Last week we learned that Vanity Fair revamped their calendar to release their annual Hollywood Issue now, while all the awards-bait films are coming out in droves, instead of closer to the Oscars in the new year (though they’re still calling this the 2025 Hollywood cover). By my count in perusing VF’s cover archives, Nicole Kidman is making her fifth appearance in the Hollywood Issue, her other years including 2022, 2018, 2001, and 1995 on the inaugural cover. Each and every time, even going back to 1995, Nicole was on the first panel. My point? Nicole Kidman is, to quote our president, “a big f–king deal.” In Hollywood, that is. She works nonstop, including on the development and producing side, and every couple years she’s a contender for an Oscar nom, like she is this year for Babygirl. She won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for the part, which tragically fell on the same day as her mother passing. Nicole talked about her mother’s influence and a lot more in her VF profile. A few highlights:
On her mother, who she just lost: She was my compass in a way. It’s like losing that, but at the same time going, Okay, well, this is for her then. So much of what she wanted for my sister and I was to create women in this world who felt like they could express themselves and have opportunities, especially things she didn’t have from her generation. She loved my career, she really did. She would be there through all the ups and downs, all of it. Her essence has been pretty much the driving force through my whole life. I wish she could have seen this part of it.
She chooses projects on instinct: I am very spontaneous and I have immediate yeses. When [director Susanne Bier] called me, we didn’t have all the scripts for Perfect Couple, but I was like, “Yes.” When Halina reached out for Babygirl, I was already going, “Okay, just the title alone, I’m in.” If I feel freedom and safe with a person, then I can just give them everything. But I’ve got to feel arms around the project and me — that allows the expression. So much of what you’re offering is deeply personal. I need to be held in that regard for it to really work.
It’s harder to get projects greenlit: Everything’s hard now. Actually everything. I mean, maybe not Deadpool, but there’s nothing that’s, “Oh my gosh. Yep. This is it. Greenlight, let’s go.” Or maybe it’s just the things that I do. [Laughs] I just think that’s the nature of what we’re dealing with now. Things are shrinking in terms of shows being done and films being made. I definitely feel it. I’m sure most people in the industry feel it. I know the crews feel it. I know writers feel it.
On who she wants to work with: I’ve always said I want to work with [Martin] Scorsese, if he does a film with women. I’d love to work with Kathryn Bigelow. I’d love to work with Spike Jonze. I’d love to work with PTA [Paul Thomas Anderson]. I’ve always wanted to work with Michael Haneke. And there’s a whole slew of up-and-coming directors — there’s so many, and I’m always open to the discovery of new people. And I find it really exciting when you go, Here’s someone that’s so experienced and has been working and working, but they’ve now really hit their stride.
She’s never had a plan for her career: I have been crazy in life, so whatever happens, it comes out in many different ways. I feel things intensely. I read a lot. I’m raising a family. I’m a wife, I’m a sister. I’ve got all these friends. I’m moving through the journey of life. It can be really hard, especially if you’re very present and emotional and in it. And then there’s an enormous amount of sheer joy.
The more I hear/see of Nicole Kidman in her elder stateswoman glory, the more unbelievable it is to me that she was ever with Tom Cruise, let alone for 10 years. Saying yes to things just on instinct? Being “crazy in life?” Those seem to me like qualities that would scare the sh-t out of Cruise. It’s also kind of wild to think Nicole’s huge body of work has been the result of such spontaneity. Good for her! At the end of the day, I get the feeling that she really does just f–king love acting and collaborating now as much as she ever did (she’s been working professionally for 40 years!). It’s a bit depressing to hear that even she has trouble getting things greenlit, though she sounds clear that it may be down to her indie tastes. Which makes me wonder/hope that she and Sydney Sweeney had some time during the shoot to talk shop about producing. And finally, what a ballsy, effortless slay she landed on Martin Scorsese, all while expressing how she’d like to work with him. No notes.
Photos credit: Olivier Huitel/Avalon, i-Images, PacificCoastNews/Avalon, IMAGO/Barbara Hine / Avalon, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/AvalonGetty