‘My wildest dreams’: Australian star Nicole Kidman on the news that left her ‘speechless’

In her own words and photographed by her daughter Sunday Rose, Nicole Kidman reflects on her iconic roles, as she prepares to be the first Australian to receive a prestigious Hollywood award.

Nicole Kidman is receiving the American Film Institute’s highest honour. Picture: Getty Images

Ahead of making history as the first-ever Australian to receive a prestigious award in the US, Nicole Kidman has opened up about her shock at the honour.

Reflecting on her 40-year career, Kidman took a walk down memory lane with Stellar while sharing a beautiful and intimate photograph taken at home by her daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman-Urban.

Of the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award, Kidman said: “Receiving this award fills me with overwhelming gratitude,” Kidman tells Stellar. “To be the first Australian to be honoured in this way leaves me speechless.

“To be seen in the company of the greats like Lillian Gish, Bette Davis, Meryl Streep or Barbra Streisand is beyond my wildest dreams.

“I grew up as a Sydney suburban girl who just wanted to act; to have forged a career by doing what I love is a blessing beyond my dreams. I thank the AFI for this amazing honour.”

Nicole Kidman is looking back at her four decade-long career in this Sunday’s Stellar. Picture: Getty Images

DEAD CALM

At 22, Kidman landed on Hollywood’s radar with her performance in Australian director Phillip Noyce’s 1989 psychological thriller – which was filmed in the Whitsundays – about Rae Ingram, a woman who, along with her husband (played by Sam Neill), ends up trapped

on a yacht and terrorised by an unhinged drifter played by Billy Zane.

“Dead Calm was my first major film,” Kidman tells Stellar.

“I am forever grateful to Phillip [and producers] Terry Hayes and George Miller for giving me the chance to star in an Australian film that would be made for the world.

“It’s one of my great memories of filmmaking. We filmed on the ocean for months on end. It was commitment with a capital C. I learnt so much from Phillip, Terry and George; I am deeply grateful that they believed in me.”

Nicole Kidman photographed by her daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman-Urban, at home. Picture: Sunday Rose Kidman-Urban

TO DIE FOR

Gus Van Sant’s dark satire has enjoyed a constant rediscovery since its 1995 release, both for how prescient it was in terms of where the culture was heading in the mid ’90s, as well as for some of the outfits Kidman wears in the film, which have enjoyed a recent re-appreciation on social media.

Kidman plays Suzanne Stone-Maretto, an aspiring broadcast journalist who will go to any length to become famous, and who embarks on an affair with a lovestruck delinquent (played by Joaquin Phoenix), woos him with empty promises and a seductive dance in the rain (pictured far right), and ultimately convinces him to murder her husband (Matt Dillon).

“To Die For was ahead of its time in tone and in what it was saying about the world,” Kidman says.

“Gus’ direction and [screenwriter] Buck Henry’s words… brilliant! I’ll never forget that scene in front of the car with Joaquin. We came up with that on the spot.”

Nicole Kidman on the set of To Die For. Picture: Alamy

THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

The 1996 screen adaptation of the Henry James novel saw Kidman take on the role of Isabel Archer, starring opposite John Malkovich and working with director Jane Campion. In the years since, Kidman has gone on to honour a pledge to work consistently with female directors and amplify the work of women in all aspects of the industry – both onscreen and off. She again collaborated with Campion in Top Of The Lake: China Girl (Kidman is pictured with the Oscar-winning director at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017, following the release of the TV series).

“I bow down to Jane, who is a genius and also one of my best friends,” says Kidman. “We nearly made a short film together when I was in film school, so this collaboration

was a long time coming. No-one thinks like Jane – the ultimate lateral thinker. I would do anything she asks.”

Nicole Kidman and Jane Campion, pictured together in Cannes in 2017. Picture: Getty Images

EYES WIDE SHUT

Kidman was a longtime fan of legendary director Stanley Kubrick (pictured right, with Kidman and Madison Eginton) – having fallen in love with his work as a teenager growing up in Sydney – when she embarked on the London-based shoot for his final movie, an erotic mystery in which she starred with then-husband Tom Cruise. Filming on Eyes Wide Shut, which was released in 1999, famously took 400 days to complete – a Guinness World Record that holds to this day.

“So much of what I know about filmmaking and philosophy came in long conversations with Stanley,” Kidman recalls. “I would sit in his office and we’d talk for hours.

“He knew everything, and was the wisest of teachers. I miss and think about him every day.”

Nicole Kidman is the cover of Stellar, out today. Picture: Adir Abergel

MOULIN ROUGE!

The 2001 cinematic musical spectacle by Baz Luhrmann (pictured below, with Kidman) was filmed in Sydney and featured Academy Award-winning costume and production design from Luhrmann’s wife and creative collaborator Catherine Martin. The film netted Kidman her first Oscar nomination for playing Satine, the star performer and courtesan at the titular Paris landmark.

“Baz and CM… passion, vision and belief. Moulin Rouge! captured it all. The greatest filmmaking with such vision behind it. We bonded forever, and I count Baz and CM among my closest friends. You’re sensing a theme here. No-one had done anything like it before. Truly visionary.”

Picture: Getty Images

THE HOURS

Kidman won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal as Virginia Woolf in director Stephen Daldry’s 2002 adaptation of the best-selling novel, a triptych of stories that also starred Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore.

“The Hours came from brilliant writing and directing and a very particular moment in life for me,” says Kidman. “I think I kind of channelled Virginia in a way that was very aligned with my universe at the time. Stephen knew just what to do with me, but the experience of playing this role and the attention that followed is a bit of a blur – it just all seemed to have happened.”

LION

Upon its release in 2016, Lion became the sixth most popular Australian film of all time, and saw Kidman (pictured right, with co-star Dev Patel) nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2017 Academy Awards.

“It’s very rare that Australian actors get nominated playing Australians, so that was

really special. To then be in an Australian film that’s so successful and then on a world

stage nominated in that regard – and with my Australian accent – that was really, really great.”

‘The power of women.’ Nicole Kidman with her Bombshell co-stars Margot Robbie and Charlize Theron.

BOMBSHELL

Kidman worked with Charlize Theron and fellow Australian actor Margot Robbie (pictured centre left, with Kidman and Theron at a screening in California in 2019; and below, in a scene from the film, with Kidman) on this 2019 film about the women who accused former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment.

“I made this film to show the power of women and to work with Charlize and Margot, both of whom I respect so much and adore,” says Kidman.

“I would so love to work with these two again.”

‘Producing with a capital P.’ Nicole Kidman on the set of Nine Perfect Strangers. Picture: News Corp Australia

NINE PERFECT STRANGERS

Kidman assembled an all-star cast for the first season of this 2021 series, in which she plays a mysterious guru at a wellness retreat. Pulling together the Byron Bay-based shoot in the midst of the Covid pandemic under strict quarantine guidelines was particularly demanding for Kidman, who both starred and worked as a producer on the David E Kelley-created series based on a novel by Australian author Liane Moriarty.

“Nine Perfect Strangers was, I think, the first major production in the world back up during Covid, says Kidman.

“We worked with our studio partners to actually write the pandemic protocols. None of it had been done before. We were working directly with epidemiologists and government leaders. Producing with a capital P.

“We moved our production to Australia, where Liane actually set the story, never had one Covid case, and kept hundreds of people employed and safe through some of the toughest months of the pandemic.

“I am incredibly proud of this show and what we achieved together. Now, we are filming a second season with a lot of the same people.”

Originally published as ‘My wildest dreams’: Australian star Nicole Kidman on the news that left her ‘speechless’