Nicole Kidman Breaks Down Her Most Iconic Characters

My idea of me being in charge is actually terrifying. I'm like, somebody else, please be in charge. Don't put me in charge. It'll be a mess. You know, Baz Luhrmann, when he starts, he's like, OK, we're all going to show up. We're going to basically live together. At the time, he and CM owned a big house called Iona. And we spent almost eight weeks working on the scenes, learning to sing, learning to dance. Basically, it felt like we were in an intense drama school. There was a point when I had a child, three-year-old child in the film, and then I didn't have a child. I came in four weeks in, and they were like, no, no child. And I'm like, OK, shift. But that's the creative process with Baz, and I love it. When I got the role, I was like, oh my God, this is amazing. I get to do a musical on Satine. I love Satine. And then when we started, I was like, I'm not going to be able to deliver for him because it was like singing live and dancing and all on top of all the comedy and the drama. And it was just sort of, it felt like an out of reach film for me. And so it was always a struggle to try and go, I'm good enough and I can play Satine. A life without love, that's terrible. No, being on the street, that's terrible. No, love is like oxygen. What? Love is a many splendid thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love. Please don't start that again. The elephant love medley, it was like the kind of fantastical tour. I mean, that was a huge elephant on a set. We had to have harnesses when we were right up the top of the elephant because they're all like, no, no, you've got to wear the harness on the back of the dress in case you fall. And so there was so many aspects to that that are so extreme. So much fun. He and I, that was the beginning for both of us in a way. I actually can't believe I did it. So big little lies. You once said that you two don't have sex very often. That's because I'm exhausted all the time from school or the kids or the play. What was Nathan like in bed? It came to us as a book. I read it, I called Reece and we were like, gosh, it'd be great if we could get the rights to it. It was before Reece was Reece. You know what I mean? I mean, she can basically get any book now. And so we had to, we really had to fight. One, to get it made and two, for the rights. And I said to her, we will get it made and we will take care of it. And she said, great, but you have to play Celeste. And I was like, done, okay. It was Perry's idea to come in in the first place, so. I mean, I think that's a very healthy sign. Don't you think that's positive that he would want to come in? We all set out to make something that we thought would be entertaining, relevant, deep, touching. You know, we hoped and then it kind of exceeded our expectations. So it was one of those joyful experiences where you go, this is better than we thought. Jean-Marc, who is not with us now, was so much a part of that. He just kind of gave each of us space and let us contribute. And then we have the next one that we did, which was Big Little Lies 2. And now we're going into prepping the third season. It's amazing when something can span that long. And we're all very close. I mean, Rhys and I now are, you know, everyone's completely changed. I mean, it's been almost 10 years, I think, since we made the first one. So that's insane. And we're all still friends and it's all still a part of us. The case. This is right. I would like to call a witness. I don't think a character witness would carry much weight. This is not a character witness. He's handheld Jean-Marc a lot. So, you know, he's there capturing it. He was very open to everything that I would say and feel about. Because so much of Celeste is Celeste feels culpable. At first, I remember him saying to me, I said, because she fights back. Her ability to see it for what it is, which is why you needed those therapy scenes. Yeah, when he hurts me, I get the upper hand. The more he hurts me, the higher I go, the longer I stay until... Then the audience is the fly on the wall. And it was so interesting. And Liane actually said it. When I met with her, she said, Celeste feels she's to blame because she will fight. And she will then say, no, no, it's just, it's me. I just thought that was so real. And then the flip of that also, when she finally thinks I have to leave, it's like, well, I can take, absorb what's happening because my boys are gonna have the life they deserve. So, you know, it's 80% good and 20% diabolical. Well, that's not okay, you know? But for her to shift mentally to see that, she couldn't, because she'd be like, well, now it's good. He's here, we're eating, we're having dinner. He's such a good