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Babygirl’s Nicole Kidman on breaking boundaries

'It's OK to ask for what you want'
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Critics have hailed Nicole Kidman’s Golden Globe-nominated role in Babygirl – playing a married woman in a dominant-submissive affair with a brazen young intern (Harris Dickinson) – as her boldest performance yet.

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As Romy, she explores an inner fantasy life hidden from her husband (Antonio Banderas) that threatens to blow up her seemingly perfect life when she discovers an opportunity to explore those secret desires.

In early January, three months after the Aussie star tragically lost her mum Janelle, Kidman spoke to WHO from her Nashville home, curled up on a cream-coloured sofa wearing a shiny blue blouse and cradling a cup of much-needed coffee that her husband, Keith Urban, has just delivered.

At 57, the five-time Oscar nominee is more in demand than ever before, with three high-profile TV roles just this past year: The Expats, Perfect Couple and Lioness. But while she admits that dealing with her grief and loss has been a devastating journey, she’s never been one to shy away from confronting life or art head on.

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Halina Reijn and Nicole Kidman. (Credit: Getty)
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Why did you want to take on Babygirl?

I’d never done anything like it, and I felt that the minute I read the script. I was like, ‘this is so exciting!’ It’s actually very truthful, but it’s also very subversive in the sense of you taking a genre that’s usually told primarily from the male perspective and turning it into something that’s not punishing or judgmental on women.

It’s about your inner thoughts. It’s about secrets. It’s about marriage and truth and power and consent. The language for sex is so complicated, but it was told by a woman who wrote and directed it (Halina Reijn), so I felt safe.

Did you require an intimacy coordinator?

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We definitely had an intimacy coordinator, for the scenes with both Antonio (Banderas) and I as well as for Harris and me – and they were always there.

One of the great things now about our industry is that you have these boundaries in place so anyone that doesn’t feel comfortable can go, ‘I need this to be changed. Can we change this?’

Antonio Banderas, Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson attend a red carpet for "Babygirl" during the 81st Venice International Film Festival at on August 30, 2024 in Venice, Italy
Antonio Banderas, Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson. (Credit: Getty)

How do you think that impacted your performance?

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That’s part of the new horizon, these stories can be told in a far more honest way because when you feel like, ‘Oh, my gosh, nothing’s going to be shot here that I don’t feel comfortable with’, then you become braver.

It was a really unusual place for me, because I’ve made a lot of films, but I’ve never made anything like this, and I probably would only do it with a woman at the helm as she created a very sacred space.

Once you say to the other actor, ‘we’re in this together, and it’s sacred, and whatever you feel comfortable with and uncomfortable with, let’s discuss’, then we did discuss, really openly.

What do you think the film says about women and sex?

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I love how it’s also about the two generations kind of teaching each other, particularly the younger generation showing the older generation it’s OK to ask for what you want. It’s definitely part of the new wave of films that are being made about sexuality and challenging what that is.

Nicole Kidman and Janelle Kidman
Nicole Kidman with her mum Janelle who passed away in 2024. (Credit: Instagram)

Describe Romy for us.

She’s a woman who has achieved pretty much everything she wanted to achieve in her career; she has the children, the husband, the lovely apartment in New York, but there is still a restlessness that is relatable to a lot of people.

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Then suddenly this person comes in who you can say is an angel or a devil, but he’s got these qualities that are there to disrupt. So you have her letting somebody else, a young boy, hold everything that she owns in the palm of his hand and that’s an exploration that I’ve not seen of a woman on screen.

You won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival in September but you had already left Italy to rush home when your mother died. With so many highs and lows colliding, where are you at now in your life and your art?

Right now, I’m just taking a break. I’m excited that I’ve done something like this which is sort of breaking boundaries for me but then I’m also just having to stay protective of my heart and myself, so there are good days and bad days…

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