and forth to Paris every weekend turning one paragraph into three acts. The script went through 21 drafts as Glazer and co-screenwriter Milo Addica worked on the story. With only a few weeks before principal photography was to begin, the two writers decided to refocus the entire film. Originally, the script was about the boy and they changed it to be about the woman instead. "We aimed to make something robust in which every question leads to another," said Carrière. "I'm not a Buddhist and I don't believe in reincarnation; I don't think I could do a film about it if I did. I was more interested in the idea of eternal love. I wanted to make a mystery, the mystery of the heart." Actress Nicole Kidman read the screenplay and wanted to do the film when she found out that Glazer was directing, as she loved his previous film, Sexy Beast. She approached the director about doing the film. At first, he resisted because he felt that "her celebrity is so everywhere that I thought it could only hurt the delicate nature of this character". However, he met with Kidman and realized that "she was ready to inhabit the role". The more he talked to Kidman about her character, he would rewrite the script on weekends, tailoring it specifically for her. To show Anna in mourning both externally and internally, Glazer gave her short hair, spare wardrobe and short, clipped speech. The director explained Anna's appearance as "somebody who had sort of let all glamor go and sexuality go". Kidman said that Glazer instructed her to do small, personal reactions. She found the character to be all-consuming so that she could not separate herself from the role. To research for the role, Kidman spoke to two friends who had lost their fathers and they talked about how it still affected them years after. Addica and Glazer often wrote scenes the day before they were shot, giving them to the actors on the actual day they were shooting. Reception Box office Birth was ranked 12th on its opening weekend, garnering US$1,705,577 from 550 theaters. The worldwide box office earnings total was US$23,925,492, with US$5,095,038 in the United States (US) and US$18,830,454 in markets outside of the US. Critical reception Birth debuted at the 2004 Venice Film Festival where its first press screening was greeted with widely reported booing and catcalls.