dad. And so I need to, and that is such a part of domestic abuse for a particular type of relationship. So it's going, I'll absorb this pain so my children have a good life. But as the therapist says, no, it will affect your, it's not a good life. They're gonna see it. They will absorb it. Wake up, please, please, please. And that's what I loved about the authenticity of the series. The Hours. It was just so beautifully written and Stephen knew exactly what he wanted. He saw me in The Blue Room. I was doing that in London, which was a play I did. He offered me Virginia Woolf, which I was shocked at because I was like, to play Virginia Woolf, I'm right for the other character, but not Virginia. And he's like, no, that's the only part I'm offering you and you're gonna do it and you're gonna be great. And I'm like, oh crap, okay. But it was just so good being able to fall into him. I didn't disappear. I went for a walk. A walk, is that all? Just a walk? Virginia, we must go home now. Nellie's cooking dinner. She's already had a very difficult day. It's just our obligation to eat Nellie's dinner. There is no such obligation. No such obligation exists. Virginia, you have an obligation to your own sanity. I've endured this custody. Endured this imprisonment. I had Stephen Delane, who's one of the great actors. First of all, that's what you need when you're working together. It's always a together. And then I had a great director. I had Stephen Daldry. And I had David Hare, who wrote one of the great monologues from a book by Michael Cunningham. So there you go. You've already got your basis for something that could launch. But it was just so beautifully written. I mean, it's very strange when you walk into the river and I had little stones in my pocket and big stones. I've said it before in a weird way where something comes along and it almost saves your life. So it was very, very good for me to play her, her psyche. And I don't know, it was the right time for me. And I lived in a little cottage outside of Richmond and I just hunkered down and did it. And I didn't really, and this happens to me a lot. I don't have much of a life. I just do that, you know, and that's my memory of it is just literally that. Stephen was my lifeline. I was like. Cause it was, you know, really kind of tenuous, shaky ground for me at that time. Practical magic. Thank God for Jets Bella Donna. I'd never get any sleep. Why are you taking that stuff? I'm not using it. I'm just giving it to him every now and then, that's all. So you're, you're drugging your boyfriend to get a little shut eye. How did you come into practical magic? Sandy Bullock. I've read the novel and went, cool, I've always wanted to be a witch. And I want to be her sister. That simple. She's sharp. She's funny. And you know, she's, she's very private, Sandy. You don't really know much about her, but she's just fantastic. She's, I'm crazy about her. I have a sister and she has a sister. So that thread is in there. Like the sisters, you've got each other's back and we're together. And so Sandy and I both understood that and feel it with our own sisters. Yeah, my sister witch. Good enough, good enough. I'd sit in the playground and I remember nobody wanted to play with me. I'd change schools. And you know that terrible when you change from a school and you're little. I mean, I grew up on Bewitched. So you'd watch it, you know, sit at home and watch the TV and go, I want to be a witch. And I'd try to turn the teacher into a donkey and I'd open my eyes and I'd be like, oh, she's not a donkey. But you know, I just so badly wanted to. And I'd try to convince myself that I could do magic. We have fun doing it. Literally the film for what you see, that's what it was. The place we shot, it was all kind of magical. So maybe somehow that got into the film. There's some magic in that film. And I remember Sandy and I going, gosh, is this going to work? You know, it wasn't like, oh my gosh, it's sort of a sure thing. And it came out and it did okay, but it's amazing how films find their life after the fact. And that's just, that's exquisite when that happens. Eyes wide shut. And we talked about Helen and yet at no time was he ever mine. What was it like watching Sandy do it? Extraordinary. It changed my life. His understanding of the human condition and human beings and his extraordinary intelligence. It was just like being with someone and knew so much about everything. It was more than just making a film. It was like, okay, someone's come into my life now who is extraordinary and is going to challenge me, help me, teach me. So he didn't want to be, and now he has spoken. You know, that sort of demigod thing was not going to work for him. He just wanted to be creatively working on things and trying to find the scenes. And that's how he approached it. And he would always try to demystify it and just make it kind of feet on the ground normal. He was always open to ideas and going, okay, well, what do you think? He would, listen, like he would take 10% of what you think. 