I'm sure everyone has heard the agonizing stories of this shoot. They are legend. Yes, it was a difficult shoot. That having been said...so was Jaws and yes the cast did get on each others' nerves but when the stories get out on the street about how some people react to stress it can be pretty ugly.
This cast had to 'make nice' in their interviews to calm everything down and it still didn't do much to help the movie but the number of pickups and reshoots they did and the fact that they changed the scope and slant of the movie several times didn't help either. It's not necessarily Kidman's fault that this movie was no good. It was only brought up I think to illustrate that she has had a reputation for being difficult. And this shoot is not the only place I've heard those stories crop up.
I personally think Nicole Kidman is an overrated actress who only plays characters who are icey and distant. I don't think she should have even been nominated for The Hours (or Moulin Rouge for that matter), but ah well. I'm obviously in the minority considering how popular she is. I also don't think her singing is that great (in Moulin Rouge, you could barely hear her), but of course, that is what studios are far.
"I've got to get me out of here
This place is full of dirty old men
And the navigators and their mappy maps
And moldy heads and pissing on sugar cubes
While you stare at your books."