I last talked with Nicole Kidman for "Sunday Morning" several years ago.Not much has happened since then.
Just kidding! Kidman is in the middle of a "golden era," following her Emmy-winning turn in the TV series "Big Little Lies."To name just two of her recent projects: the TV series "The Perfect Couple," co-starring Liev Schreiber; and "Special Ops: Lioness," with Zoe Saldaña.Is the sense that time is fleeting part of why she has been so prolific? "Yeah, probably," Kidman said.
She's still the better half of country great Keith Urban.But the thing Kidman is getting the most attention for these days is a film coming out on Christmas … and what a film it is.
In "Babygirl," Kidman plays a happily married, successful CEO who is in some ways unfulfilled, so she takes up with a handsome intern (Harris Dickinson, of "Triangle of Sadness") who knows just how to scratch her particular itch.I asked, "Was there any point where you thought, 'Oh, I don't know if I can do this'?" "Yeah, yeah.
And a lot of it is stamina, 'cause I'm in every frame of the film," she replied.To watch a trailer for "Babygirl," click on the video player below: Kidman is committed to working a lot with female directors, and in Halina Reijn's hands, the film is intense and relentless.I asked: "Do you think part of what makes you do your job – " "Weird?" Kidman offered."Well … weird, yeah, that's where I was going with that?""You can say it!""Do you think part of what makes you a good actor is that ability to feel intensely?""Probably the thing that I have is the ability to feel, like, really feel," Kidman said.
"I go into hospitals.Keith and I will work where we go … he'll bring his guitar and we'll just, you know, in the oncology units.
And I have to not absorb someone else's emotions.""Because that's your tendency? That's what you tend to do?""Yeah.And Keith's always said, 'You're like a raw egg that I have to be the shell for.'"Kidman doesn't look all that...