The only time Nicole Kidman went method: “He can just deal with me”
Nicole Kidman is the queen of versatility and risky filmmaking, with not a single project under her belt that plays it safe.
After coming to Hollywood from Australia, Kidman seemed to find her niche in the industry very quickly. She sought out unconventional arthouse directors and pushed herself through roles that challenged expectations around the types of characters she would choose.
Whether it be her exploration of grief in Birth and the bathtub scene that sent shock waves through the United States, or her portrayal of Celeste in Big Little Lies and the complexities of her crumbling marriage, Kidman has always been drawn towards finding truth and vulnerability in all of her characters, even if it doesn’t sit well with mainstream audiences.
While her knack for risk-taking has led to many modern masterpieces, from Eyes Wide Shut to the recent division caused by Babygirl, the actor starred in one 2012 thriller that was examined through a particularly harsh lens, despite the fact that Kidman went beyond her usual working philosophy and unintentionally went full method.
The method approach has been subject to equal levels of ridicule and praise over the years, with many struggling to understand why such extremes would need to be taken for a glorified game of make-believe. However, if it creates a great performance, who are we to criticise it, something that Kidman perhaps saw a different side of after using this approach when working with Lee Daniels on The Paperboy.
The film follows a reporter who returns to his hometown to investigate a racial murder, working with his younger brother. Reportedly, after the movie finished screening at the Cannes Film Festival, it was met with both enthusiastic cheering and booing, the very opposite of a unanimous crowd pleaser. But regardless, it was a challenging experience for Kidman, who described how the project’s tight schedule and low-budget nature led her to stay in character for most of the shoot.
When discussing this, Kidman said, “We had very limited time, we were on a tight, tight budget. We kind of went for it. I didn’t know John [Cusack] and that’s when I just went, I’m actually never going to know John, I’m just going to deal with him as the character and he can just deal with me as the character… I never spoke to him throughout the shoot as John. At the very end of the film, he came to my trailer and said, ‘Hi, I’m John!'”
It’s a bizarre concept to wrap your head around, with very few circumstances in life that reflect the oddities of spending so much time with a person despite not interacting with them as yourself. This challenge pushed Kidman to display a different side of her artistry, portraying an abrasive character who often pushes people to their limits for her own entertainment. While it might not have been widely well-received, there is no doubt that it added a new feather to her bow.
