film di tom cruise e nicole kidman

How Many Films Did Tom Cruise And Nicole Kidman Star In Together?

When we talk about the '90s power couples, there are a few that have stuck in our minds through the decades. Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman , Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow, Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford, and of course, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise. These iconic couples had people invested in their relationships from the moment they were spotted arm-in-arm on a red carpet all the way to the second news of their breakups broke.

Kidman and Cruise, in particular, caused a great stir when their marriage ended. Everybody remembers the striking image of Kidman as she strolled the streets in apparent glee as the divorce was finalized. Later, the "Big Little Lies" star opened up about the relationship saying, "Our life together was perfect. It took me a very long time to heal. It was a shock to my system," she added, "That was a great relationship. I think it ran its course. I was really damaged and not sure whether [love and marriage] was ever going to happen again to me," via InTouch Weekly .

But as we all know, it all worked out in the end. Kidman found love in singer Keith Urban while Cruise went on to marry Katie Holmes and have a child with her before splitting up after six years of matrimony. And while Cruise and Kidman's marriage didn't last, it's safe to say their contributions to cinema will stand the test of time, especially in the movies they did together.

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise starred in three movies together

Unsurprisingly, the two Hollywood stars' paths first crossed on the set of the film, "Days of Thunder." In a 2017 interview with People , Nicole Kidman fondly reminisced about the first time she saw Tom Cruise during an audition for her role in the film, "I remember being so nervous and seeing Tom Cruise drive up in a Porsche [. . .] and he got out of the car and walked through, and I was like 'Ah!' and my jaw dropped." She also added that she was intimidated auditioning in front of the movie's executives and Cruise and believed she wouldn't get the part. But she was called and offered the role on the very same day.

Although Kidman had previously gained notoriety from working in the Australian thriller, "Dead Calm," and several other Australian films, she broke through the American film scene with "Days of Thunder." At the time of filming, Kidman was 22, while Cruise was 28 and in the process of getting a divorce from his first wife, Mimi Rogers. In a 1995 interview with Playboy , Rogers would share that the marriage primarily ended due to Cruise's desire to become a monk, which didn't happen. Months before the film's release in 1990, the divorce was finalized and Kidman and Cruise went public shortly after. The actors wed in a private ceremony on Christmas Eve that same year.

Eyes Wide Shut was one of their most notable projects

In 1992, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise appeared in their first film as a married couple, "Far and Away." And while the film did relatively well, their big break as an iconic Hollywood couple would happen in 1999 with Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut." The official trailer for the film featured several explicit scenes, including some steamy kisses shared between the real-life couple.

Unsurprisingly, the couple's chemistry sizzled in the erotic mystery. In 1995, the couple admitted to Vanity Fair that their initial attraction was sexual. Kidman gushed, "I thought he was the sexiest man I'd ever seen in my life." And Cruise also said something similar, "Instant lust, that's what I felt," he added, "I thought she was amazingly sexy and stunning. It grew into love and respect."

Due to the themes of infidelity in the movie and their striking performances, many believed that Kidman and Cruise were tapping into real-life emotions. But Kidman denied these rumors in a 2020 interview with The New York Times , "We were happily married through that," she added, "We would go go-kart racing after those scenes. We'd rent out a place and go racing at 3 in the morning." Sadly, the couple's divorce was finalized in 2001 after 11 years of marriage. Although the pair has been vague about what went down behind the scenes, many have speculated that this might be why they really got divorced .

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Far and Away

A young Irish couple flee to the States, but subsequently struggle to obtain land and prosper freely. A young Irish couple flee to the States, but subsequently struggle to obtain land and prosper freely. A young Irish couple flee to the States, but subsequently struggle to obtain land and prosper freely.

Nicole Kidman
Thomas Gibson
161 User reviews
38 Critic reviews
49 Metascore
3 nominations

Joseph Donnelly

Shannon Christie

Stephen Chase

Daniel Christie

Nora Christie

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Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Trivia The recreation of the Great Land Rush involved 800 extras, 400 horses and 200 wagons. The extras were all recruited from a re-enactment society called The Re-enactors.
Goofs When Joseph and Shannon step off the ship in America, vendors are selling American flags with 50 stars.

[about Grace]

Shannon Christie : She's got an awfully large chest to be goin' to church.

Joseph Donnelly : Shannon, all chests are equal in the eyes of the Lord.

Crazy credits Near the end of the credits, special thanks are given to, among others, Fungi the Dingle Dolphin (although the correct spelling of the dolphin's name is Fungie).
When Joseph's dad dies, there is some added material where the dad says, "I've given you nothing, you boys. A small mold cottage on a bit of rock that isn't even ours, full of hollow labor." Also, there is a bit where the priest there looks at the dying dad curiously as he says his last words.
Connections Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Sister Act/Encino Man/Alien³/Far and Away (1992)
Soundtracks Book of Days Music Composed and Performed by Enya Lyrics by Roma Ryan Produced by Nicky Ryan Courtesy of Warner Music (U.K.), Ltd.

User reviews 161

Dec 19, 2005
How long is Far and Away? Powered by Alexa
May 22, 1992 (United States)
United States
Un horizonte lejano
Billings, Montana, USA (Oklahoma land rush)
Imagine Entertainment
Universal Pictures
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$60,000,000 (estimated)
$58,883,840
$10,194,520
May 24, 1992
$137,783,840

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Runtime 2 hours 20 minutes

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Eyes Wide Shut

Film 1999 | Drammatico 160 min. Dettagli 

Regia di Stanley Kubrick . Un film Da vedere 1999 con Nicole Kidman , Tom Cruise , Madison Eginton , Jackie Sawiris , Sydney Pollack . Cast completo Genere Drammatico - Gran Bretagna , USA , 1999 , durata 160 minuti. - MYmo net ro 3,87 su 9 recensioni tra critica , pubblico e dizionari.

Ultimo aggiornamento martedì 30 agosto 2011

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Attesissimo, beatificato a priori, questo film ha chiuso tre parabole: ricerca, carriera e vita. È quasi naturale che Kubrick, dopo tanto rigoroso, totale, maniacale e mistico impegno, non gli sia sopravvissuto. È un altro allarmante elemento del mito di Eyes Wide Shut e dell'autore, che ha sempre fatto film diversi, affrontando (e risolvendo a modo suo) questo e quel tema della vita e del cinema. Qui pone il suo suggello, la verità ultima, sul sesso, che è certamente più importante, per fare un solo esempio, della fantascienza. Il regista si ispira a un racconto di Arthur Schnitzler, Doppio sogno , ambientato nella Vienna degli anni venti, e traspone la vicenda nella New York dei giorni nostri. Alta borghesia, alto censo, belle case, bella gente. Cruise è il medico William Harford, e Kidman è sua moglie Alice. A un party la coppia corteggia e si fa corteggiare (venialmente), ma tornando a casa lei gli confessa di aver recentemente provato un'attrazione irresistibile per un ufficiale. William sembra sorriderci, ma la rivelazione lavora sulla sua coscienza e nei suoi incubi. Immagina la moglie in atti sessuali con l'ufficiale. Cambia il suo rapporto con il sesso, cede alla corte della figlia di un suo paziente, esce nella notte e incontra una prostituta, non resiste alla tentazione di partecipare a un'orgia. Anche il sesso con sua moglie si trasforma. E anche la sua vita si trasforma. Perché il sesso è una cosa seria e misteriosa, dolorosa e, soprattutto (ed ecco Kubrick) pensata. Il sesso è di certo a lungo e fortemente rappresentato, ma Kubrick si è abbondantemente guadagnato la franchigia di artista (come Fellini), dunque lo stile tutto soccorre. Tuttavia l'autore, per la versione americana, ha nascosto certi particolari. Potrebbe essere inteso come una sorta di metafora del dispetto, di un americano che ha scelto di vivere a Londra e che da tempo non ha voluto far cinema negli USA, mecca del cinema: "le nascondo l'essenza, che tengo per gli evoluti europei". Il resto è ormai cronaca-leggenda, appunto: i quasi tre anni di lavorazione, certi attori assunti poi protestati, come Keytel e Malcovich, e le crisi matrimoniali-sessuali di alcuni protagonisti, a cominciare dalla coppia regina Tom-Nicole. Chissà se è tutto vero. 

Lettura di “Eyes Wide Shut “del 26 -09-2010 dopo una nuova rivisitazione del film. Quando non si riesce a trasmette una recensione a chi ci legge tale occasione è un invito a fare meglio e realizzare un contatto più profondo con l’opera di Stanley Kubrick. Questa è l’ultima opera del grande regista prima della sua dipartita;l’ ultimo [...] Vai alla recensione »

Eyes wide shut ed il suo intimo rapporto con la colonna sonora Tutto parte dal seguente assunto:qualcuno ha detto del grande maestro che è stato immenso perché ha saputo ipnotizzare ed ipnotizzarsi con la musica;che quando la musica cominciò a diventare centrale nella sua produzione e viaggiare insieme alle immagini questa scelta fu il mezzo che consent&ig [...] Vai alla recensione »

A New York, sul finire del ventesimo secolo, la vita di una coppia dell'alta borghesia sembra procedere in modo felice e tranquillo. In seguito a una confessione della moglie, riguardo a un adulterio mancato, per il quale sarebbe stata disposta ad abbandonare tutto, il marito entra in crisi e decide di tuffarsi in nuove e pericolose avventure, senza poter immaginare le conseguenze.

La maschera che cela il vero; lo spettacolo come ciò che nasconde la realtà; il sogno che si contrappone alla veglia e conseguentemente al mondo del reale. Tutto questo si ritrova sistematicamente rovesciato da Kubrick in “eyes wide shut”, capolavoro senza tempo. Nell’ultimo film della sua straordinaria produzione cinematografica, che ha visto il regista attraversare con successo pressoché tutti i [...] Vai alla recensione »

L'ultimo film del maestro si compone di un'opera enigmatica quanto complessa, la cui struttura rende difficile una collocazione precisa del film stesso, anche se, personalmente, penso che Kubrick abbia fatto un mix tra il thriller e l'erotico. Erotico, in quanto "Eyes Wide Shut" è un vero e proprio studio profondo dei comportamenti dell'essere umano nei confronti della [...] Vai alla recensione »

Sublime opera ultima di Kubrick, forse "director's cut" o forse no, in entrambi i casi il miglior film da una trentina d'anni e non si sa fra quanto ne avremmo uno a questa altezza, dopo la morte dell'autore (che doveva realizzare "Napoleone" e "A.I: Intelligenza artificiale", poi realizzato da Spielberg che, come accadde a Monicelli rispetto a Germi in "Amici Miei", con un'altra visione delle cose [...] Vai alla recensione »

Come per la maggior dei suoi film, Kubrick anche in questo caso prende come punto di partenza un romanzo, "Doppio Sogno" di Arthur Schnitzler, libro psicologico, da cui Kubrick assimila il contenuto rielaborandolo come ha sempre fatto in un lungometraggio nella quale attraverso le immagini racconta al pubblico la sua vione delle vicende narrate da tale romanzo.

