Please, please, please say it isn’t so. In what is quite possibly the most disturbing and unexpected piece of casting news of the week, Nicole Kidman, the Academy Award winner currently deemed by critics to be box office poison and one of my personal favourite actresses, has reportedly joined the cast of the upcoming rom-com Just Go For It.

That’s right, the actress responsible for powerhouse performances in films like The Hours, Dogville and The Others is joining Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston and current Sports Illustrated cover girl Brooklyn Decker, in a less-than-lacklustre story of a man (Sandler) so afraid of commitment that he tells his girlfriend (Decker) that he is married. When she threatens to leave him, he persuades a woman (Aniston) and her children to act as his family to prove his honesty. Kidman is poised to play Rae Ann Devlin, a character whose exact role in the film has yet to be announced.

Whilst many believe that Kidman could simply be appearing in a cameo appearance, ala her ex-husband Tom Cruise’s cameo in Tropic Thunder, I can’t help but think that this particular career move is still going to be massacred by the critics, especially since her previous forays into the comedy genre, such as The Stepford Wives and Bewitched, have been critical and commercial flops. And this is a shame really, because she once possessed a winning talent for dark humour and comedy, such as To Die For and Margot at the Wedding. So maybe if Nicole really wants to do comedies (which at the moment it seems she does) then I think she should look for a script that is darker, and not so much romantic-fluff. This casting announcement is equally unexpected because her recent line up of films Rabbit Hole (completed) and The Danish Girl (announced), hinted to her fans of a possible return to the dramatic, powerhouse performances that once made her the Queen of Hollywood and the toast of award ceremonies. I wait for this film with baited breath.