90% he'd be like, no, terrible idea. But he had also had a rule that you were never allowed to shut something down when you threw it out on the table. A lot of our instincts, I think, as human beings is an immediate no, no, that's not good. And so he'd say, you have to wait. No one's allowed to say yes or no. You just have to mull it over. Any decision that's thrown out and never ridicule. There was to be no ridiculing of an idea, which is so good. You're just trying things. My analysis of being an actor is rigidity doesn't work. Did I work? The point is that, for instance, Connie Chung, who is married, I believe, to Mari Povich, the well-known interviewer, doesn't say, hello, this is Connie Povich with the news. Now does she? It wasn't something that I would normally get cast in. Buck Henry wrote it. He wrote The Graduate. When I read it, I was like, this is so funny. And we discovered it. Even me flipping the sun onto the thing, it wasn't in the script. That was actually just while I'm doing the weather. So it was all kind of, it just evolved. And Gus was like, I love that. Keep doing that, that kind of thing. I remember Joaquin, it was just like, wow. And he was so young. He wasn't Joaquin Phoenix. He was Wok. And Gus was like, this kid's really talented. You should see him. And we fought for him to do the film, to get them to cast him. Witty? Yeah? You do me an enormous favor. Sure, what? Walter hasn't been out for hours. You're taking for a walk around the block. I was kind of in a place in America at the time where I'd come over and I was like, okay, well, how do I, because I'd done so many indie films in Australia. So I was like, okay, well, where are the people that do that kind of filmmaking? Because I did Days of Thunder, which was big. Hollywood. Okay, this is how they make films in America. But then I kind of hooked up with Gus and I was like, oh, right, this is very familiar to me. This actual filmmaking is what I know, where it's kind of scrappy or on the ground, you're hustling, you don't have a lot of money, you're trying to get it made. And also when, as soon as you have Gus and Buck Henry together, I'd seen Drugstore Cowboy when I was in Australia and I was just like, come on. I mean, that was like crazy. I mean, I would go and see art films. That was my thing. Like, what do you plan to do with your future, Lydia? I don't exactly have a plan. Well, you must have aspirations of some kind. What? A dream, a life goal. Is it true that you videotaped parts of the videotape for Chopin's song? Yeah, that was Gus. Come on, you're going to shoot it yourself. And I'm like, what? And he's like, yeah. Because he's very laissez-faire, you know, Gus. He's like, yeah. That's what I mean by that kind of indie filmmaking where it's just like, come on, yeah, let's try this. Let's try that. And I love that. So I'm like, okay, I'm up for it. Let's go. That's not a fluke for him. You know what I mean? It shows you how skilled he is because he knows what to do. I think a lot of times when you go, oh no, someone's just like, just try this. There's method to the madness. They know kind of what they're doing. It's just how to get you there. I always say you can't be a control freak as an actor. You just can't. Because you're going in going, okay, let's go. Let's try. So my idea of me being in charge is actually terrifying. I'm like, don't put me in charge. It'll be a mess. Don't go. His plan to make everybody like me has run into a few problems because nobody wants me to work for them. I would really like to offer something in return. You're all running a terrible risk having me here. I mean, I'm willing to learn. I came to it because I saw Breaking the Waves and I desperately wanted to work with Lars von Trier. We talked on the phone and I read Dogville. Everyone was like, what the hell? And he sent me the kind of this photos of what he was gonna look like. And it was just the tape on the floor. And I was like, I love this, perfect. Everyone else was like, well, that's just the kind of the mapping out. There'll be sets and stuff. I'm like, no, no, this is what it's gonna be. Lars was Lars. And I was like, terrified of him and drawn to him. And it was bizarre. There's the moment when they put this dog collar on me that was sort of a metal collar. And then we were filming. And I mean, it was so heavy and hard to get off. And I remember it being on and going. And Lars thought I'm acting. And