Stanley Kubrick, regista di “Lolita” e di “Arancia meccanica”,prima di morire nel 1999 dirige questo suo ultimo film,celebra tra finzione ed immaginazione la reale separazione della coppia di questo film separatasi 2 anni dopo. Presagio o anticipazione? L’affascinante Nicole Kidman, ricca di una bellezza esplosiva,di un fisico dotato di un notevole sex appeal,è nelle vita,come in questo film,moglie [...] Vai alla recensione »

Kubrick aveva in mente già dopo "Arancia meccanica" la trasposizione del romanzo di Schnitzler, un medico psicoanalista molto ammirato da Freud che lo considerava una specie di suo doppio. Dopo aver riversato parte dei contenuti nella sua opera, è riuscito finalmente a girare il film, con la consueta maniacale perfezione che qui raggiunge un livello mai visto prima nel suo e [...] Vai alla recensione »

La vicenda, tratta liberamente da un racconto di Schmizlter, si svolge in un breve lasso di tempo poco più di un giorno e riguarda 2 coniugi: Bill (Tom Cruise) un medico agiato di New York e la moglie Alice (Nicole Kidman) che reduci da una festa a casa del ricco Victor (Sidney Pollak) dove lui ha dovuto soccorrere una ragazza strafatta con cui il padrone di casa si era appartato e le moglie [...] Vai alla recensione »

L'ultimo film di Kubrick é anche una geniale ricapitolazione del suo cinema, dei suoi personaggi, dei suoi temi, della sua ricerca sulla inquadratura e sul colore (il rosso, il blu, il nero...), delle sue scommesse camminando sul filo del rasoio, sull'orlo del baratro evitando il ridicolo e la noia mirando piuttosto a stupire lo spettatore. E' anche un riassunto dello spettacolo dell'ultimo quarto [...] Vai alla recensione »

Gli attuali potenti (mi riferisco non solo a grandi oligarchi ma anche a capi di Stato) non ragionano come noi. Loro disprezzano i buoni, i fiduciosi, i sinceri: per loro quello che va contro il male è il peggio. Loro, di fatto, servono il diavolo. Per essi conta solo il potere. Non hanno valori morali, li ritengono una scusa valida per le masse. E potere vuol dire la violenza e il denaro.

Kubrick voleva fare questo film dai primi anni '70, e come vanno le cose lo sapeva già da una trentina d 'anni. Un nuovo, ultimo messaggio in bottiglia, pieno di indizi, di segni, di rivelazioni da decifrare, diretto a più livelli. Cosa dice, alla gente comune, in particolare, in maniera meno allusiva di quanto aveva fatto prima, con questo ultimo film? Il suo titolo vuole alludere al fatto che siamo [...] Vai alla recensione »

Eyes Wide Shut è un film ottimista nella misura in cui solo riconoscendo la natura maligna dell'uomo ci può essere speranza. Non è che il male a dover essere superato, ma l'ignoranza a essere rimossa: se il male deve essere trasceso, deve prima essere riconosciuto come parte di noi stessi. Kubrick, moderno artista medievale, reagisce al melodramma e filma il mondo come un inferno.

L'ultimo sforzo estetico, etico, filosofico, fantastico di Kubrick riassume tutta la sua opera e le sue qualità a cominciare da quelle formali. Per molti registi é una perdita di tempo lavorare come egli fa, ma è riuscito ha trovare delle immagini di una fascinazione rara nella storia dell'arte cinematografica. Una fascinazione che rappresenta certamente anche la ricerca di rendere interessante l'immagine [...] Vai alla recensione »

Stanley Kubrik chiude la sua carriera con un film magistrale, diretto impeccabilmente, come al solito, e con la sua solita minuziosa cura dei particolari che rende ogni suo film un modello di riferimento per chi vuole fare cinema. Eyes Wide Shut è probabilmente il film più ambizioso di Kubrik che mette in scena la noia del rapporto matrimoniale borghese e fa risaltare la debolezza [...] Vai alla recensione »

La maschera, la perdita di valori apparenti, l'eterno velo di mistero che copre i nostri più profondi desideri nascosti; Kubrick scolpisce con minuziosa attenzione una, a mio parere, mastodontica opera. Grandioso il tema della maschera, il set apre il sipario al Teatro dell'Assurdo; i personaggi si sfiorano, si toccano e poi si respingono rincorrendo le loro anime brave perse nello spazio [...] Vai alla recensione »

Il dottor Harford (Cruise) è sposato con la moglie (Kidman) da nove anni, sono piuttosto benestanti, hanno una bambina di sette anni e sono felici. Ma quando ognuno rivelerà i propri oscuri desideri sessuali, per entrambi inizierà un viaggio erotico che nessuno potrà fermare. Ispirato al breve romanzo Traumnovelle, in italiano Doppio sogno, di Arthur Schnitzler, è [...] Vai alla recensione »

Uno dei motivi del fascino di questo film è la sua ambiguità. Come in tutta la sua opera, Kubrick perturba lo spettatore fornendogli più o meno subliminalmente immagini confondenti o contraddittorie, e anche beffarde stranezze in cui si può avvertire (come facevano Beethoven e Bach) una specie di risata nello scherzo di un genio.

L'amore di Kubrick per Beethoven dimostra una similitudine con la rigorosa moralità di quel genio attraverso un'appassionata esaltazione della libertà dell'amore (che significa anche rinuncia e sacrificio) rispetto alla schiavitù del male e del peccato (e il suo riflesso politico del sistema tirannico). Kubrick continua l'opera dei grandi moralisti del passato cercando di mantenersi fermo e lucido [...] Vai alla recensione »

Un viaggio nella più intima sfera sessuale dell'uomo che parte dalla crisi della coppia e si snoda nell'avventura di una notte in cui Bill (Tom Cruise) si lascia andare facendosi guidare dalla strada e da un istinto che progressivamente prende il sopravvento sui richiami della sua vita di marito e medico responsabile. Se allora non cede a Marion (che,al capezzale del padre appena [...] Vai alla recensione »

IL maestro Kubrick, che tanto ha dato al cinema del '900, regalandoci opere di elevata statura artistica, realizza quest'ultimo lavoro in maniera incisiva ed ineccepibile: La trama è ispirata al racconto di Schnitzler " Traumnovelle" che si inserisce pienamente nel decadentismo viennese, opportunamente riadattata ai giorni nostri e riveduta in alcuni aspetti, come era solito [...] Vai alla recensione »

Film da guardare con attenzione in quanto il regista Kubrick spesso ci fa capire aspetti della mente umana. incentrato sul sesso, sulle vite di marito e moglie che dovrebbe essere legato invece ognuno va per la sua strada. La vita coniugale che ti priva di qualcosa, la voglia di evadere,che hanno entrambi gli attori. La curiosità di Bill Harford a scoprire lati che ancora non aveva visto [...] Vai alla recensione »

Il film è una lussuosa galleria kubrickiana, dal noir alle atmosfere ultraterrene alle simbologie allegoriche e ai flash subliminali, dal sarcasmo corrosivo all'ironia paradossale e all'umorismo sardonico. L'immagine è come densa di vernice, con colori molto saturi, accesi, intensi e profondi. La sceneggiatura è costruita a specchio: il protagonista nella seconda [...] Vai alla recensione »

Vecchio progetto kubrickiano finalmente realizzato, come sempre indipendentemente dalle mode cinematografiche e sublime riepologo e ponte verso il futuro delle possibilità espressive del cinema. Il film è coraggiosamente anacronistico: potrebbe benissimo essere pensato prima della rivoluzione sessuale, anche se il genio e la lucidità di Kubrick rivelano quanto in un secolo – e più di un secolo – in [...] Vai alla recensione »

Quando si guarda "Eyes wide shut" il primo pensiero che balza alla mente va rivolto immediatamente a Kubrick. Con quest'opera infatti il maestro newyorkese ha chiuso sia la carriera che la sua stessa esistenza, quasi che il cinema a cui lui ha dato un contributo non solo importante, ma decisivo si dovesse simbolicamente "prendere la sua vita".

Chi può fare un film mitico ancora prima di uscire? Il film è una storia d'amore, parla di vita familiare. Kubrick è un moralista, ma di immensa onestà intellettuale, capace di portare una sfida alle stesse idee di moralità. La recitazione della affascinante Kidman, di grande intensità, è una delle cose che rende EYES WIDE SHUT forse il film più [...] Vai alla recensione »

Il film è figurativamente straordinario, una vera galleria pittorica (particolarmente squisita quella dell'orgia). Un film sofisticato sotto ogni aspetto, che richiede parecchie visioni (come del resto ogni film di Kubrick). Kubrick mostra i percorsi dell'erotismo, e pur autorizzando una interpretazione conservatrice non prende però chiaramente posizione, non si chiude in una [...] Vai alla recensione »

Ancora una volta Kubrick ci mette in collegamento con l'oltretomba (BARRY LYNDON, SHINING). L'equivalenza metafisica tra sesso e morte Kubrick la fece già con LOLITA (cosa c'è di più scandaloso?). Che siamo sull'orlo dell'abisso, il regista lo ha raccontato con 2001(oltre che con SHINING). La scena rituale annulla il tempo (ripetizione) e lo spazio (la maschera, differenza dentro/fuori), la differenza [...] Vai alla recensione »

Il genio Kubrick aveva già detto tutto nella sua carriera: dopo essersi espresso a livelli ineguagliati in moltissimi generi, dallo storico al thriller, dal film di guerra alla fantascienza, Kubrick consegna alla storia l'ultimo film, tratto dal "Doppio Sogno" di Schnitzler. Kubrick disse una volta che da romanzi mediocri si traggono buoni film, e non viceversa.

Domanda n.1:la logica misteriosa del sogno nell'essere umano,in EYES WIDE SHUT(in italiano:occhi chiusi aperti)è subordinata alla realtà del sesso oppure,viceversa,il tunnel dell'erotismo è narrativamente"subordinato"alla descrizione di una"realtà"(quella della coppia William/Cruise e Alice/Kidman)quantomeno poco reale e molto immaginaria?. Domand [...] Vai alla recensione »

E' amaro dirlo, ma Kubrick (sicuramente un maestro del cinema) ha dedicato i suoi ultimi dieci anni di vita ad un film riuscito a metà. I suoi due errori più gravi sono stati l'aver utilizzato una sceneggiatura prolissa e verbosa, dove la maggior parte degli avvenimenti non sono descritti dalle immagini ma raccontati nei dialoghi (i flashback sarebbero stati una soluzione forse troppo facile, ma preferibile [...] Vai alla recensione »

“Eyes Wide Shut” purtroppo, è soprattutto ricordato per essere l'ultimo lavoro di Stanley Kubrick, il quale sarà per sempre annoverato come uno dei più grandi maestri della storia del cinema. E come ogni suo film, ha suscitato varie polemiche e controversie, dividendo così ancora una volta pubblico e critica.

