama of your latest films are you yearning to play comedy now?
I've just finished The Stepford Wives, and we hope that's a comedy. Scott Rudin, who produced The Hours, saw me as Virginia and told me I needed to go to summer camp. He gave me Stepford Wives, and that was summer camp. But comedy is a lot harder. I was exhausted when I finished that, I'm on holiday now.