Nicole Kidman reveals she was haunted by the ghosts of Thailand's Death Railway on the set of film charting the horrors faced by Allied soldiers during World War Two

PUBLISHED: 17:42 EST, 5 December 2013 | UPDATED: 18:13 EST, 5 December 2013

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Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth stood by the cutting at Kanchanaburi in Thailand — site of the infamous Death Railway — lost in a moment of reverence.

A lifetime ago, during World War Two, Allied soldiers — mainly British and Australian — cut through the malaria-infested jungle and rocks in order to construct a bridge across this ravine. Many died as a result of the fierce heat, harsh conditions and cruelty of their Japanese captors.

One of the those who survived was Eric Lomax, a Scottish-born second lieutenant. For years, he was haunted by what happened but wouldn’t speak of it — until he married Patti, who helped him fight the demons that gave him sleepless nights.

Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman and Stellan Skarsgard stars of The Railway Man, which will premiere in cinemas on New Year's Day

Nicole and Colin were in Thailand to portray the Lomaxes in later life (Jeremy Irvine plays the young soldier) in a film called The Railway Man, which opens here on New Year’s Day.

‘This place is devastating,’ Nicole told me, as we spoke between scenes, her words echoing off the sheer rock walls. ‘Patti Lomax told me about this. She said: “When you go there, you’ll feel the ghosts.” And you really do.’

More than a year later, when I mention that scene to Nicole, she is still affected by the experience. ‘It’s not an easy place to go to,’ she said.

‘What Eric and those other men went through was unimaginable. But they weren’t able to talk about it, and this code of silence was harmful to them, and it ruined relationships.

‘But Patti wasn’t put off by the obstacles. She wanted to get at the truth of what happened to her husband, and she wouldn’t be put off.

Nicole Kidman, pictured on the set of the film, revealed she is still affected by the story of Eric Lomax haunted by what happened to him on the infamous Death Railway in Thailand during World War Two

‘Patti’s one of those people who hang in there, which is why I wanted to tackle it, because I believe in hanging in there,’ she said pointedly.

‘You know, love can be very healing. That can really help heal trauma. You can’t do it for them. You offer it. You be there for them, and be their constant.’

You’ve been through that, I suggest, thinking of how the actress helped her husband Keith Urban break free from his addictions. ‘Yes, I’ve probably been through that — but do not make it about me!’ she chides. ‘But it’s what drew me to the role,’ she conceded.

I recall how, in Thailand, we walked closer to the cutting. Nicole was holding an umbrella to ward off the sun’s rays.

‘Can’t you feel it?’ she asked me, as we neared the ravine. ‘It’s such sacred ground. You don’t have to conjure up emotion for the scene, because it’s all around you.

‘Patti said the same thing. She stood there weeping for all the boys when she came with Eric.’

The Railway Man’s producer, Andy Paterson, told me he was drawn to making the film, directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, by what Eric went through — and because of Patti.

‘I was interested in the woman who had the strength to find out what was wrong with this man, to fall in love with him and to do something about it.

‘Patti was initially reluctant to accept that what she’d been through with Eric could even vaguely be compared to the suffering of the guys who built the railway,’ Paterson told me.

Nicole shared that sensibility and said the film was really about Eric and what happened to him during and after the war. ‘It is important to be able to tell the story,’ she said.

‘And it might be of some help to the boys coming home from Afghanistan. Coming home is just as tough.’

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After Doctor Who, it's Mac the Knife

A coup de theatre took place at the Almeida during the first preview of the musical version of American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis’s satire about a serial killer, consumerism and narcissism.

However, it didn’t take place on the stage. It happened in the back row of the circle.

During Act 1, ex-Doctor Who Matt Smith (pictured below) dons a transparent plastic mac while he cuts up a body. Don’t panic. It’s all done very tastefully. (Actually, the more gruesome the storyline, the better American Psycho becomes.)

As the second half was about to begin I noticed the two men who’d been sitting next to me, looming in front of me . . . wearing diaphanous macs. No knives or machetes were in evidence.

They told me they’d bought the macs on Amazon. ‘We wanted to prepare ahead because we loved the book and the film,’ said Philippe Charmoy from Switzerland, who’s doing a PhD in maths at Oxford.

I told him, and his friend Romain Duquesne, that the coats were a tad freaky — although there was a Rocky Horror element that amused me.

Both mac men liked the show and wanted to buy tickets for when it extends its run briefly at the Almeida.

Producers are having talks with theatre owners in case reviews justify a West End transfer. It’s not there yet, but director Rupert Goold and his team will surely knock the show, and Smith, into shape.
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Watch out for...

Alexander Hanson, Charlotte Spencer, Charlotte Blackledge, Anthony Calf, Joanna Riding and Daniel Flynn, who are all superb in Stephen Ward, the gripping new play with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Christopher Hampton and Don Black, which started previews at the Aldwych Theatre.

The show’s about the Establishment’s hypocrisy over the Profumo scandal and how ‘they’ made Stephen Ward, a society osteopath, the fall guy because he introduced ‘club girl’ Christine Keeler to both War Minister John Profumo and Soviet naval attaché Yevgeny Ivanov.

This is not your U-cert Lloyd Webber show. Not even a PG. It’s X-rated — and all the better for it — in order to have a proper, grown-up debate about what happened to Ward (Hanson). There are women in stockings and suspenders and a naked man in a mask (well, he did boast a strategically placed white apron). Director Richard Eyre is still tinkering and tightening, so the production can be ready for its opening night on December 19.

n STELLA GRUNDY, former singer with Intastella, who will be bringing her one-woman show The Rise And Fall Of A Northern Star, which played to some acclaim in Manchester in the autumn, to London.

Grundy will play semi-autobiographical singer Tracy Star at the Bird Cage in Columbia Road, Shoreditch E2, next Thursday, for one night.

If enough people go, Ms Grundy hopes to find another London venue.

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Ullyses31, St. evenage, 7 hours ago

My grandad was there. And when the work was done he was shipped off to Japan to work in their mines. When the japanese surrendered he came home along with his mate who survived along with him. The day after they got back his mate walked in front of a lorry.

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RockyMissouri, Fordland, United States, 2 hours ago

That's heartbreaking..!! To have survived the horrors.... I guess he couldn't....

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Karen, Stoke England, United Kingdom, 7 minutes ago

How awful and heart breaking. Unfortunately victims of trauma would not have received the care we can expect. They were a "stiff upper lip" generation. It is so sad, and how devestating for your Grandad to lose his friend after surviving so much.