Sceneggiato con Frederic Raphael sulla base del racconto Doppio sogno di Arthur Schnitzler -la cui ambientazione è però trasferita dalla Vienna degli anni venti alla New York contemporanea-, il tredicesimo ed ultimo film del maestro Stanley Kubrick rappresenta un vero e proprio saggio sulla fragilità delle relazioni coniugali in una società sessualmente degenertata, piena di tentazioni, specialmente [...] Vai alla recensione »

In questo suo ultimo, grande film, Kubrick dà un saggio finale del suo immenso talento visivo-narrativo, avvolgendo lo spettatore in un' atmosfera semionirica e portandolo alla scoperta della natura irrazionale dell'uomo; una natura che si smaschera prepotentemente di fronte al pulsare delle passioni. Una verità, questa, che impedisce ad ogni essere umano, di qualsiasi status [...] Vai alla recensione »

Un medico viene introdotto casualmente in una festa che si trsforma in una vera orgia. Pur non partecipando ai rapporti sessuali riscopre dei desideri che aveva represso col matrimonio. La vita coniugale si complica decisamente. Anche non tradento ci si rende conto che è impossibile non provare desiderio per un altra persona. Un sogno non è mai solo un sogno, in esso vengono [...] Vai alla recensione »

l'unico che non doveva morire è morto

Uscito dopo la morte di Kubrick, ma in una versione approvata dal regista, "Eyes Wide Shut" chiude il ciclo di capolavori di uno dei più grando artisti cinematografici nella storia. Tornato al cinema dopo più di dieci anni, Kubrick adatta "Doppio sogno" di Schnitzler per realizzare una straordinaria riflessione sulle contradizioni della morale e una riflessione sulla mente e comportamenti dell'uomo. [...] Vai alla recensione »

Ultimo capolavoro di Kubrick. Una incubo e un sogno, un film psicologico. Con due grandi attori e una regia sublime ... DA NON PERDERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come tutti i films di Kubrick....cosa dire?....da vedere quest'ultimo(peccato!!!)Capolavoro del maestro,con una eccellente interpretazione di Tom Cruise e Nicole Kidman....e metterei anche molto la bravura del grande attore-regista scomparso anche lui ,Sidney Pollack......

A parte la frase di lancio ,potremmo dire che "Eyes wide shut"l'ultima oprera di kubrick sia l'anatomia della fine di una storia. Kubrick è stato solo ispirato dalla crisi coniguale dei protagonisti o ne è stato l'artefice provocando in loro una profonda introspezione? Domanda che non avrà mai risposta.

di un grande maestro

Eyes Wide Shut l'ultima fatica del virtuoso regista americano, è un film statico lento e poco significativo. È vero che kubrick non portò a termine l'ambiziosa opera, complici anche le condizioni di salute precarie, sta di fatto che non posso salvare questo film da un giudizio critico gravemente insufficiente. La storia ruota attorno alle paranoie di gelosia coniugale [...] Vai alla recensione »

Eyes Wide Shut: occhi chiusi e non notare ciò che ci circonda, oppure chiusi di fronte alle cose di cui ci si dovrebbe occupare. Il film è anche una riflessione morale: nella sua avventura Bill ha sempre l'opportunità di scegliere se fare un passo indietro o andare avanti (tranne nell'orgia, quando è costretto a desistere).

ultimo fil del grande maestro stanley. cruise e la kidman sono perfetti e le scene sono a dir poco mozzafiato,chi di cinema se ne intende sa che questo film è fantastico. un viaggio psicologico pazzesco che lascia affascinati. grazie maestro nessuno ti scorderà mai

mai miglior omaggio al mistero e al senso stesso delle nostre esistenze 'manipolate' fu così preciso e impietoso. Meraviglia visiva 'maledetta', eppure così densa di simboli e trame sottese filmiche raramente (e volutamente) decifrabili.

Meglio esser sinceri: non si sa più cosa scrivere sull'ultimo film di Stanley Kubrick, se non ribadire che è bellissimo, scagliandosi così contro i mulini a vento dei molti critici che, in giro per il mondo, non l'hanno apprezzato. Atteso da 12 anni (precedente film del regista: Full Metal Jacket, 1987), "anticipato" da interminabili e fasulle chiacchiere su Internet, centellinato nelle uscite (prima [...] Vai alla recensione »

Da quanto tempo un film non veniva atteso con frenesia (autentica, non pubblicitaria), non divideva la comunità culturale internazionale in gruppi accaniti di ammiratori ("capolavoro") e detrattori ("noioso"), non suscitava aspre discussioni sul cinema e sull'amore coniugale, non provocava addirittura (ma dev'essere una bugia, o un pretesto) il licenziamento della critica del New York Times accusata [...] Vai alla recensione »

Occhi bene aperti: Stanley Kubrick ci fa conoscere ciò che noi siamo, cancellando schermi, difese, pietose bugie. Occhi disperatamente chiusi: no, non possiamo essere noi, non può essere dentro di noi quell’abisso, quel vortice capace di inghiottirci. Eyes Wide Shut, titolo enigmatico per l’ultima opera di un gigante. Un film, soltanto un film, ma saranno in pochi quelli in grado di berselo come un [...] Vai alla recensione »

È trasparente come un sogno a occhi aperti, Eyes Wide Shut (Usa e Gran Bretagna, 1999. Lo è fin dalla prima immagine: di spalle, Alice Harford si lascia scivolar via una morbida vestaglia. Stanley Kubrick dichiara le proprie intenzioni d'autore. Sullo splendido corpo di Nicole Kidman si apre l'occhio del cinema. A questa "apertura" del resto, allude la prima parte del gioco di parole che dà il titolo [...] Vai alla recensione »

Sono passati dodici lunghissimi anni Da Full Metal Jacket (1987). Un film straordinario e sconcertante arrivato, fuori tempo, a narrarci dell'orrore della guerra del Vietnam. Un altro orrore e un sotterraneo tremore pulsano nelle oblunghe sequenze dialogate di Eyes Wide Shut. Il desiderio e le fantasie sessuali covano la paura e la morte, la minaccia e la perdita di se stessi o dei propri lineamenti. [...] Vai alla recensione »

È un film di Kubrick, un genio del cinema, ed è (purtroppo) l’ultima occasione per vedere in sala un suo film (eccettuate le retrospettive, ovviamente): sono due ottimi motivi per andare a vedere Eyes wide shut – titolo ossimorico che equivale più o meno a «occhi ampiamente chiusi» e che già preannuncia il tema del doppio –, con l’unica avvertenza che stavolta non si tratta di un capolavoro, pena la [...] Vai alla recensione »

Trovare in un nuovo erotismo la gioia smarrita in un vecchio amore è l'ultima illusione della vita, quella alla base di Eyes Wide Shut ("Occhi chiusi spalancati") di Stanley Kubrick, uscito dopo tanto, troppo parlarne, con un ingiusto alone semipornografico. Infatti la morbosità giornalistica l'avvolge fin dal 1997. Si elucubrava allora sugli amplessi inscenati da Tom Cruise e Nicole Kidman.

Adesso che finalmente Eyes Wide Shut arriva sugli schermi italiani, preceduto dalla non caldissima accoglienza Usa e con tutto il contorno di pettegolezzi e leggende - dall'annunciato remake porno (ma sarà vero?) al licenziamento di un illustre critico americano perché sarebbe stato troppo indulgente nel guardare all'ultima opera di Kubrick - sarà il pubblico a decretare dove il film si colloca: se [...] Vai alla recensione »

A Manhattan alla fine del '900, la quieta vita di una giovane e agiata coppia - William un medico e Alice una gallerista con una bambina - entra in crisi quando cominciano a incrociarsi desideri, fantasie sessuali, adulteri sognati o mancati. Continua »

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Nicole Kidman e Tom Cruise, vent'anni dal divorzio: la loro storia, dalle nozze all'addio

Sono stati per poco più di dieci anni la coppia d'oro di Hollywood. I due attori si erano sposati il 24 dicembre del 1990 e hanno divorziato nel 2001. La notizia della separazione si è iniziata a diffondere nel febbraio di quell'anno e l'ufficialità è arrivata ad agosto, ma i motivi dell'addio non sono mai stati rivelati

Sono passati venti anni da uno dei divorzi tra i più noti del mondo del cinema: quello tra Nicole Kidman e Tom Cruise . Una delle coppie più ammirate di Hollywood, a inizio febbraio del 2001, annunciò al mondo la separazione

Dopo poco più di 10 anni di matrimonio , la relazione tra i due attori, all'epoca entrambi all'apice del successo, giunse al capolinea con il divorzio ufficiale l' 8 agosto del 2001 . La notizia dell'addio tra i due era però stata data già nei primi giorni di febbraio di quell'anno

Tom Cruise e Nicole Kidman nel film Giorni di Tuono.

Nicole Kidman e Tom Cruise si erano conosciuti nel 1989 sul set di " Giorni di tuono ", quando lei era una 22enne agli esordi nel cinema, e lui un attore di 27 anni già molto noto. (Nella foto: una scena di Giorni di tuono)

©ALL ACTION/PR/10351 TOM AND NICOLE 1996

Dopo un fidanzamento di circa un anno, la coppia si è sposata il 24 dicembre del 1990 , il giorno della vigilia di Natale, in Colorado

©ALL ACTION/ 50861/LA/125 NICOLE KIDMAN EYES WIDE SHUT PREM

Tom Cruise , all'epoca, faceva già parte di Scientology e, nonostante Nicole Kidman fosse cattolica, i due si sposarono con rito del credo dell'attore. Sembra fosse stata la prima moglie di lui, Mimi Rogers ad avvicinarlo a questo culto

NICOLE KIDMAN PARLA DELLE SUE ESPERIENZE SEXY FETISH CON TOM CRUISE

Da subito Nicole e Tom vengono etichettati come la " coppia d'oro " di Hollywood, in pubblico apparivano sempre affiatati e felici. Recentemente l'attrice ha anche rivelato che probabilmente il matrimonio e la gelosia del marito l'hanno anche tenuta al riparo da possibili molestie agli inizi della carriera

UK OUT/NO MAGS/NO SALES/NO ARCHIVES/NO INTERNET
PAP88 - 20010205 - LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM : File photo dated 03 September 1999 of American actor Tom Cruise with his wife, Australian actress, Nicole Kidman. The showbusiness couple announced they were separating, Monday, February 05, 2001. They said they were splitting because work was keeping them apart.
EPA PHOTO PRESS ASSOCIATION/NEIL MUNNS

Durante i dieci anni di matrimonio, Nicole Kidman rimase incinta due volte, ma in entrambi i casi perse il bambino. La prima volta a causa di una gravidanza extra uterina, la seconda per un aborto spontaneo poco prima della separazione da Tom Cruise

La coppia ha anche adottato due bambini: Isabella Jane , nata nel 1992, e Connor Anthony , nato nel 1995

HBG03 - 19990904 - HAMBURG, GERMANY : (FILES) This 04 September 1999 file photo shows US actor Tom Cruise (R) and his wife, Australian actress Nicole Kidman, arriving for the German premier of "Eyes Wide Shut", the last work of late US director Stanley Kubrick, at the Cinemaxx cinema in Hamburg, Germany. According to reports 05 February 2001, Cruise and Kidman are divorcing.
EPA PHOTO DPA FILES/KAY NIETFELD

