Nicole Kidman Says Keith Urban Was, Like You, "Shattered," "Hypnotized," and "Disturbed" By Her Racy 2017
Nicole Kidman has always been an adventurous presence onscreen, but
2017 was the year when her daring really spoke to fans both onscreen and off. It felt like every project she appeared in had a cult following, from the films
The Beguiled, directed by Sofia Coppola, and
The Killing of a Sacred Deer, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, and especially the zeitgeist-conquering HBO miniseries
Big Little Lies. For the trauma she suffered poignantly on that show as the onscreen wife of Alexander Skarsgaard, the Australian actress won an Emmy. It also served as a platform for her newfound activism, with domestic violence as her
cause célèbre. And she hasn't stopped speaking up since, lending her powerful voice to the conversation about the sexual misconduct and systemic abuse of power by men in Hollywood. Here, in a new interview with
W editor at large Lynn Hirschberg, Kidman recounts her brilliant year—and how her sensitive husband,
Keith Urban, felt all of her onscreen pain.
So how did The Beguiled come to you?
Sofia [Coppola] came and saw a play I was doing in London, and then we went to dinner afterwards and she gave me the screenplay. She said, “I’ve written a script, I’d love you to read it.”
Had you seen the original [1971 film, starring Clint Eastwood]?
I hadn’t seen the original. She described it, and I’ve wanted to work with her. At one point we were sort of trying to make something else happen, and then that fell through. So it was just one of those things where it came together really quickly, and it was a delight to make. I mean, it really was.
I always describe Sofia as being so feminine and quiet, but incredibly powerful. She gets everything done without, really, raising her voice barely above a whisper.
Yeah, people do everything. She’s so quiet; she’s so elegant. But she’s very decisive and just very good at what she does—and everyone knows that, so they respect her.
And you’ve worked with women as directors pretty much from the very beginning. I mean, Jane Campion was—
The trailblazer.
Exactly.
Yeah, and she’s one of my best friends. She came and saw me when I was 14 doing, strangely enough,
Sweet Bird of Youth on stage in drama school. I was playing Princess [Kosmonopolis]. I did not know what I was doing at that age. I had no idea what any of it meant. [
Laughter.] Jane sort of saw me and she went, “I want her in my student film.” And we built a relationship. Then she brought me
Portrait of a Lady. We built a friendship during all of that and have had a friendship ever since.
You’ve had this incredible year. I’m not even talking about TV right now, just movies. Did you set out to say, “You know, I’m just going to do everything that scares me”? Or was there a particular idea behind the films that you’ve done this year, which were really brave.
It was director-driven. I mean, I got to work with Jean-Marc Vallée, Jane Campion, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Sofia Coppola in one year. I was so fortunate, because when directors of that caliber choose you to be in their films or their television shows then, I mean, whatever happens it’s going to be an extraordinary experience and ultimately something will come of it that’s interesting or compelling or different. You know, you never know, but at least when you work with that caliber of director you’re safe.
But what’s so interesting about you—and you can’t say it, so I will—is that you're unlike certain people who, when they get to a certain point in their career, they safeguard it. They get nervous about breaking out from what’s going to be expected from them.
Right.
They're careful. They don’t do TV shows where they’re naked and beat up and lying on the floor.
But, honestly, is that because they don’t have the opportunity, though? I mean... I don’t see it as brave. That’s what’s interesting. People say, “Oh, you know, that you’re so bold and brave in your decisions.” And maybe I’m just insane. [
Laughter.] But I see it as, um, I’m being given a chance. I literally still feel like I’m the kid at drama school hoping to get a role. That’s how I operate. I mean, that’s what I come from, and whether that’s to do with, I suppose at times, my own vulnerability and insecurity, I always feel like I’m so fortunate and lucky to have the job.
But I also was raised in a family that looks at things differently—a very liberal family, a family that discussed things—always politics and philosophy—and academic parents who loved reading. That’s how I was wired as a small child. I would always question and was fascinated by the psychology of human beings.
And I think your mom was also fascinated by it as well. Didn’t she feel that she would have had a bigger career at a different time?
Um, I don’t know if she feels that. I think she feels like she missed opportunities. Because I think women that came from a certain era, particularly the era before me, and my grandmother’s era—they gave a lot up.
Yeah.
You know, they didn’t get the chances that I suppose the feminists that started in the ‘60s really fought for. And my mum was determined, having two little girls, that we would have opportunities that she didn’t have. So I’m the recipient of a feminist mother.
That’s great.
Yeah, and part of my job now is to pass it on and give back and help create opportunities for the next generation that’s coming. That’s part of my desire now, particularly with female directors, female DPs, because there isn’t enough female DPs. And it’s not to say that I don’t love working with male directors, because there’s times when I love being viewed through that male lens and interpreted that way. But I just want it to be balanced. The next film I’m doing is with [the director] Karyn Kusama.
Oh really?
Yeah, so part of, you know, walking the talk of committing to female directors and. I start that at the end of the year and that’s a pretty out-there role. [
Laughs.] Let’s see if I pull it off. But I was so happy to do the camera test the other day, because there was a female first AD, a female DP, and the female director. And I went, “Good. Okay, it’s shifting. The needle’s shifting a little bit.” So I’m happy to be able to put whatever power I have right now behind that cause.
And I’m always the first to say, “I’m the recipient of a really strong gorgeous mother, but I’m also the recipient of a very strong, loving father.” I had a great male figure in my life who helped to form me. And as much as I was raised by my mother, I was raised by my father, too. And to emphasize that is important right now—the need for the support of good men in society. You know, we need that. You can’t do it alone. So I love saying that I’m married to a really generous, kind, strong male. And Keith [Urban] incredibly supportive of me and his daughters.
When he watches you on film does he have a hard time sometimes?
[Keith Urban] is an artist. Um, he did have a hard time when he watched
The Killing of a Sacred Deer. He saw it at the Cannes Film Festival and he was sort of hypnotized and shattered by it. [
Laughs.] And when he watched
Big Little Lies he was disturbed; he says that when he hears me scream or cry from a certain place in my soul it’s almost like it goes straight into him and he has a visceral reaction immediately. Because his brain and his heart doesn’t discern between acting and real life. They’re the same sounds for him. It throws him.
Well, I’m not married to you and it threw me. [Laughs.]
Oh, but you are, Lynn. [
Laughs]
_
In some cosmic sense. But, honestly, when I watched that the last few episodes, it was hard for me to watch you go through that. But important, obviously.
Important, um, but for me it was really disturbing. I get upset even when I go back into it.