The Human Stain:

The Nicole Kidman/Anthony Hopkins has been pushed back nearly a month - abandoning the platform release in favour of a wide opening on Halloween.

Plenty of extras for Stepford Wives movie

NORWALK, Conn. -- They arrived by the hundreds, the women generally tall, blond and attractive, the men somewhat shorter and average looking.

This wealthy region had no trouble attracting extras for the remake of "The Stepford Wives," which is being filmed around Fairfield County and stars actress Nicole Kidman. More than 2,000 men and women showed up this week in New Canaan and Norwalk to audition as extras for the classic film, in which the men in a seemingly perfect town find a way to turn their spouses into beautiful, compliant housebound robots.

"Women are somewhat robotic in suburban Connecticut, with all the trophy wives," said Beth Anderson, a slim 29-year-old mother of two who was in line.

The crew was looking for a specific type of extra for an outdoor scene being shot in New Canaan. Women had to be between 20 to 40 years old, 5-foot-8 or taller and pretty, while men needed to be between 30 to 40 years old, 5-foot-8 or shorter and average looking.

Anne Nolte, a 29-year-old Weston resident, appeared to fit the part. She is nearly 6 feet tall and wore a black cocktail dress and pink cashmere sweater that set off her dark blond hair and had an Yves St. Laurent handbag.

Nolte, the wife of an investment banker, had never seen the movie or read the book, but knew enough about the plot to take it in stride.

"You've always heard the term bandied about," she said.

Poised near the entrance to the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion in Norwalk in a sleek black dress, her blond hair in waves, Kate Kelly-Naylor said she had a definite advantage over the others.

"I am a Stepford wife," the 49-year-old Westport resident joked. "It is a negative connotation, but we're spoofing on it."