Per preservare la loro intimità, Tom Cruise e Nicole Kidman , durante il matrimonio, hanno sempre cercato di stare lontani dai riflettori. L'attrice ha successivamente raccontato di essersi sentita "come avvolta in un bozzolo". I due uscivano raramente ed erano diventati "l'uno dipendente dall'altra"

12-19990901-VENEZIA- Tom Cruise e Nicole Kidman arrivano al Lido. CLAUDIO ONORATI/ANSA

Il 24 dicembre del 2000 Kidman e Cruise hanno festeggiato i dieci anni di matrimonio e, circa due mesi dopo, l'attore sarebbe andato via di casa. I reali motivi della separazione non sono mai stati svelati. Alcuni, negli anni, mormorarono fosse dipeso da Scientology, credo mai abbracciato dall'attrice

Tante furono le voci riguardo alle possibili motivazioni della crisi e molti cercarono di individuare dei paralleli con la coppia in crisi dell'ultimo film girato insieme da Nicole Kidman e Tom Cruise nel 1999: Eyes Wide Shut . (Nella foto: una scena di Eyes Wide Shut)

Nella replica scritta, presentata da Nicole Kidman nella domanda di divorzio, il 5 maggio 2001, l'attrice fa risalire la separazione al 4 febbraio dello stesso anno. "Ho pregato Tom di non lasciarmi, ma non ne ha voluto sapere", avrebbe scritto. Cruise invece sostenne che l'addio era stato il 21 dicembre del 2000 ossia prima dell'anniversario di matrimonio. Secondo la legge della California, infatti, dopo 10 anni di nozze, il coniuge deve pagare gli alimenti al partner a meno che quest'ultimo non si risposi. (Nella foto: una scena di Eyes Wide Shut)

17-19990901-VENEZIA-SPE: 56ma MOSTRA DEL CINEMA
Nicole Kidman e Tom Cruise, ritratti oggi al Lido, durante la presentazione del film d'apertura: " Eyes Wide Shut " ( fuori concorso). CLAUDIO ONORATI/ANSA/ON

I figli adottivi della coppia, in un primo momento erano stati affidati alla madre . In seguito i ragazzi decisero di seguire il padre che li ha introdotti al culto di Scientology

Il divorzio è infine stato ufficializzato l' 8 agosto del 2001 e nessuno dei due attori ha mai voluto parlare molto della fine della loro storia. Entrambi sono andato avanti con le loro vite. Tom Cruise ha sposato (e poi divorziato nuovamente) Katie Holmes, dalla quale ha avuto una figlia nel 2006: Suri

20010829-VENEZIA-SPE: 58ma MOSTRA DEL CINEMA. L'attrice australiana Nicole Kidman, scende sul motoscafo, dopo suo arrivo all'aeroporto di Venezia. La Kidman presentera' due film: "the Others", prodotto da l'ex marito Tom Cruise, e "Birthday". © CLAUDIO ONORATI/ANSA/on

Nicole Kidman si è sposata nel 2006 con Keith Urban e la coppia ha avuto due figlie : Sunday Rose, concepita con fecondazione artificiale, e Faith Margaret, nata da madre surrogata

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Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman: The Way They Were

A true ’90s power couple. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman ‘s romance didn’t last, but their relationship remains a subject of fascination for movie fans around the world.

The Oscar winner and the Mission: Impossible actor met in early 1990 while filming Tony Scott ‘s Days of Thunder , in which Cruise played race car driver Cole Trickle and Kidman appeared as his love interest, Dr. Claire Lewicki. Some critics thought the film was too similar to 1986’s Top Gun , which also starred Cruise under the direction of Scott, but the romance developing between its two young stars quickly eclipsed any negative press.

Less than one year after finalizing his divorce from Mimi Rogers , Cruise married Kidman in December 1990 during a private ceremony held on Christmas Eve. The low-key event was attended by their family members and held in Telluride, Colorado.

“I was so young when I got married,” Kidman told Red magazine in 2016, reflecting on her marriage to Cruise. The Moulin Rouge! actress was 23 at the time, while the Top Gun: Maverick producer was 28. “I look back now and I’m like, ‘What?'”

Shortly after their wedding, the couple worked together again on Ron Howard ‘s drama Far and Away , which hit theaters in 1992. That same year, the duo adopted daughter Isabella shortly after her birth. In 1995, they adopted son Connor, who later starred in the films Seven Pounds and Red Dawn .

Cruise and Kidman collaborated for a third time on Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut , which premiered in 1999. “We were happily married through that,” the Hours actress told The New York Times in 2020, reflecting on where she stood with Cruise while making the controversial movie. “We would go go-kart racing after [intense] scenes. We’d rent out a place and go racing at three in the morning.”

Less than two years after the movie’s release, however, the couple announced their separation. “Citing the difficulties inherent in divergent careers which constantly keep them apart, they concluded that an amicable separation seemed best for both of them at this time,” a rep for the duo said in a February 2001 statement.

The Jerry Maguire actor later moved on with Penélope Cruz before marrying Katie Holmes in 2006. Cruise and the Dawson’s Creek alum, who share daughter Suri (born in 2006), split in 2012.

Kidman, for her part, was briefly engaged to Lenny Kravitz in 2003. In June 2006, she wed country star Keith Urban , with whom she shares daughters Sunday Rose (born in 2008) and Faith (born in 2010).

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Despite the end of her relationship with Cruise, Kidman has said she’s not bothered by the perpetual interest in their romance.

“I was young. I think I offered it up?” the Big Little Lies alum told Harper’s Bazaar in September 2021 when asked whether the continued fascination bothers her. “Maybe I’ve gotten a bit more trepidatious, but I’m always trying to be as open as possible. I just prefer to live in the world that way.”

Keep scrolling for a look back at Cruise and Kidman’s relationship:

Credit: Shutterstock

A true '90s power couple. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman 's romance didn't last, but their relationship remains a subject of fascination for movie fans around the world. The Oscar winner and the Mission: Impossible actor met in early 1990 while filming Tony Scott 's Days of Thunder , in which Cruise played race car driver Cole Trickle and Kidman appeared as his love interest, Dr. Claire Lewicki. Some critics thought the film was too similar to 1986's Top Gun , which also starred Cruise under the direction of Scott, but the romance developing between its two young stars quickly eclipsed any negative press. Less than one year after finalizing his divorce from Mimi Rogers , Cruise married Kidman in December 1990 during a private ceremony held on Christmas Eve. The low-key event was attended by their family members and held in Telluride, Colorado. [sendtonews type="float" key="YvwaNmNo9L-2836467-14453"] "I was so young when I got married," Kidman told Red magazine in 2016, reflecting on her marriage to Cruise. The Moulin Rouge! actress was 23 at the time, while the Top Gun: Maverick producer was 28. "I look back now and I'm like, 'What?'" Shortly after their wedding, the couple worked together again on Ron Howard 's drama Far and Away , which hit theaters in 1992. That same year, the duo adopted daughter Isabella shortly after her birth. In 1995, they adopted son Connor, who later starred in the films Seven Pounds and Red Dawn . Cruise and Kidman collaborated for a third time on Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut , which premiered in 1999. "We were happily married through that," the Hours actress told The New York Times in 2020, reflecting on where she stood with Cruise while making the controversial movie. "We would go go-kart racing after [intense] scenes. We’d rent out a place and go racing at three in the morning." Less than two years after the movie's release, however, the couple announced their separation. "Citing the difficulties inherent in divergent careers which constantly keep them apart, they concluded that an amicable separation seemed best for both of them at this time," a rep for the duo said in a February 2001 statement. The Jerry Maguire actor later moved on with Penélope Cruz before marrying Katie Holmes in 2006. Cruise and the Dawson's Creek alum, who share daughter Suri (born in 2006), split in 2012. Kidman, for her part, was briefly engaged to Lenny Kravitz in 2003. In June 2006, she wed country star Keith Urban , with whom she shares daughters Sunday Rose (born in 2008) and Faith (born in 2010). Despite the end of her relationship with Cruise, Kidman has said she's not bothered by the perpetual interest in their romance. “I was young. I think I offered it up?” the Big Little Lies alum told Harper's Bazaar in September 2021 when asked whether the continued fascination bothers her. “Maybe I’ve gotten a bit more trepidatious, but I’m always trying to be as open as possible. I just prefer to live in the world that way.” Keep scrolling for a look back at Cruise and Kidman's relationship:

Credit: Stephen Vaughan/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock

The twosome met while filming Days of Thunder , which also starred Robert Duvall , Randy Quaid and Cary Elwes . “I remember being so nervous and seeing Tom Cruise drive up in a Porsche," Kidman recalled during a 2016 interview on The Jess Cagle Show . "He got out of the car and walked through the door, and I was like, ‘Ah.’ My jaw dropped.”

Credit: Brendan Beirne/Shutterstock

December 1990

The Interview With the Vampire actor and the Australian actress tied the knot in a private ceremony attended by their family members less than one year after meeting. “He basically swept me off my feet," Kidman told Vanity Fair in 2002. "I fell madly, passionately in love. And as happens when you fall in love, my whole plan in terms of what I wanted for my life — I was like, ‘Forget it. This is it.’ I was consumed by it, willingly.”

Credit: Bei/Shutterstock

Kidman and Cruise attended their first Oscars together. Days of Thunder was nominated for Best Sound but lost to Dances With Wolves .

The Jack Reacher star and the Emmy winner adopted daughter Isabella shortly after her birth. "I was scared to death. Scared to death!" Cruise told Vanity Fair in 1994, joking about changing his daughter's diapers after her arrival. "I didn't know what the hell I was doing."

October 1994

Cruise opened up about fatherhood and his marriage to Kidman in a Vanity Fair cover story. "It was that special connection when you recognize your soul mate," he recalled of meeting the Stepford Wives actress. "She is a person who understands. It was as if a whole new life had started for me."

Credit: Alex Berliner/BEI/Shutterstock

November 1994

The duo made a splash at the premiere of Cruise's film Interview With the Vampire , which also starred Brad Pitt and Antonio Banderas . "He's quite eccentric," Kidman told Vanity Fair of her husband one month earlier. "He's just an odd one. He has his own little quirks and mannerisms. He's kind of wild — and I love that."

Credit: Dave Lewis/Shutterstock

The pair adopted their second child, son Connor, shortly after his birth.

November 1996

The couple began filming Eyes Wide Shut , which would be Kubrick's final film. "We had two kids and were living in a trailer on the lot primarily, making spaghetti because Stanley liked to eat with us sometimes," Kidman told The New York Times in 2020. "We were working with the greatest filmmaker and learning about our lives and enjoying our lives on set."

Kidman accompanied Cruise to the Oscars, where he was nominated for Best Actor for his performance in Jerry Maguire . He lost to Geoffrey Rush for Shine .

Credit: Michael Caulfield/AP/Shutterstock

The couple attended the premiere of Eyes Wide Shut , their final collaboration together as actors. Cruise later coproduced Kidman's film The Others , which hit theaters after their 2001 divorce.

The duo were stars of the Oscars red carpet, posing for photos ahead of the ceremony. Cruise was up for his third Academy Award, scoring a nod for Magnolia , but he lost to Michael Caine for The Cider House Rules .

