The role Nicole Kidman wishes she hadn’t turned down: “What a big regret”
After cutting her teeth in her native Australia, Nicole Kidman made a huge leap into Hollywood, becoming well-known as an actor across a range of genres. She appeared in both the popular Batman Forever and the more subversive To Die For in 1995, proving herself to be a performer capable of diverse and wide-ranging roles. She is now one of Hollywood’s most prolific modern actors, starring in countless popular movies as well as ones that are considerably more experimental and daring.
The actor has worked with many legendary directors, such as Stanley Kubrick, who cast her in his unconventional Christmas classic Eyes Wide Shut, an erotically charged thriller about elite cults and infidelity. The movie helped propel Kidman to wider acclaim, and she subsequently appeared in films like Moulin Rouge!, The Hours, Dogville, and Birth. From Happy Feet and Paddington to Big Little Lies, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Beguiled, and The Northman, Kidman’s filmography is nothing short of remarkable.
Yet, that doesn’t mean that Kidman is without regret. Turning down roles is just part of the job when you’re an actor. Sometimes, actors realise that they should’ve accepted a part, and other times, they know they’ve made the right decision; whatever the case, all you can do is move forward. However, it is undoubtedly hard to look back and realise you missed out on a great opportunity. Kidman’s regret goes back to her early teen years when she was given the chance to work with a filmmaker who would later become a frequent collaborator and close friend.
Before Kidman was a professional actor, she trained in various acting groups, such as one at the Australian Theatre for Young People. She eventually began landing movie roles from age 16 onwards, but before then, she was offered a role in a student film that she turned down. The job was with none other than Jane Campion, a director who would eventually cast Kidman in the leading role of her movie Portrait of a Lady in 1996.
Yet, when Campion was studying at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, she met 13-year-old Kidman, acting in a local Sweet Bird of Youth production. The young actor was then asked if she wanted to be in Campion’s student film, but due to her teenage insecurities, Kidman wasn’t sure she wanted to be part of it.
Talking to W Magazine, Kidman revealed, “I was playing the Princess…and I had no understanding of what the actual text meant. The director Jane Campion came and sat in the back of that little theater and then cast me in one of her student films. But I didn’t do it — I didn’t want to wear a shower cap in the film and not look pretty.”
This mistake meant that the pair wouldn’t reunite until over 15 years later, which is something Kidman wishes hadn’t been the case. “What a big regret!”. Still, Portrait of a Lady produced a strong performance from Kidman, and the actor eventually worked with Campion again on the television show Top of the Lake: China Girl.
