Harris Dickinson’s favourite Nicole Kidman film: “It’s disturbing”
Harris Dickinson is only in his late twenties at the time of writing, but he’s been playing characters who project a worldliness far beyond his years for nearly a decade. Whether he’s dominating Nicole Kidman with little more than a cookie in Halina Reijn’s Babygirl or cruising for older men in Eliza Hittman’s stunning 2017 drama Beach Rats, he projects a world-weariness and intensity that suggests a lifetime of experiences.
This may be partly due to his tendency to pick projects that are outside the mainstream. He’s appeared in some pretty high-profile and provocative movies over the years, including Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness and Sean Durkin’s The Iron Claw. Now, a full three years before the films come out, Dickinson’s role as John Lennon in Sam Mendes’s upcoming series of Beatles biopics is already drawing controversy.
Still, all of this pales in comparison to the conversations sparked by Babygirl. In the film, Dickinson plays an intern who embarks on a kinky, dominant/submissive relationship with his boss (Kidman). Pearl-clutching aside, the movie was a big deal for Dickinson, too, who was already a big fan of his co-star. Even after they’d signed on to do the project together, he was so nervous about meeting her that he had to get his friend, Margaret Qualley, to break the ice for him.
It’s pretty standard for co-stars to claim that they’ve been fans of each other for decades the minute they step out onto their press junket, but Dickinson’s admiration for Kidman seems pretty genuine. When he visited the famous Criterion Closet to pick his favourite films, one of them featured his Babygirl co-star.
After singling out films by Mike Leigh, Kenji Mizoguchi, Lino Brocka, and Harmony Korine, Dickinson pulled down another DVD and said, “To Die For, To Die For. Gus Van Sant and Nicole Kidman.” Released in 1995 (before Dickinson was born), it stars Kidman as an aspiring television presenter from a small town in America who seduces a teenager (Joaquin Phoenix) and convinces him to kill her husband. Her relentlessly sunny disposition is in stark contrast with her ruthless ambition and murderous intentions, which makes the film an extremely sinister watch.
Dickinson pointed to one scene in which Kidman’s character convinces Phoenix and his friends to dance for her as she films them. Phoenix takes her up on the challenge, moving loosely to an unknown rhythm while she demonstrates with her own sensuous dance. Kidman provides a tour de force of a performance in the film. After decades of taking on daring roles, it might still be her most audacious and flawless piece of work.
“Nicole is incredible in this,” Dickinson said. “I love this film. It’s disturbing.”
To Die For came early in her career when she was just reaching mainstream stardom but had yet to demonstrate the layers of talent that she possessed. Days of Thunder, Far and Away, and Batman Forever established her as a star, but To Die For established her as a formidable actor, even though it never got the audience it deserved.