Credit: Peter Brooker/Shutterstock

Kidman joined Cruise at the premiere of Mission: Impossible 2 .

February 2001

Cruise filed for divorce from Kidman, citing irreconcilable differences for the split. Former Scientologist Mike Rinder claimed in 2022 that the church played a role in the couple's breakup by creating a "distance" between them. The apostate also alleged that the Church of Scientology wiretapped Kidman's phone to monitor her influence on Cruise, who is one of the religion's most prominent members.

The church denied Rinder's claims in a September 2022 statement, saying: "The Church never ordered or participated in any illegal wiretapping. Mike Rinder is an inveterate liar who seeks to profit from his dishonesty. He supports himself by orchestrating the harassment of his former Church and its leader through false police reports, incendiary propaganda and fraudulent media stories.”

Credit: Theo Kingma/Shutterstock

November 2007

Kidman clarified that she did not have a miscarriage early in her marriage to Cruise, but rather had one early in their relationship. "It was wrongly reported," she told Marie Claire , explaining that she'd had an ectopic pregnancy when she was 23. "So it's huge news, and it didn't happen. I had a miscarriage at the end of my marriage, but I had an ectopic pregnancy at the beginning of my marriage. It was incredibly traumatic for me. Sometimes you share your grief."

Credit: Berliner Studio/BEI/Shutterstock

The Aquaman actress opened up about her miscarriage she experienced during her relationship with Cruise in an interview with Tatler . “I know the yearning. That yearning. It’s a huge, aching yearning," she told the outlet. "And the loss! The loss of a miscarriage is not talked about enough. That’s massive grief to certain women."

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Nicole Kidman

In love, out of love, always in the public eye

The life and times of tom and nicole.

(CNN) -- When it comes to Hollywood romance, the betting money says love doesn't last longer than the closing credits.

For 11 years, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman bucked those odds. From the time they met on the set of 1990's "Days of Thunder" -- he played a race-car driver, she played a neurosurgeon -- they were seldom out of the gossip columns. How could they be? Someone who sends his sweetie a $500,000 marble-floored trailer while she�s working on "Billy Bathgate" (1991) is bound to draw attention.

And so it continued. Through the years, their relationship was relentlessly chronicled by a media looking for signs of discord as much as romance.

When they appeared together in Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999), the story of a marriage shaken by talk of infidelity, reports from the set were breathlessly interpreted for signs of the stars' own marital circumstances.

Yet they attempted to create a semblance of a normal family life, adopting two children (Isabella, 8, and Connor, 6) and structuring their film work so as not to disrupt their children's schedules.

But, as it has for so many Hollywood couples, the career strain proved too great. The pair announced Monday that they are separating after 10 years of marriage.

"Citing the difficulties inherent in divergent careers, which constantly keep them apart, they concluded that an amicable separation seems best for both of them at this time," their spokesperson, Pat Kingsley, said.

From one wife to another

At the time Cruise and Kidman met, he had just announced a separation from his then-wife, actress Mimi Rogers. The co-stars were inseparable on their "Days of Thunder" set and well afterwards. Their romance led to a December 1990 marriage.

Like most newlyweds, the two made gooey talk about the other. "We have so much in common that it's almost as if we are the same person," Kidman gushed to People magazine in 1992. "We know what it takes to make each other happy."

But even then, Cruise's career, always more successful than Kidman's, caused strain.

"Little did we know there was this thing out there -- the Mrs. Tom Cruise thing," Kidman said in an Entertainment Weekly interview in the mid-'90s.

"Every little step Nic takes is much bigger news because she's with me," Cruise agreed. "People judge her because of it. ... I guess that's the downside of being married to Tom Cruise."

Tabloid fodder

The two have done their own share of kicking up tabloid dust.

In 1999, Kidman appeared nude on the London and Broadway stages in "The Blue Room," a disquieting exploration of sex and relationships by playwright David Hare. She attracted far more press for her body than for her acting ability, though she earned critical plaudits for her performance.

Indeed, many of the pair's roles in recent years have had sexually questing overtones. There was Cruise's appearance as a misogynist motivational speaker in "Magnolia"; the couple in "Eyes Wide Shut"; and "Heartswap," a 2000 novel about partner-swapping the two optioned as a starring vehicle for Kidman.

The Kubrick filming was a particularly sobering experience to watch, "Eyes" co-star Todd Field said in an interview last year with People. The couple's scenes together "were really profound and uncomfortable," he said. "The notes they were hitting were notes you can't act; there was real stuff there."

The pair's relationship, Cruise has admitted, was "not always perfect."

Cruise and Kidman have also been dogged by rumors that their marriage was a sham. Cruise sued the British newspaper The Express in 1998 after it said as much; they have also sued the Star tabloid and the German magazine Bunte. (Cruise won the Express suit and donated his damages to charity.)

The two also have been lampooned simply because they were Tom and Nicole, as humor periodical The Onion demonstrated in an article titled "Cruise, Kidman Walk Through Lobby":

"A-list Hollywood celebrities Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, considered by many to be the most important humans on the planet, walked through the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel Monday, drawing the attention of dozens of reporters and photographers and thrilling millions of television viewers, 'Access Hollywood' sources reported," the article began.

A future in film

The stars' breakup isn't expected to affect their screen careers or their business relationship.

Kidman is not part of Cruise-Wagner Productions, the production company Cruise created with producer Paula Wagner. In fact, the pair has only appeared in three films together, none a runaway box- office success, and collaborated "The Others." The film, which has yet to be released, stars Kidman, and Cruise was its executive producer.

Cruise remains one of the world's top box-office attractions, having appeared in the hit "Mission: Impossible" series as well as attracting critical praise for his roles in "Eyes Wide Shut" and 2000's "Magnolia."

Kidman, though not having the box-office clout of her now-estranged husband, has earned critical plaudits for recent film roles as well her stage work. Both are currently shooting new movies.

Despite their problems, the two never expected things to end like this. Cruise named his airplane "Sweet Nic," and as recently as two years ago estimated that he and his wife had never been apart for more than 12 days. Kidman was just as optimistic, telling interviewers she had visions of the two of them sharing a porch swing in their 70s.

But the separations always chafed.

"There are hours of discussion in our household about what to do about it," Cruise told People last year. "As long as we're together, that's the most important thing."

Cruise takes on the 'Impossible' again May 26, 2000 Tom Cruise: Life, love and the pursuit of good film work July 16, 1999 Review: 'Eyes Wide Shut' -- All undressed with no place to go July 15, 1999

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The Truth About Nicole Kidman And Tom Cruise's Relationship

The '90s were a simpler time. Long before Tom Cruise would destroy his rep by jumping on Oprah's couch, and decades prior to Nicole Kidman becoming the campy queen of several Twitter memes , they were the ultimate Hollywood power couple. The pair existed at a time before celebrity couple portmanteaus — Cruiseman just doesn't have the same ring to it as TomKat – and they arguably thrived at a time before social media oversharing . Though they weren't immune to some saucy bedroom confessions in the pre-smartphone age.

Despite Cruise's apparent agelessness — when he's not channeling Norm MacDonald , that is — his romance with Kidman ended over 20 years ago. During their 11-year marriage, the couple was frequently targeted by the press and had to dodge some pretty outlandish claims about their private life. Similarly, it was thanks to Stanley Kubrick that their love life was laid bare, quite literally, for the whole world to see in the nightmarish erotic thriller "Eyes Wide Shut."

Since their breakup, there have been questions as to whether the divorce was simply the dissolution of a Hollywood dream, or if more ominous factors were at play. Indeed, the relationship's end has been shrouded in mystery, and it seems Kidman may very well have been sworn to secrecy herself. Whether there are some big little lies at hand or the answers are right there in the open, let's undertake the mission impossible of delving into the truth about Kidman and Cruise's relationship.

It was love at first jaw-drop

In 1989, Nicole Kidman was an up-and-coming 22-year-old who just scored her big break with the thriller "Dead Calm." Meanwhile, Tom Cruise was a 27-year-old seasoned A-lister, hot off the success of Oliver Stone's anti-war film "Born on the Fourth of July." Cruise saw Kidman in her breakthrough role and was intent on meeting her. Per Vanity Fair , the Aussie actor was in the midst of a press junket in Tokyo when she got a call from the superstar's team. She recalled, "I thought, Wow! This is America! Tom Cruise wants to meet me." She subsequently auditioned for a role alongside Cruise in "Days of Thunder."

Per the Los Angeles Times , Kidman never thought she'd get married, largely due to the influence of her ardent feminist mother. But when she set eyes on Cruise during her audition, she was smitten. "I remember being so nervous and seeing Tom Cruise drive up in a Porsche ... He got out of the car and walked through and I was like, 'Ah.' My jaw dropped," she told People of that fateful first encounter.

Per CNN , Cruise fell head over heels for his co-star. The feeling was mutual. "He basically swept me off my feet," Kidman told Vanity Fair. "I fell madly, passionately in love." But there was a problem: Cruise was still married to his first wife, fellow actor Mimi Rogers. The couple divorced the following year and thus began a Hollywood romance for the ages.

The pressure of marriage was too much, too young

At the tender age of 23, Nicole Kidman tied the knot with Tom Cruise, then 28. Per Entertainment Weekly , they celebrated their nuptials in a cozy ceremony under the Colorado sun. By today's standards, 23 certainly appears rather young to settle down. It is, after all, the age that Zellenials perfect their TikTok lip syncing skills . On reflection, Kidman believes that she was far too youthful to devote herself to one person.

"I was so young when I got married," she told Red (via Today ). "I look back now and I'm like, 'What?'" She contrasted her 20-something self to the female celebs of today, who she suggested have more agency than women in the '90s. "You look at Taylor Swift ... She's 26. I had two kids by the time I was 27 and I'd been married four years." Speaking with GQ (via Daily Mail ), Kidman elaborated on being thrust into fame and marriage when she was barely out of her teens, revealing, "I became famous very young ... because I was the wife of somebody."

But settling down at a young age wasn't all bad. Speaking with the BBC (via People ) in 1998, Kidman acknowledged that she was lucky to have found such a profound and powerful love at such a young age. As she later told the Evening Standard , "I was a baby when I married Tom, but I don't regret any of it."

The twosome had a steamy relationship

Long before the advent of social media exhibitionism — where Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian's PDA can be borderline pornographic, as standard – Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were famed for their amorous marriage. Sure, their red carpet smooches look tame compared to today's thirst traps, but the couple's flagrant intimacy caused a stir back in the day. While celebrating the upcoming nuptials of their music exec pal Tommy Mottola in 2000, the lusty twosome couldn't keep their hands off one another. An onlooker dished to People , "They were dancing together and grinding up against each other ... It was very sexy."

Five years earlier, Cruise confessed that there was only one thing on his mind when he first set eyes on his Aussie bride-to-be. "My first reaction to meeting Nic was pure lust," he told Entertainment Weekly . "It was totally physical." Meanwhile, Kidman added that the pair's bedroom antics were very hot and totally off-limits to the public. Still, the it-couple were madly in love and wanted the entire world to know it.

