Profile: Nicole Kidman

Have you ever met a person who is simultaneously hot and cold? Beloved and hated? How about celebrated and condemned? In this dichotomy we find Nicole Kidman: Oscar winning actress, Golden Globe winner and probably the world’s most famous redhead.  At one point, Kidman was the highest paid actress in Hollywood. She won an Academy Award in the Stephan Daldry directed film The Hours , which also happens to co-star Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore with a plethora of other incredible actors. But after that, it seemed as if the public got tired of Kidman.

With mediocre follow-ups  such as the experimental drama Dogville directed by Lars Von Trier, the needless remakes of Bewitched, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and the critically and commercially panned The Stepford Wives, it seemed as if Kidman would never get back to her late nineties, early two-thousands movie making form.

What went wrong?

Humble Beginnings

Nicole Mary Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 20th 1967 to Antony David Kidman and Janelle Ann Kidman (née Glenny.) She began acting at a young age initially starting on the stage, then eventually getting her film debut in the Australian movie Bush Christmas. She continued to gain notoriety with a slew of minor roles in films such as Nightmaster, Windrider , and most notably BMX Bandits. In 1989 Kidman gained world wide fame for her role in the motion picture Dead Calm where her performance received multiple praises from critics and the public alike. But, they weren’t the only people to take notice.

In 1990 Tom Cruise was considered one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. With hit films like Top Gun, Risky Business and Rain Man, his fame reached unfathomable heights around this time. So naturally, when Nicole reportedly got a call from Tom asking her to star in his new movie – I would definitely have a hard time saying no. Days of Thunder is directed by Tony Scott and stars Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall and Randy Quaid. Cruise plays a guy named Cole Trickle who wants to be a professional race car driver, but he doesn’t quite have the means to do it. He then gets discovered by a dealership investor, played by Randy Quaid, who convinces him to race for his team in the upcoming NASCAR series. For the rest of the movie we see the ups and downs in Cole’s life as he struggles to adjust to his new found fame.

In this film, Nicole plays Dr. Claire Lewicki, a no-nonsense neurologist who quickly develops a relationship with Cole after treating him for a serious injury after an on track collision. To be quite honest, it was questionable having the then 22 year old play a brain surgeon, but the audience didn’t seem to care. Days of Thunder grossed well over $157 million at the box office and over $40 million in VHS rentals. Not only did this film mark the beginning of Kidman’s arrival into the American movie industry, it also symbolizes the start of the real life relationship between Cruise and Kidman that would produce two more films and last about 10 years.

After that success Kidman went on to further her filmography with a number of other critically praised films including Far and Away (the second of the three films she did with Cruise), Billy Bathgate (in which she garnered her first Golden Globe nomination) and Malice, my personal favorite ( no seriously go watch it when you have the time, it’s basically a film-noir on steroids – it’s just incredible!) With her star steadily rising, it was only a matter of time before Kidman got rewarded for her efforts.

And The Award Goes To…

Some people say 1995 was Kidman’s breakout year; it would finally be the year where she would step out from under veil of being Mrs. Tom Cruise and become her own; To Die For was the film to do just that. The film is directed by Gus Van Sant and stars Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, and Joaquin Phoenix. Kidman stars as housewife Suzanne Maretto who has aspirations to become a world-renowned news anchor. She doesn’t care who or what stands in the way of her reaching success – even if that means killing her  husband. She doesn’t actually kill him, no, she hires (I actually mean blackmails and bribes) three at-risk teenagers, played by actors Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck and Alison Folland, to do the dirty work. This poorly conceived plan would eventually leads to her demise.

For her portrayal as the psychotic housewife, she won a Golden Globe for the first time in her career, deservedly so. It came four years after her initial nomination for Billy Bathgate.

At this point in her career Kidman was a hot commodity. She had an inkling for choosing movie roles that fit her eccentric tastes, such as the Joel Schumacher-directed Batman reboot, Batman Forever, the period piece The Portrait of a Lady, the nuclear thriller The Peacemaker opposite George Clooney, and the critically and commercially panned Practical Magic. After a string of sub-par films, Kidman took a break from movies to star in the David Hare play The Blue Room which had its run in London – coincidentally it also happened to be the city where Stanley Kubrick was living at the time.

