Big Little Lies Season 2: Nicole Kidman salutes husband Keith Urban over confronting scenes with Alexander Skarsgard
Nicole Kidman and her on-screen tormentor Alexander Skarsgard reveal how they managed the confronting domestic abuse scenes they had to film in Big Little Lies — and salute a supporter.
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Nicole Kidman has credited husband Keith Urban for keeping her sane while she filmed harrowing domestic abuse scenes opposite on-screen husband Alexander Skarsgard on the Liane Moriarty-penned drama, Big Little Lies.
Speaking on the blue carpet in New York alongside Urban at the show’s season two premiere on Thursday, Kidman paid tribute to her “incredibly patient” husband of 13 years.
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“He’s unbelievably supportive and watches all the episodes and cheers on from the sidelines which, I have to say, if I didn’t have that I wouldn’t be able to do it, I seriously wouldn’t.”
The couple, who are parents to daughters Sunday Rose, 10, and Faith Margaret, 8, said maintaining a healthy work-life balance is an ongoing challenge.
“It works by correcting it when it goes out,” says Urban, smiling at his wife. “Balance is never achieved it’s just maintained and we do a good job of stopping it from wobbling.”
Kidman’s Big Little Lies co-star, Skarsgard was full of praise for his Australian co-star.
“She’s alright, she’s alright,” he said with a wry smile. “She’s so generous and open, she made [those difficult scenes] easier.”
Skarsgard played the vile Perry, who in the first season of the HBO blockbuster abuses Kidman’s Celeste mercilessly until she, with her girlfriends — the so-called “Monterey Five” — snap in a climactic ending.
The star, who is much nicer in real life, has just spent three months on the Gold Coast shooting Godzilla vs. Kong. And he had a message for Aussies (though overly sensitive Sydneysiders may wish to look away now).
“I love Australia and I went to Melbourne a couple of times — lovely city!”
At 51, Kidman says she feels more comfortable in her skin than she ever has.
“It’s about being your authentic self, it’s about trying to work out who and what you want and who you are, and when that happens it’s very, very freeing.”
Meanwhile the Aussie star revealed there was only ever one reason the cast of Big Little Lies returned to do a second season — the fans.
Perhaps the greatest collection of actresses ever seen on screen (three Oscar winners and a multiple Oscar nominee) went back to Monterrey due to the overwhelming, and very vocal, response to the first series.
“Yep, it was that simple. We had no idea we were going to do a season two and the reaction was so powerful and the fans wanted it,” an enthusiastic Kidman said.
“And what a fantastic thing that we were actually supported and pushed in that direction.
“So thank you to the fans and the audience that has allowed this to happen. I mean HBO got behind us because of the demand of the audience.”
Kidman also praised the show’s newest castmember, Meryl Streep who plays Mary Louise, the conniving mother of the abusive Perry (Alexander Skarsgard).
“We’re so lucky, we’re fortunate that she believed in us; she signed on without reading anything. Now that is a massive thing for a woman with that amount of power and also the fall she could take if we didn’t deliver for her. So it shows the trust but it also shows how unbelievably daring and curious and bold she is and I love her.”
Australian author Liane Moriarty, who created the blockbuster with the novel Big Little Lies, set Down Under, reckons she still can’t believe Streep actually said yes to a role she wrote specifically for her. (Streep’s real name is actually Mary Louise.)
“After Meryl, it’s all downhill from here,” laughed Moriarty, who was on the blue carpet with husband, Adam.
After the screening in New York, the fun continued at an after-party — where Shailene Woodley, who had already raised eyes with her daring dress, drew laughs by dancing with her on-screen son Iain Armitage.
Big Little Lies Season 2 premieres on Foxtel on Monday, June 10
Originally published as Big Little Lies Season 2: Nicole Kidman salutes husband Keith Urban over confronting scenes with Alexander Skarsgard
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