James Franco in Talks to Join Nicole Kidman in Broadway Revival of Sweet Bird of Youth

A red-hot revival may get even hotter: Newly named Oscar co-host James Franco is in talks to co-star with Nicole Kidman in a fall 2011 revival of Tennessee Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth, according to Showbiz411.com. As previously reported, Kidman has signed on to play aging actress Alexandra del Lago (known as the Princess Kosmonopolis) under the direction of David Cromer (Our Town, Brighton Beach Memoirs), and Franco would co-star as Chance Wayne, the young gigolo who becomes her companion.

Sweet Bird of Youth first opened on Broadway in 1959 with Paul Newman as Wayne and Geraldine Page as Alexandra. The only revival on the Great White Way was a 1975 production starring the late Irene Worth and Christopher Walken.

Franco and Kidman have just been nominated for 2011 Independent Spirit Awards for their leading roles in 127 Hours and Rabbit Hole, respectively. Showbiz411 reports that the hitch in signing Franco to make his Broadway debut has been whether rehearsals can be held late in the day to accommodate his schedule as a student at both Yale and Columbia.

The Broadway revival of Sweet Bird of Youth will be produced by Scott Rudin, who worked with Kidman on The Blue Room, the 1998 David Hare Broadway play in which Kidman debuted—and famously got naked—as well as her Oscar-winning turn in The Hours.