Nicole Kidman has returned to the Spanish shoot of Alejandro Amenabar's thriller The Others after nearly a month off to treat a recurring knee injury.

Kidman left Spain on October 9 for treatment in the US. In her absence, Amenabar carried on filming scenes in which Kidman's character does not appear. Kidman plays Grace, a woman who awaits the delayed return of her husband from World War II while caring for her two young children. The children, played by newcomers Alakina Mann and James Bentley, suffer from a strange illness which prevents them from exposure to sunlight. Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Eccleston, Eric Sykes and Elaine Cassidy co-star.

The October delay on The Others was followed a week later by a similar injury-related incident on the Spain shoot of Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. The cast and crew of Quixote were sent home in mid-October when lead actor Jean Rochefort suffered a debilitating double disk hernia. It is still unclear whether that film will pull back together for completion in 2001; a decision is expected in January.

Others is expected to wrap the week of November 19, but heavy rains in the north of Spain could add further delays. The Australian-born actress' knee injury reportedly contributed to initial delays on the $20m film, originally set to begin its 12-week shoot in June but postponed until July 31. The film is a co-production of Cruise/Wagner Productions, Sogecine and Las Producciones del Escorpion, in association with StudioCanal and Miramax. Fernando Bovaira, Jose Luis Cuerda and Sunmin Park produce.

Young director Amenabar aroused great expectations with his first two films, thrillers Thesis (Tesis) and Open Your Eyes (Abre Los Ojos). Remake rights to both films were sold to the US, the latter to Others executive co-producer Tom Cruise. Coming full circle, Cruise began shooting this week as co-star of director Cameron Crowe's remake of Eyes, titled Vanilla Sky, alongside Penelope Cruz, who starred in the original, and Cameron Diaz.