actually I'm like, so then when he cut, I'm like, get it off me, get it off me. And I'll never forget that. We all lived together in a guest house, which is kind of amazing too. So Lauren Bacall and Patty Clarkson, I mean, all of us were living in the guest house with Lars. And a lot of times we'd be finished by three o'clock in the afternoon and it was dark because it's the middle of winter. So there wasn't a lot to do. And I do remember sometimes we'd even finish earlier, like he would shoot up until lunchtime. Then he'd go, well, we're done now. And so then I'd be able to put on my snowshoes and go walking in the forest. It would feed me and nourish me because it was, it was kind of dangerous and weird as well at the same time. The Others. We went to Madrid to make it. They'd built the house and it was confined. It was almost like doing a play. Alejandro Manobar didn't speak great English, so we had a translator the whole time. The script was written in Spanish originally. It had been translated into English. So it was always like, well, can we work on this? And can we, can I say this? Can I, and he was so open to me making her my own. It was exciting because it's almost like you go, am I really being given this character? I saw it as a Greek tragedy. It had the bones of that, you know? So I wasn't going in going, let's do horror or let's do thriller. It was like, this is deep within her. Do you think that I would overlook such a thing and endanger the life of my own daughter? There's a lot of tension throughout the film, but as you said, it wasn't jump scares. It wasn't kind of like horror. No, it's insidious. And one of the most kind of like horrifying moments Amazing. Yeah, it was like, what? Baby girl. The film is primarily this woman's story and she's a CEO and she gets involved with an intern at the company. I'm married to Antonio Banderas. I have two children. It's a crisis. It's an exploration of her sexuality and her secrets and her, it's as Helena says, it's not just about sex. It's an existential crisis. I was inspired. It was new territory for me, but it was very, very sort of deep in the way it impacted me and the way we worked together on it. And obviously we had an amazing cast with us too. Cause we had Harris Dickinson and Antonio Banderas and Sophie Wilde and she's just really exceptional, Helena. I saw her film, Instinct. That was her first film and I loved it. She sent me the script. It was called Baby Girl. And I really, I just kind of, there was something intuitively that I could, that I just knew I was going to want to do it. Then I read it and I was like, whoa. But at the same time I called her and I was like, okay, this is my responses and this is what I felt. This is when we just clicked. Yeah. And I'm in pretty much every frame of the film. So I was like, oh gosh, if this doesn't work, I'm like, it's, it's, it's going to be painful. And it was still very weird to sit there and watch it all. But it was very, there's some, it was exciting. At one point I was like, oh, should I, should I walk out now? Just like go and get a, go to the bathroom. And then I was like, no, stay here. The perfect couple. I did it because of Susannah Beer. So that's another female director that I just got. She just called me and said, I want you to play Greer. I think you haven't done anything like this and it would be fun for you. Liev, who plays Tag in it, my husband, I was like, okay, I've got to have a partner here who's a great actor. And he's such a great actor. So it was just fun to be able to spar with him. A lot of the character was funny and sharp and witty and hopefully delicious television, you know, for people to just kind of eat up. But we also had an ensemble cast that was fantastic. Eve Hewson is the lead and she's wonderful. So she sort of had to carry it, but we were all there to support her and help her. And what was that all about, Tag, honestly? What was what all about? You know exactly what I'm talking about. All that over the top romantic drivel. I don't think. I'm capable of saying anything today that would pass muster with you. Well, what you're capable of and not capable of seems to be over-expanding, doesn't it? Yeah, it's sort of binge-worthy because it's just like, you go, okay, next, next, next, next. I watched it with my husband. He's like, okay, let me see the next one. Let me see the next one. That's when I know it's good, when he says that. This is good for me to remember it happened. I'm so glad I've made all these films. I still have that appetite for the discovery with others, but I like being with people. I like creating it together and us all going in, and I still love that. Soon as I don't, I will find something else to do. Become a great cook.