Eyes Wide Open

In the fall 1996, Kidman and Cruise landed in London where for the next two years they would be shooting Eyes Wide Shut. The notoriously long shoot was plagued from its inception with re-writes, actors dropping out, et cetera. When the announcement came that Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise would be doing a movie with Stanley Kubrick, initially came excitement, then confusion. Although the collaboration was announced, nothing was said about its premise, this lead to a lot of speculation to what kind of visionary masterpiece Kubrick had brewing inside his head. There was a rumor going around that the couple were playing married psychiatrists that were having affairs with their patients; that obviously turned out to be false gossip. In fact the actually premise turned out to be much more complicated.

Cruise and Kidman play a married couple named Bill and Alice Harford who live in Manhattan with their seven year old daughter. One night Alice confesses to Bill that she had an erotic dream about a Naval officer she met at a Christmas party a while back. This sends Bill into a downward spiral that tortures him on the inside. He spends the rest of the night (and days) wondering what he can do to get back at her for ‘cheating’. What’s funny about their characters is that everybody thought that whatever happened on-screen reflected their marriage off-screen. At the time they denied it, but it wasn’t much longer until the high profiled couple split in 2001.

Nicole Kidman: The Actress

The months after her split with Cruise, Kidman stayed out of the spotlight, taking a brief sabbatical before returning to the silver screen with the Oscar and Golden Globe-winning film Moulin Rouge!. Now, no matter how much flack this film gets I still enjoy it (so much so I bought it on DVD, much to the chagrin of my inner film critic.)

It stars Kidman, in her first role back from her self imposed exile, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo and Jim Broadbent. She plays courtesan, named Satine, who falls in love with a writer named Christian (played by McGregor.) Unfortunately their romance is jeopardized by a Duke (played by Richard Roxburgh) who wants Satine all to himself. This leads Christian to try and fight to keep their romance alive. Kidman went on to receive her second Golden Globe win and her first Academy Award nomination for her performance.

Also in 2001, she starred in the horror/thriller flick The Others (in which she received her third Golden Globe nomination) and the British crime drama Birthday Girl.  It seems as if Kidman’s popularity couldn’t get any higher than it was at this point. Until she wins an Oscar.

The Beginning of The End

Like I stated at the beginning of the article, Kidman won her Oscar for the film The Hours. Her performance was lauded, and expectations were high after that. I, like most film fans, expected her to capitalize on this success by going above and beyond with her film choices. But that didn’t happen.

Those films I mentioned at the start of the article were just a small sample of the movies that, I think, weren’t up to par from her previous ones. From the years 2003 to 2007 she starred in films in which most people would consider flops: The Human Stain, Birth, The Interpreter, Bewitched, Fur, and The Golden Compass although they grossed quite well at the box office. The one high spot, I feel, was getting her second Academy Award nomination for the movie Rabbit Hole in 2010, a high spot considering the countless other accolades she’s received.  I would say also that Kidman is famous (at least on the IMBD message boards) for having films that look like they have  potential only to fall short (this recently happened with the highly anticipated Grace of Monaco.)

To be quite honest, I’m not too sure why she chooses eccentric roles. These aren’t the roles that people want to see her in. They don’t necessarily make the most money; so why make them? Perhaps it can be attributed to none other than Stanley Kubrick. In an interview in the January 2015 issue of Elle magazine she is quoted to have said:

“He would always say, ‘You’re a character actress, Nicole. Don’t play leading ladies. Go and find the character roles.'”

This makes perfect sense if you look at her film roles. She is always playing the ‘I’m not here to look pretty’ kind of leading lady. Films like The Paperboy (in which she received another Golden Globe nomination) Stoker, and more recently Paddington (where we’ve received this awesome late night moment courtesy of Jimmy Fallon) are all great examples of good character driven films.

All in all, its been one heck of a ride for Nicole Kidman. From humble beginnings in Australia, to now an Oscar winning actress with a slew of new films in production. I think she is one of the more interesting actresses in Hollywood,  and I sincerely hope she doesn’t change a thing.

What is your favorite Nicole Kidman film? Let me know in the comments!

(top image: Nicole Kidman in Stoker (2013) – source: Fox Searchlight Pictures)