Internet can’t believe Reese Witherspoon’s perfect Nicole Kidman impersonation

Reese Witherspoon could have a new side hustle as a Nicole Kidman impersonator – the internet is having a field day with her eerie impression.

Reese Witherspoon debuted an eerily spot-on impersonation of her friend and frequent collaborator Nicole Kidman onstage at a recent event – as Kidman herself watched on from the audience, head in her hands.

Witherspoon was honouring her Big Little Lies co-star at the AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute To Nicole Kidman. The event took place back in April but will air on US television this week, and a new teaser clip shows Witherspoon absolutely killed her speech.

Heaping praise on Kidman, she told the audience that the Aussie star “just knows who’s right for a project. Most actors wait by the phone to be chosen by a director, but as an actor, Nicole has always been proactive.”

She explained that Kidman would often tell her about a “foreign film I’ve absolutely never heard of, and she’s like [slips into perfect Kidman accent]: ‘But do you see that director? I mean, it’s incredible. Reese, we must get her, we MUST!’”

Watch the perfect impersonation below:

It’s not just the accent that makes Witherspoon’s Kidman so perfect. It’s also the intensity, the passion, the subject matter – a female director of an obscure foreign film she simply must work with – that makes it so bang-on for anyone who’s watched Kidman talk about her career before. Nailed it.

Nicole Kidman: “Oh naur Reese, naaaurrr”

Reese Witherspoon's Nicole Kidman impression.

Those on social media called the impression “flawless” and “perfect” – although others noted shades of “Disney villain” and “Gollum” in Witherspoon’s reading of Kidman’s passion for film.

Witherspoon wasn’t the only one to test-run a Kidman impersonation at the event – fellow Big Little Lies co-star Meryl Streep also spoke, sharing another story about their time filming the hit HBO show together.

Streep, who played Kidman’s mother-in-law in a guest role on the show’s second season, shared a spicy secret she learned when she arrived for filming in beachside Monterey, California.

“Reese told me, the very first night we were up in Monterey before we started shooting, ‘You know what Nicole does? She gets up at 5am before dawn, and she goes skinny dipping behind the hotel in the ocean.’”

Streep said she assumed this must be a joke, considering the chill-inducing 8C temperature of the ocean in Monterey in March when they started filming.

Streep slipped into her best Nicole impression to reveal the Aussie star’s response: “I love it. Oh, yeahhhh.”

Meryl had another great anecdote – but her Nicole impression was only so-so.

Nicole Kidman, skinny dipping enthusiast.

An amazing anecdote, but a surprisingly broad impression from Streep – more Russell Coight than Kidman. In this respect at least, Witherspoon has no competition.

And Kidman will have more opportunities for some early morning skinny dipping in the freezing Pacific Ocean, with Big Little Lies soon to film a third season.

In fact, it was Kidman herself who let the cat out of the bag, and was chastised by Witherspoon at the top of their recent Vanity Fair interview.

“You got excited. It’s okay, baby. I get excited too,” she told her co-star.

“Then I’ve got Laura [Dern] calling me, and Zoe [Kravitz] and Shailene [Woodley]. They’re all like, “Nic said that we’re making Big Little Lies season three?” she laughed.