In this Philippine Tatler exclusive, one of the most respected and recognised movie stars in the world speaks about her passions, pursuing the art of slow living, and why you have to choose love above everything else.  

She is terrified. After almost two decades away from the theatre, Nicole Kidman is back at her roots, exercising a whole set of skills and muscles she’d forgotten she had. “When I said I’d do it, I actually didn’t realise how much fear I would have,” she confesses. “But I’m so glad I did it, because it pushed me so far out of my comfort zone and made me find that place where there’s no way to go but forward. I have to go forward.”

Kidman is taking on the role of English scientist Rosalind Franklin in the West End production of Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51. Based on her impressive track record, she has absolutely no reason to second-guess herself. After all, she’s certainly no stranger to the stage—the Australian actress has been performing all her life. Kidman started taking ballet lessons at the age of three, acted in plays at school, and later enrolled in the Australian Theatre for Young People when she was a teenager. At 16, she was acting in her first film r ole (Bush Christmas) which eventually led to her bagging a supporting role in TV (Five Mile Creek). Five years later, she was in Hollywood, captivating audiences around the world with one blockbuster after another. To date, she has won three Golden Globe Awards, one British Academy Film Award, and one Academy Award, to name a few of her distinctions.

By anyone’s standards, Kidman is a veteran in the industry. And yet, her curiosity remains intact; it is what propels her to choose her roles and keep working. “It really is a blessing to have a chance to work with great minds and to stretch my own intellect and my view of the world, and in times, change my philosophies and ideas,” she says. “I love being able to do that even in this particular stage of my life. Life always has twists and turns, and as we all know, the journey is extremely unpredictable. There are huge highs and huge lows, that’s the nature of existing in the world.”

Kidman is speaking from experience. It was in 2001—the same year her marriage with Tom Cruise officially imploded—when Kidman wowed critics with her performance in Moulin Rouge!, which earned her a Golden Globe (her second) and an Academy Award nomination (her first). The next year would find her taking home an Oscar for her portrayal of troubled writer Virginia Woolf in The Hours. Though that was the pinnacle of her career (at least, so far), Kidman has described that time of her life as “incredibly lonely.”

She wouldn’t change any of it for the world, however. “With the pain comes the joy,” she explains. “The only way you can know joy is when you’ve experienced the flipside. I’ve always believed in choosing love. To always be happy. My grandmother lived to see 90. Her last words to me were, ‘Be happy Nicky.’ It’s the simplest thing. Things can seem difficult at times but whenever I think of her little voice saying that to me, I go, ‘That’s right,’ because ultimately, none of it matters. That feeling that I’m never going to come out of this dark hole is not true. Things move on. If I learnt that much earlier, I would’ve saved myself a lot of tears.”

Family Life

She’s in a much better place these days. Now married to New Zealand-Australian country singer Keith Urban, Kidman is now more focused on slowing down and enjoying life. “Time is precious,” she says. “I’m incredibly fortunate to have found a partner who I have enormous synergy and love with, and we’re raising our girls together with the same ideas and morals.”

Nowadays, her life revolves around her family. “I don’t ever make a decision by myself, or just for myself,” she explains. “To do something like the play, it’s a family decision. Even the four-year-old gets a say in that. Time with them is the most important thing. I know it’s a cliché, but it does go by so quickly, which is devastating. That’s why I don’t want to miss any of it.” Because Kidman has two young children (she has two older children from her first marriage with Cruise), being based in London for the play means a lot. It entails having the family flying back and forth between the UK and the US, where Urban’s career is flourishing.

“I love making the world feel small,” she says. “That sense of travelling frequently and making films in different countries and playing different nationalities. I’m not sure what defines Hollywood now. I mean, I live in Nashville and I work globally. It’s not really set up like it used to be when I was in my 30s.”

Playing Rosalind

It was her mum who pushed her to accept the role of Rosalind Franklin, willing her to not fall into the trap of complacency. “I thought, ‘Oh, I can just stay home in Nashville,’ and she was like, ‘Do the play Nicole,’” Kidman remembers. “At one point, I called her and said, ‘Are you crazy? This is so hard. I’m terrified. I so wish I hadn’t done this.’” But, true to her form, Kidman powered through. The critical reception to her West End turn has been overwhelmingly positive—critics have called her performance “finely poised,” “superb,” “decisive,” and “commanding,” among many others.

This role, which places her as the brilliant scientist who helped discover the double vhelix structure of DNA, is worlds apart from her last appearance on the West End. In 1998’s The Blue Room, she played five different women in a sexual daisy-chain, a performance that London critic Charles Spencer famously called “pure theatrical Viagra.” The play required Kidman to have a brief nude scene—a flash of the buttocks on a darkened stage—that caused tickets to sell like hotcakes. Her role now couldn’t be more different; as Franklin, she is dressed in utilitarian brown shoes and a shirtwaist dress, her hair flattened and coiled into a sensible ‘50s hairstyle.

“I think I’m just attracted to complicated women,” Kidman relates. “I wanted to play Rosalind because I read the story and just loved her. I love the way she was very prickly, very fierce, but totally altruistic and dedicated. And she wasn’t obsessed with personal glory. She just quietly pursued her passion, which was science. I wanted her name to be talked about, and I wanted her to be acknowledged in history.”

Read the FULL article on the November 2015 issue of the Philippine Tatler, now available in all leading book stores and newsstands nationwide. Download the digital copy from ZinioMagzter, and PressReader.