Nicole Kidman and the lost art of taking risks
Hollywood is full of questionable individuals, and it’s safe to say that very few celebrities are perfect – they’re human at the end of the day. But there are certainly actors out there who, more so than others, make the most out of their positions in the industry. They actually do something interesting.
I think Nicole Kidman is a great example of this, although I know some people might beg to differ. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that every movie Kidman has ever been in is a masterpiece, but when you assess her career choices, you really have to hand it to her – this is an actor who never refuses to stay stagnant.
When she moved to Hollywood from her native Australia back in the early 1990s, Kidman appeared in several blockbusters, but it was Gus Van Sant’s dark indie comedy To Die For that really cemented her genius. It remains one of her greatest performances, a knockout display of her charms, her impeccable comedic timing, and her penchant for things a little dark, even if they’re wrapped up in satire.
From there, Kidman continually picked up roles that were undeniably challenging, bringing her sublime talents to projects like Eyes Wide Shut by Stanley Kubrick, Jonathan Glazer’s Birth, and Lars von Trier’s Dogville. These more experimental and transgressive roles revealed a side to Kidman where she could really let herself be, unafraid of a movie that might scare many other Hollywood stars of her calibre away. I mean, working with von Trier certainly isn’t for everyone.
Of course, she won an Oscar for The Hours in 2003 when she donned a prosthetic nose and became almost unrecognisable as Virginia Woolf, while other highlights of the early 2000s came in the form of Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! and the period drama Cold Mountain. What’s so great about Kidman is how easily she can slip into a role that is so different from the last, going from musicals to horror to children’s movies without difficulty.
But surely she’s not the only actor who has great range while balancing a mixture of indie and more big-budget movies? Of course not, but there’s something so fascinating about a star on Kidman’s level who wouldn’t blink twice when faced with a subversive part, even in spite of a smaller budget and a less experienced director.
And what’s more, Kidman has vowed to work with a female director at least every 18 months in the hopes of attacking the gender inequality within the industry head-on.
There are, surprisingly, many actors out there who have never worked with a female filmmaker, like Emma Stone, Tom Cruise, and Sean Connery, while many others have just one or two credits to their name, like Leonardo DiCaprio, who hasn’t been in a female-directed film since 1995’s Total Eclipse. But Kidman has worked with everyone from Jane Campion and Sofia Coppola to Halina Rejn, Vicky Jenson, Susanne Bier, and Andrea Arnold.
What’s so great about Kidman’s interest in working with fascinating female filmmakers is that, as a result, she often plays rather complex women. In Big Little Lies, Kidman stepped into the role of a woman who, behind closed doors, is facing domestic abuse, while Babygirl sees her play an older CEO who embarks on a BDSM affair with a younger employee, her identity and sexuality explored openly with the space that few female stars over 50 are afforded.
It’s clear that Kidman is conscious of taking on roles that are going to test her, whether that’s mentally or physically (like when she played the tragic courtesan Satine in Moulin Rouge!, resulting in some cracked ribs).
But besides that, she simply allows herself to have fun from time to time, and it’s refreshing to see. From Happy Feet to Paddington, Kidman isn’t always playing the troubled woman pushed to her limits; sometimes she indulges in a ridiculous villain or a comedic hero.
What I’m saying, really, is that more actors should approach their careers like Kidman. More actors should vow to work with more female actors for a start – that really does feel like the bare minimum, yet it’s something that Kidman is paving the way for. Beyond that, it’s Kidman’s ability to seamlessly move between roles with more experimental filmmakers, whether that’s Kubrick or Yorgos Lanthimos, and those that allow her a little more freedom to let loose that really marks her out as an admirable talent.
She digs into women’s stories and presents audiences with characters, like Celeste in Big Little Lies, who have often been invisible on screen. Kidman could so easily sink into a world of Marvel and soulless blockbusters now that she has reached such a large level of fame, but instead, she remains unpredictable, working with everyone from established auteurs to fascinating up-and-coming directors.
