Nicole Kidman names her most overlooked movie: “Did it receive all the glory it needed?”
Acting brings many challenges. It’s an art form that requires the performer to truly embody someone else, and sometimes that person is drastically removed from who they are. In some cases, actors go to extreme lengths, like method acting or doing incredible amounts of research – blurring the line between themselves and their character. No matter the method that an actor uses to get into character for a movie, a good role has the power to change an actor, opening their eyes to their view of the world or making them reflect on their own self.
Nicole Kidman has played a variety of characters in her career, appearing in a range of genres. It appears that the actor loves starring in big-budget projects that will reach a wide audience as much as she is attracted to experimental and offbeat productions. Having appeared in everything from Eyes Wide Shut and Moulin Rouge! to Birth, Dogville, Cold Mountain, and Paddington, the actor is open to roles whether they’re fun or incredibly challenging.
With her tenure as a popular actor spanning several decades, having started out in the 1980s, Kidman has learnt the importance of picking out roles that have a significant impact on audiences. While she loves playing more lighthearted roles, there is something so important about playing a part within a movie that aims to challenge public consciousness about an issue or bring awareness to a complex topic.
Kidman has appeared in various movies and shows that have moved audiences, such as Lion, a film about a man who journeys to India to find his biological family, and Big Little Lies, which explores domestic abuse. With Birth, her character is a terrific example of someone suffering greatly with grief, while The Prom explores a school’s resistance to a lesbian student bringing a female date.
However, there is a movie that Kidman starred in in 2018 that failed to garner as much attention as the actor believes it should have done, even though it explored a very important topic. Boy Erased, directed by Joel Edgerton, explored conversion therapy, with Kidman and Russell Crowe playing the religious parents of a boy, portrayed by Lucas Hedges, who is forced into a program to ‘cure’ him of his queerness. It is an incredibly moving tale, based upon the memoir by Garrard Conley, and Kidman was honoured to be part of a movie about the trauma of conversion therapy and being forced to suppress one’s true identity.
The actor explained to L’Officiel that it is “a very small film, but for me, an important film.” She added, “Did it receive all the glory it needed? No, but it definitely shined a light. I get so many people coming up to me saying, ‘Thank you; you helped my family making that film.’” Kidman includes it in her list of roles that were tough but rewarding. “There are roles where I go, ‘It was so difficult’, but the actual adventure of it was extraordinary.”
Actors like Xavier Dolan, Joe Alwyn, Troye Sivan, Flea, and Edgerton also starred in Boy Erased. While it did receive critical praise, the movie wasn’t a widespread release, making less than $1million at the box office.