When Kidman opened up about marital sex to GQ in 2009 (via Tampa Bay Times ), she made the admission, "I've explored strange sexual fetish stuff." Was she into kink with Cruise? Tampa Bay Times seemed to think so. The outlet speculated that she spoke differently about her current marriage to Keith Urban, making it seem like she was alluding to the man with a need for speed with the statement.

Nicole helped Tom embrace his lighter side

By all accounts, Nicole Kidman appeared to be Tom Cruise's manic pixie dream girl . In a 1992 interview with Rolling Stone , he revealed that he was pretty somber before he met his flame-haired love. However, Kidman was able to bring Cruise out of his shell and made him realize that there's more to life than work, work, work, as Rhianna would say. "For a long time, until I met Nicole, I always put my career ahead of everything ... It's like a whole new life opened up," he gushed. "She's the most important thing to me."

Speaking with Vanity Fair in 1996, Cruise expanded on the meaningful ways in which Kidman changed his life for the better. Reflecting on the first decade of his career, he admitted to living in fear of failure. "And then I met Nic, and it was like 'Oh, my God,'" he enthused. "You read about people whose whole life is just movies ... Your life feeds your work, not the opposite. It's not about me, me, me, me. It's about the other person."

Per Entertainment Weekly , the couple's favorite hobbies included skydiving and playing pool, which they did frequently when staying in London for an extended period. Subsequently, Kidman's previously skeptical friends began to warm to Cruise. While her pal Josh Duigan admitted to disliking him at first, he soon saw another side to Cruise once he realized how much fun the newlyweds had together.

They couldn't have biological children

When Nicole Kidman first met Tom Cruise, her initial desire was not to marry him, but to have his babies. In 2002, she conceded to Vanity Fair , "I was desperate to have a baby with him ... That's what I wish I'd done." Sadly, the couple struggled to conceive. Opening up to Marie Claire about one of the darkest periods in her life, Kidman revealed that she had an ectopic pregnancy at the start of the couple's marriage, followed by a miscarriage years later. "It was incredibly traumatic for me," she lamented.

Following their bereavement, the couple was met with more devastating news – it was unlikely they would ever be able to have biological children. Kidman poignantly reflected to Tatler , "That yearning. It's a huge, aching yearning ... The loss of a miscarriage is not talked about enough. That's massive grief to certain women." Coming to terms with the painful reality, the couple decided to adopt two children, Isabella and Connor Cruise .

In order to give their kids a healthy upbringing, the couple would alternate their work schedules. As Kidman revealed to the Los Angeles Times in 1995, she worked in London while her husband stayed at home to take care of the kids, which led to sexist jibes from the British press. Speaking with Vanity Fair the following year, Tom emphasized the importance of shielding his children from the Hollywood limelight.

They had to fend off tabloid rumors

Much like fellow Scientologist John Travolta , Tom Cruise has long faced rumors that he is secretly gay. These claims date back to the '90s when his marriage to Nicole Kidman was under intense tabloid scrutiny. Per the Los Angeles Times , there was gossip that the couple's PDA-packed romance was nothing more than a cover-up for Cruise's alleged sexuality and that the relationship was merely a marriage of convenience.

Cruise was enraged by the tattle, telling Vanity Fair in 1996, "I feel very angry about it. I just try to remind Nicole ... 'You have me, you have the kids, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.'" Speaking with Entertainment Weekly , Kidman dismissed the rumors that her husband was gay. "Look, Tom and I are heterosexual, we're together, we're in love," she stressed. "It's weird even to have to answer that question."

But towards the end of their marriage, the gossip was compounded by claims that Cruise had an extramarital affair with another man. As reported by ABC News , it was alleged that the star engaged in a steamy dalliance with Chad Slater, a male pornographic actor. The performer claimed that Kidman caught him and Cruise having sex, which directly led to her filing for divorce. Cruise slammed Slater's assertions as outright lies, insisting that he had never even met the adult star. As a result, he won a lawsuit against Slater for $10 million in 2003.

Scientology allegedly harmed their marriage

It's been alleged that Scientology was as instrumental in setting up Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's marriage as it was in orchestrating their divorce. In his explosive Scientology exposé, "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief" (via New York Post ), Lawrence Wright alleged that Scientology leader David Miscavige had facilitated Cruise's break up with his first wife Mimi Rogers so the actor could wed Kidman, with whom he had fallen in love. Though Rogers was also a Scientologist, she was apparently expendable. Cruise was prioritized as the future of the controversial church, and so was his desires.

Getting Kidman on board with the Church's doctrine was no easy feat. Miscavige was perturbed by her Catholicism and deemed her to be trouble. Indeed, a source suggested to People that Kidman wasn't keen on converting to Scientology. The church, who famously opposes psychiatric treatments , also allegedly didn't look kindly upon the profession of Kidman's father, a respected psychologist. Regardless of Kidman's reservations, Isabella and Connor were raised as Scientologists and they remained with the organization long after their mom's divorce from Cruise, per Vanity Fair .

According to the HBO documentary "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief " (via The Daily Beast ) the Church allegedly used aggressive intimidation tactics to tear apart the Hollywood sweethearts. Both actors reportedly refused to be interviewed for the film, and neither responded to the claims.

Was Nicole Kidman royally jealous of Lady Di?

Being the celeb power couple of the '90s, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were friendly with another sweetheart of the era: Princess Diana. Per People , the couple were greeted by the royal at the 1992 premiere of "Far and Away" where Maverick and the People's Princess could be seen sharing a charming rapport as they chatted on the red carpet. If royal insiders are to be believed, Diana was crushing on Cruise.

According to Di's stylist, who shared her anecdotes in Judy Wade's book, "Diana: The Intimate Portrait" (via Micky ), she began flirting with Cruise at the premiere. Kidman was reportedly jealous of her husband's chemistry with the Princess of Wales and made her feelings clear to her. Wade wrote, "She [Nicole] kept shooting ... hostile looks as if to say, 'Hands off my man!" However, it appears that she needn't have worried since Cruise wasn't Di's type. Per Express , the royal apparently joked to her personal chef, Darren McGrady, that she would never date Cruise as he was too short for her.

When Diana Spencer was killed in a horrific car accident in France, Cruise told CNN that he was outraged by the media's avarice when it came to the prematurely departed princess. He added about her death, "We're just devastated." Cruise and Kidman joined A-list mourners at her funeral in 1997.

Stanley Kubrick pushed their marriage to the edge

Having met while making "Days of Thunder," Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman played on-screen lovers yet again in the 1992 romance "Far and Away" — notable for featuring some of the worst affected Irish accents in cinematic history. Kidman regrets having worked with her husband on the film, believing that it led to her being pigeonholed as Mrs. Tom Cruise. "I probably should have done more by myself to be seen independently," she told Entertainment Weekly .

However, it was the power couple's third and final on-screen pairing that truly sent the media into a frenzy. Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" was renowned for its erotic reverie . A short, steamy promo featuring the couple passionately kissing while watching each other in a mirror understandably caused a stir upon release. The film's shoot, which was supposed to last 3 months but ended up taking 2 years , provided an uncomfortable lens into the couple's marriage.

Speaking about the lines between reality and fiction becoming blurred for the movie, Kidman told The Hollywood Reporter , "[Kubrick] used the movie as provocation, pretending it was our sex life — which we weren't oblivious to, but obviously it wasn't us." Per Vanity Fair , the couple even won a libel suit against Star magazine for writing that they'd hired a sex therapist for their intimate scenes. Tensions were further heightened when Kubrick encouraged the pair to use their marital woes for the film, something which Kidman described as thrilling but dangerous.

Nicole was protected by Tom's power

The wisdom of Nicole Kidman's feminist mother had clearly rubbed off on the star. As noted by The New York Times , with her production company the actor devotes herself to uplifting other women in the business. Although she now has the power and authority within the notoriously sexist industry to speak her truth, it wasn't always so easy. As an up-and-coming Hollywood starlet, Kidman often found herself voiceless. Being the wife of a hugely influential man, however, she was protected from the more nefarious aspects of the industry.

Speaking to The Cut , she explained that the power Cruise wielded in Tinseltown protected her from predators. "I married for love, but being married to an extremely powerful man kept me from being sexually harassed," she noted.

But the problematic nature of this unspoken Hollywood contract — that Kidman was only spared sexual harassment thanks to the man in her life — came at a price. Speaking with Glamour , she confessed that the marriage often left her reduced to the appendage of a powerful man as opposed to a human being in her own right. "I felt I became a star only by association ... I thought, I don't deserve to be here," she admitted. Accordingly, she began to reluctantly subscribe to the notion that she was merely a trophy wife. "I felt it was my job to put on a beautiful dress and be seen and not heard," she added.

Did Tom Cruise cheat on Nicole Kidman?

The new millennium would spell the beginning of the end of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's marriage. In 2000, Cruise began filming "Vanilla Sky" with Penelope Cruz, and soon after he was seen getting cozy with his enigmatic co-star. However, some thought the timeline of the hook-up seemed sus. Per Entertainment Weekly , he didn't divorce Kidman until 2001, despite having spent the entirety of the "Vanilla Sky" shoot with Cruz. There were rumors that the duo had begun a tryst on set.

When Kidman heard of the alleged affair, she was reportedly devastated. "Nicole was just totally in shock," an insider told People (via ABC News ). "She said, 'He flat-out swore to me up and down that there was nothing going on ... 'All this time she's been wondering why the marriage ended, and this could be it." The new couple made it red carpet official just a week after Cruise and Kidman had announced their divorce.

Still, Cruz has repeatedly maintained that the pair never had an affair. Speaking with The Telegraph in 2008, the Spanish star insisted that she waited until her former boyfriend was divorced before catching feelings. "I've never fallen in love with someone I'm working with," she stated. "It's always been afterwards." Meanwhile, Cruise vehemently denied an affair when speaking to CNN , but admitted that he was incredibly attracted to Cruz during filming.

Nicole Kidman's life fell apart when they broke up

When the couple split in 2001, Entertainment Weekly reported on the various rumors circulating as to why Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman broke up . Some speculated that it was Kidman's refusal to convert to Scientology that tore them apart, while others suggested that the Aussie star wanted to raise the couple's kids in her homeland.

The divorce took its toll on Kidman. "My life collapsed," Kidman told Vanity Fair . "People ran from me because suddenly it was 'Oh, my God! It's over for her now!'" Meanwhile, Cruise hinted at an acrimonious end in his own Vanity Fair interview. "Things happen in life, and you do everything you can, and in every possible way, and there's a point at which you just sometimes have to face the brutal reality," he conceded. Ouch.

Reflecting on the divorce to Glamour , Kidman admitted that the split was particularly painful because it triggered memories of her childhood trauma. When Kidman was growing up, her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her mother's unraveling due to the disease led to the whole family's unraveling. As Kidman put it, "If you take care of the woman in the family, the whole family prospers. But when the mother falters, the family falls apart." Thereafter, she opted to stay single for six years to rediscover herself. Speaking with Marie Claire , she admitted to being so devastated that she thought she would never find love again.

