The awful movie Nicole Kidman refused to take the blame for: “I don’t have any control over it”
Few actors have flawless filmographies – even some of the most acclaimed stars of all time, like Marlon Brando and Katharine Hepburn, starred in some absolute stinkers during their careers. The nature of the art form means that some movies can have all the components of a good film, but they can still turn out badly if these elements simply don’t mesh well together. So, having a great actor in the leading role sometimes isn’t enough to save a film, which Nicole Kidman learned when she appeared in the critically derided Grace of Monaco.
Kidman has been one of the most profitable and successful actors in Hollywood for decades, having transitioned from Australian productions to American ones in the early 1990s. Appearing in everything from experimental and indie movies like Lars von Trier’s Dogville and Jonathan Glazer’s Birth to bigger pictures like Paddington and Aquaman, Kidman has proved her versatility over the years, allowing her to take on practically any role she desires.
In several instances, Kidman has been given the opportunity to play real-life figures, like Virginia Woolf in The Hours, which won her an Academy Award, as well as the photographer Diane Arbus in Fur and Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos. However, Kidman’s portrayal of the Hollywood icon Grace Kelly resulted in many negative reviews, with critics believing her portrayal of the star to be lacking. It’s surely difficult to embody an actor who is already well-known and highly praised as one of Hollywood’s greatest stars, and while Kidman gave it her best shot, many viewers were simply left wanting more.
Many others found Kidman’s performance in Grace of Monaco impressive, however, citing the movie’s script and direction as its main letdown, and she even earned a nomination from the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Still, the film was widely considered one of the worst movies of the year when it was released in 2014, and people couldn’t understand how director Olivier Dahan had gone from the Oscar-winning La Vie en Rose, a biopic about Edith Piaf, to this.
When Kidman was met with the backlash from critics, the actor wasn’t going to blame herself for the failure. It might have lost several million at the box office and received widespread hate from critics (and Kelly’s family), but Kidman knew she had done her best to work with the material she was given.
Speaking to The Telegraph, the actor explained, “As much as people go, ‘Oh, the actor is totally responsible,’ the actor doesn’t go into the editing room. I wasn’t producing the film. I wasn’t directing it, and I don’t have control over any of it. You literally do the performance, and then you leave, and you are told, ‘OK, come here to help promote the movie.’ That’s what I did.”
Certainly, Kidman only did what she needed to do, and much of the film’s criticism was directed towards the script and Dahan’s direction, which was not the actor’s fault. It seems as though Kidman is proud of her attempt to embody the cinema icon, although it definitely won’t be remembered as one of Kidman’s finest films.
