Putting the perfs first in low-budget pic.(BELOW THE LINE)

John Cameron Mitchell had never spoken to Nicole Kidman before he agreed to direct "Rabbit Hole," the first movie from her Blossom Films shingle, in which she cast herself as a grieving mom coping with the loss of her 4-year-old son in an auto accident.

The closest he had come to meeting the actress was being in the same room with her at a Golden Globes ceremony. "It was like high school," he recalled. "There were cheerleaders and there were jocks, and I was hanging out in the smoking area with David Lynch and Steve Buscemi."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Then "Rabbit Hole" came his way. Mitchell wasn't looking to direct just any film. "I'm good at saying no …