They still loved each other

As painful as the divorce was, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise had nothing but praise for each other in the immediate aftermath. Speaking with CNN , Cruise dodged any negative press regarding the split, refusing to address Larry King's suggestion that Hollywood hadn't seen such a highly publicized separation since the days of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. Instead, Cruise lavished praise on his former wife. "I love Nicole. I've always loved her ... That doesn't go away. It will never go away," he explained.

Kidman appeared to feel the same way. In an interview with Ladies' Home Journal (via Today ), she said that while the divorce was a huge shock, she had nothing but love for her former husband. "To me, he was just Tom, but to everybody else, he is huge," she reflected. "But he was lovely to me and I loved him. I still love him."

However, it didn't take long for things to get shady. Kidman famously quipped to David Letterman (per Evening Standard ) that she was happy she could wear heels again after splitting from her petite husband. Then came the bitter custody battle over Isabella and Connor. Although the exes were awarded shared custody, the reality was much different. "They live with Tom, which was their choice," she confessed to Hello (via E! ) in 2010. "I'd love them to live with us, but what can you do?" The former power couple was officially done.

The bitter aftermath

As the years went by, things slowly grew more acrimonious for Hollywood's beloved former it-couple. In 2022, Variety reported that Nicole Kidman was completely omitted from a montage of Tom Cruise's body of work at Cannes, despite the tribute featuring scenes from all three of the flicks the couple starred in. A year earlier, Harper's Bazaar noted that Kidman wouldn't discuss her divorce from Cruise during interviews.

Meanwhile, Kidman had a furious response when The Guardian brought up the topic during an interview promoting "Being the Ricardos." When the outlet suggested that Lucille Ball's troubled relationship with Desi Arnaz may be comparable to her own failed marriage, Kidman snapped. "Oh, my God, no ... And I would ask not to be pigeonholed that way, either," she retorted. "It feels to me almost sexist because I'm not sure anyone would say that to a man. And at some point, you go, 'Give me my life. In its own right.'"

According to insiders, Kidman has a right to feel bitter. The Daily Mail reported allegations that Cruise was instrumental in driving a wedge between his ex-wife and the children they adopted. Ex-Scientologist Sam Domingo claimed that Scientology agents brainwashed Isabella and Connor against their mom. In 2015, Kidman was reportedly snubbed from Isabella's wedding . However, they were rumored to have reconciled in 2020. Meanwhile, Connor has maintained that he has a great relationship with his mom .

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Nicole Kidman’s 12 Best Film Performances, From ‘Birth’ to ‘Moulin Rouge’

By Clayton Davis

Clayton Davis

Senior Awards Editor

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Nicole Kidman has captivated Hollywood for more than three decades, with a career marked by transformative roles, outstanding performances and a profound impact on the cinematic landscape. As she receives the prestigious AFI Life Achievement Award, Variety honors her career by ranking her top 12 film performances.

Born in Honolulu and raised in Australia, Kidman first made waves in the U.S. with her role in Phillip Noyce’s thriller “Dead Calm” (1989), starring opposite Sam Neill and Billy Zane. Her performance set the stage for more diverse and compelling roles to follow. She soon after earned her first Golden Globe nomination for supporting actress as the mistress Drew Preston in Robert Benton’s gangster film “Billy Bathgate” (1991) opposite Dustin Hoffman.

Kidman has received five Oscar nominations throughout her illustrious career. Her first came as the vibrant showgirl Satine in Baz Luhrmann’s musical extravaganza “Moulin Rouge!” (2001). The following year, she won the Academy Award for best actress for her haunting transformation into author Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry’s poignant drama “The Hours” (2002). Hollywood continued to recognize her talent with additional Oscar noms including supporting actress in Garth Davis’ “Lion” (2016) and actress for John Cameron Mitchell’s “Rabbit Hole” (2010) and Aaron Sorkin’s “Being the Ricardos” (2021).

Kidman’s adoration from her peers and the media has blossomed with 16 Golden Globe noms across film and television, securing six wins. That also includes a statuette for her performance in the black comedy “To Die For” (1995) which became one of her most notable snubs at the Oscars. Recently she has captivated television audiences in several series, winning two Emmys for her performance in “Big Little Lies.”

Beyond her film roles, Kidman has also explored television, demonstrating remarkable versatility as a producer. In HBO’s hit miniseries “Big Little Lies,” she not only starred as Celeste Wright, a woman battling domestic abuse, but she also served as an executive producer along with Reese Witherspoon. Her role earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for lead actress, along with the show taking home outstanding limited series.

Kidman’s legacy has been built on her relentless pursuit of authentic and challenging roles that have allowed her to deepen and refine her craft. By continuously selecting projects that defy expectations, she remains a luminous figure in the landscape of modern cinema.

Read Variety’s ranking of Kidman’s best movie performances below and celebrate a career that continues to resonate with audiences worldwide.

Honorable mentions : “Batman Forever” (1995); “Practical Magic” (1998); “Cold Mountain” (2002); “Margot at the Wedding” (2007); “The Paperboy” (2012)

'Dead Calm' (1989)

DEAD CALM, Nicole Kidman, Billy Zane, 1989, (c) Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection

Kidman’s big breakthrough in the U.S. was in the horror-thriller “Dead Calm” by director Philip Noyce, co-starring Sam Neill and Billy Zane. Her performance as a resilient wife confronting peril on the high seas showcased her formidable presence and acting prowess.

'Lion' (2016)

LION, from left, Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, 2016. ph: Mark Rogers. ©The Weinstein Company/courtesy Everett Collection

Kidman breaks your heart with her remarkable and Oscar-nominated turn as Sue Brierley, the adoptive mother of a young man (Dev Patel and Sunny Pawar) searching for his lost family in India. She displays complex emotions of a mother’s love, fear and quiet strength. Her ability to convey profound emotional truths—such as the joy of unconditional love—brought an essential humanity to the film. You can’t keep the tears from flowing with every word she speaks.

'Malice' (1993)

MALICE, Alec Baldwin, Nicole Kidman, 1993, (c) Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection

In the Harold Becker thriller “Malice,” alongside Alec Baldwin and Bill Pullman, Kidman delivered a hypnotizing performance layered with intrigue. Playing the enigmatic Tracy Kennsinger, her subtle and intense execution perfectly balanced the vulnerability with a mysterious undercurrent. What’s most impressive is her ability to pivot to elicit sympathy and shock from the viewer, a key element in driving the story forward.

'My Life' (1993)

MY LIFE, from left: Michael Keaton, Nicole Kidman, 1993. © Columbia / courtesy Everett Collection

In the underrated drama “My Life,” Kidman delivered an exceptional performance in the tear-jerker. Kidman’s portrayal is utterly moving as Gail Jones, the pregnant wife of a terminally ill man (portrayed brilliantly by Michael Keaton). Her ability to convey early onset mourning of her husband as her first child gears up to enter the world underscored her status as a formidable talent in Hollywood. Kidman’s nuanced choices solidified her role as a major influence in the industry, capable of transforming a story through her profound character interpretations.

'Dogville' (2003)

DOGVILLE, Paul Bettany, Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgard, 2003, (c) Lions Gate/courtesy Everett Collection

Directed by Lars von Trier, “Dogville” utilized a minimalist stage setting that relied heavily on the strength of its actors, and Kidman rose to the occasion with a compelling performance as Grace, a mysterious woman harboring deep secrets. Alongside her co-star Paul Bettany, the indie drama used her star power to find audiences and jump into the auteur’s world. The results are pitch-perfect from Kidman’s side.

'Rabbit Hole' (2010)

RABBIT HOLE, from left: Miles Teller, Nicole Kidman, 2010. ©Lionsgate/Courtesy Everett Collection

In John Cameron Mitchell’s emotional drama “Rabbit Hole,” Kidman plays Becca Corbett, a woman grappling with the profound grief of losing her child. The role demanded a delicate balance of sorrow and resilience, a challenge that could easily overwhelm a less skilled actress. Kidman masterfully expressed the complex layers of mourning and gradual healing that were essential for the narrative’s unfurling. Her Oscar-nominated performance gently shepherded the audience through the film’s exploration of sorrow and forgiveness.

'Birth' (2004)

BIRTH, Danny Huston, Nicole Kidman, 2004, (c) New Line/courtesy Everett Collection

Jonathan Glazer’s tense and refined “Birth” features an unforgettable Nicole Kidman. As Anna, a widow who meets a young boy claiming to be the reincarnation of her late husband, she skillfully navigates a complex range of emotions that blend skepticism, vulnerability, and a desperate longing to rekindle lost love. The film’s mysterious and ethereal tone, which could easily falter under less adept handling, is masterfully managed through Kidman’s portrayal, something the Golden Globes noticed. She adeptly brings to life the palpable tension integral to the psychological narrative, subtly expressing the intricacies of a widow’s internal conflict.

'Eyes Wide Shut' (1999)

Under the masterful direction of Stanley Kubrick, Kidman embarked on a mesmerizing journey in the daring “Eyes Wide Shut,” alongside her then-husband Tom Cruise, showcasing their artistic bravery. As Kubrick’s final film, every scene resonates with the weight of his unparalleled legacy, infusing each moment with a profound sense of gravitas. Kidman’s portrayal of Alice Harford, a New York housewife exploring her desires and insecurities, Kidman delves fearlessly into the role. Kubrick’s influence looms large, shaping the narrative with his signature blend of psychological depth and visual splendor. You can’t take your eyes off it.

'The Others' (2001)

THE OTHERS, Nicole Kidman, 2001, (c) Dimension Films/courtesy Everett Collection

In the same year she received her inaugural Oscar nom for “Moulin Rouge,” Kidman delivered a haunting portrayal as Grace Stewart, a haunted mother confronting ghostly apparitions in Alejandro Amenábar’s gothic drama “The Others.” The dual feat in both movies stand as a rare instance where an actor is unquestionably deserving of double recognition in the same category, a practice prohibited by the Academy’s rules. Kidman’s turn, alongside the equally captivating supporting role by Fionnula Flanagan, serves as a reminder of the perennial undervaluation of horror films within the industry.

'The Hours' (2002)

THE HOURS, Nicole Kidman, Stephen Dillane, 2002, (c) Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection

As part of a remarkable trio of powerful female performances, Nicole Kidman earned her best actress Oscar with a transformative portrayal of famed novelist Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry’s sophomore feature. Her inspired performance, complete with a prosthetic nose, captivated audiences and critics alike. Alongside Julianne Moore, double-nominated that year for her roles in this film and “Far From Heaven,” and Meryl Streep, nominated for supporting actress in “Adaptation,” Kidman seamlessly melded into the fabric of the film. It all culminated in a memorable Academy moment when the previous year’s best actor winner, Denzel Washington (“Training Day”), declared, “by a nose…Nicole Kidman.”

'To Die For' (1995)

Nicole Kidman’s portrayal of Suzanne Stone in “To Die For” didn’t just elevate her career; it skyrocketed her to superstardom. Kidman is utterly fearless, playing the role of an ambitious TV weathercaster with dangerously lofty aspirations. With a masterful blend of dark humor and bone-chilling charm, she delivers a sociopathic allure that’s captivating and disconcerting. Her ability to fuse Suzanne’s naive ambitions with a sinister undercurrent radiates with an unsettling energy, cementing this role as a true cornerstone of Kidman’s “Mount Rushmore” of performances. Thankfully the Golden Globes felt compelled to award her the lead actress (comedy) statue. Under the sharp direction of Gus Van Sant, the film’s biting satire perfectly complements Kidman’s contribution, adding that final cherry on top of a truly mesmerizing cinematic experience.

'Moulin Rouge!' (2001)

With eight Oscar nominations, including best picture, “Moulin Rouge,” a poignant romance tinged with romance and tragedy from its opening frame, is elevated by its enchanting musical numbers, each complementing the others. At the heart of the tale is two dynamic turns from leads Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, the latter who received her first Oscar nod for best actress.

One of Variety’s 100 Greatest Movies of All Time , Kidman’s performance stands as her most bold, charismatic and energetic among her filmography.

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Nicole’s New Light

By Ingrid Sischy

There once was a wild-maned, fiercely independent Aussie actress who became the luscious young bride of America’s top movie gun. Ten years later, the fairy tale imploded. Now, with a slate of leading roles that include Virginia Woolf in this month’s film adaptation of The Hours, Nicole Kidman talks to Ingrid Sischy about the cocoon of her marriage to Tom Cruise, the way she feared being ostracized after that shocking breakup, and the mystery she’s just beginning to understand.

My life collapsed,” Nicole Kidman recalled recently. “People ran from me because suddenly it was ‘Oh, my God! It’s over for her now!’” Kidman’s leper moment came last year, when her former husband, Tom Cruise, fired her as his wife—that, at least, is how the split came across to the public. But on the day this past summer when she was reliving that moment of reckoning, it all seemed like centuries ago, not only because so much has happened in her life since then, but also because we were sitting in a trailer just outside of Poiana Braşov, Romania, a spot as physically and psychologically removed from Hollywood as it gets.

Romania is where Kidman will be through the end of this year, at work on Anthony Minghella’s film adaptation of Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier’s rather turgid best-seller about the Civil War. Although some scenes have been filmed in Charleston, South Carolina, the bulk of this epic is being shot in Poiana Braşov and nearby spots in northern Romania. One quickly understands why: these are places that epitomize the phrase “going back in time.” I had arrived in Poiana Braşov a day earlier, in the dead of night. After a hairy mountain ride to my hotel behind an endless stream of horse-pulled carts, and a sleepless night spent listening to wild dogs howl, I was glad to see the morning sun. So was everyone else on the set. It was the first beautiful day after weeks of relentless rain. Suddenly I heard the clippety-clop of horses’ hooves, and somebody said, “Here comes Nicole.” I spied the actress way up the road in costume as Ada, the book’s heroine, all decked out in her corsets and petticoated skirt. She looked the height of refinement, but when she spotted me she let out a hearty laugh. “You made it,” she said in her unmistakable Australian accent.

Before Cold Mountain is done shooting, Kidman, who stars in the film with Jude Law, will be on movie screens back home breaking audiences’ hearts with her mesmerizing performance as Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s feminist novel, The Hours. That movie, which also features Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, and Ed Harris, and which doesn’t betray the profound sense of aloneness that makes Cunningham’s novel so moving, is scheduled to be released later this month. And just like last year—when Kidman surprised and won over moviegoers with the one-two punch of her swooningly gorgeous performance as a doomed dance-hall star in Moulin Rouge and her portrayal of a mother on the edge of madness in The Others— the studios’ release schedules have decreed that she will shortly follow up The Hours with yet another adaptation, this time of The Human Stain, the tough Philip Roth novel, which has been turned into a movie gem by the director Robert Benton and which will be in theaters next year. Benton’s casting of Kidman as the novel’s take-no-crap, been-to-hell-and-back female janitor, opposite Anthony Hopkins, is right on the money.

And that’s not all. On the heels of her breakup, Kidman spent last winter in Sweden, shooting Lars von Trier’s film Dogville, which is scheduled for release sometime next spring. Von Trier, the director most recently of Dancer in the Dark, wrote this latest film for Kidman, which serves to underscore what has been happening to her career over the last few years. While the world has remained obsessed with “The Tom and Nicole Story,” with what their marriage was really like—and especially with what went on between the sheets and with what truly caused the relationship to combust—Kidman has done something more useful: she has shown herself to be a major talent, a remarkable actress who can get in there with the best of them, go toe-to-toe, and come out with her credibility intact. What’s more, she’s proved herself to be a star with a capital S, the one-in-a-generation kind who, like Elizabeth Taylor, is bigger than the Hollywood system, and is also unafraid to be human and real, which only makes her more popular.

Offscreen, Kidman, like Taylor, has a love of life, a strong sense of loyalty, and a madcap sense of humor, and she seems to really know how to be a friend. (Her old buddy Naomi Watts, whose career has only recently taken off, told me, “Nicole was always there with her door open, her arms open, her ears open—just what you need.”) Kidman and Taylor know how to live it up, too, and while Kidman may not share Taylor’s predilection for carrying really large rocks on her mitts, she’s got the rags—closets full of the hippest fashion and vintage clothes. Put this pair in a room and you’ll hear two dames who really know how to laugh. In terms of their careers and their craft, there’s more than coincidence in the fact that, while Taylor showed the world what she was made of when she walked the razor’s edge in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Kidman is doing the same thing playing Woolf herself.

I’ve gotten to know Kidman over these last couple of years, right as her life was falling apart, in my capacity as editor of Interview magazine. What struck me initially is that she’s a person who doesn’t let others down. In one way or another, I have seen her stand by her word and be thoughtful in situations that would likely bring out the worst in other stars. The more one knows her, the less “actressy” she seems. She hasn’t undergone the kind of narcissistic transformation that can turn extremely famous people into absolute bores or unbearable phonies. She has gotten used to the attention that comes with being a star, but Kidman is not one of those types whom everybody else has to pamper and flatter; instead, she seems to be driven by a feeling that she has so much to learn, and so much to see. She’s still curious, still hungry, and will still almost kill her-self playing a part. It’s like she goes into a trance on set—broken ribs and bloody knees (such as she incurred on Moulin Rouge ) or grossly swollen ankles ( Cold Mountain ) be damned.

Nicole’s childhood doesn’t sound that unusual, but there are a few kinks and clues to suggest that this was a kid with big ambitions. Born in Hawaii in 1967 to Australian parents, Anthony and Janelle, she grew up in an upper-middle-class suburb of Sydney, in a family that was close then and remains close today. Both parents worked, her mother as a nurse, her father as a psychologist, and it appears they passed on a strong sense of ethics and social conscience to their two daughters, Nicole and Antonia. As Nicole, the elder, remembers, “My mother would treat us as little adults. We would discuss things. I was raised to think and to question. She wanted girls who were educated, aware of everything, and opinionated. So did my father. They wanted us to be sure of being able to speak out. That’s gotten me into trouble at times.”

The outside world was less of an oasis, and at times Nicole felt like a bit of an oddball. She says, “My mother was a feminist in a conservative neighborhood, and my father was left-wing. I was Catholic, and most of the kids were Protestant. I looked very different from most of the other people. I was very, very tall”—she topped off at five feet ten inches—“with wild, wild curly hair, which I now try to tame. I couldn’t go to the beach, because I was so fair-skinned. One of my most vivid memories is of being a child, sitting in my bedroom, and hearing the laughter from the next-door neighbors. They had a pool and you’d hear them laughing, playing. I remember feeling not included in that, just sitting in my bedroom. . . . I had a huge desire to be somebody else. I would think, I’m not living the life I want to live. I would try to come up with images before I went to sleep, to then try and live the life I wanted to live in my dreams. And I was deeply romantic.”

Even today, when friends talk about Kidman they cite her love of losing herself in other worlds. She is an avid reader, frequently seen curled up with a book, oblivious to whatever’s going on around her. That started a long time ago: by her teens, novels were a primary means of escape. She has said that it was thanks to characters such as Dorothea in Middlemarch and Natasha in War and Peace that she began to think about being an actor. She told me, “I wanted to be those women. I would live through them, get lost in them, and be devastated when the books ended.”

Nicole also had a definite wild streak. She was hitting the clubs in Sydney by the time she was 14, drawn to the bohemian side of life, befriending the transvestites who frequented her favorite joints. Already showing her affinity for avant-garde fashion, she’d doll herself up in a tutu, fishnets, and lace-up black boots, and dye her hair like a rainbow or in even more intense shades of red than her natural coloring. Other nights she’d go vintage.

But of all the pursuits she followed in her teens, it was the drama lessons that from the age of 12 she took on weekends at Sydney’s Philip Street Theater which really stirred something within her. She got some saucy parts, too, including that quintessential southern belle, Blanche du Bois, in Tennessee Williams’s Streetcar Named Desire, played by Nicole at the ripe old age of 12. She’s less amused today by the cheeseball Australian films she found herself doing a few years later, such as 1983’s teen dirt-bike epic BMX Bandits and 1986’s Windrider, a romance about windsurfing (with the actor Tom Burlinson, a 29-year-old who became 18-year-old Nicole’s boyfriend)—but at the same time she oesn’t disown them. As an actor, she says, “you’re never in a position where you have an enormous amount of choices—that’s why I never judge other actors’ choices. One doesn’t know what’s behind them. Why does somebody need to do [a particular movie]? Because they have to pay the mortgage? I’ve certainly been in that position. BMX Bandits ? Bring it on. I wanted to own a place. That’s how I bought my apartment. After that I always knew, if everything else went to pieces, I had a floor I could crash on.” As for the artistic side of the equation, such as it was, no matter how cartoony her parts, Kidman always comes off as a strong, memorable presence—and as killer sexy. Best of all her early Australian films is 1991’s Flirting, a girls’-school classic in which she plays the alpha prefect who turns nice.

She had begun to work steadily, but at the age of 17 two events temporarily sidetracked her career. First, she decided to see a bit of the world, bagging high-school grad-uation for an intoxicating few months in Amsterdam and Paris. Kidman recalls, “I was like, ‘Bring it on—bring on Europe!’” (“Bring it on” is a pet Kidman expression, a kind of exhortation to herself and others to let life happen.) That same year, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through chemotherapy. Kidman put everything on hold to be part of her mom’s support structure. She clearly respects and loves her dad, but her relationship with her mother seems to have been the more formative one. On more than one occasion she told me, “I still think one of my motivating forces is to make her proud of me.” When I asked Kidman to explain that more specifically, she answered, “She once said to me she wished she had had no children, which is a hard thing to hear from your mother. I think I stormed out of the house that day. But I understand what she meant, because she gave up a lot. She would have been an amazing doctor, she speaks French, she plays the piano, she’s far more brilliant than me at everything.” How many of us feel that same way about our parents’ missed opportunities and end up taking on the world in their name?

What set Kidman’s career in true motion was a 1986 Australian TV mini-series, Vietnam, which suggested she had real acting mettle. She took off in the role of Megan Goddard, an anti-war, anti-Establishment student, got nice reviews, and, out of that success, was eventually cast in 1988, at the age of 21, in the film Dead Calm, directed by Phillip Noyce and produced, as was Vietnam, by Australia’s legendary Kennedy-Miller Productions. This was the project that would bring her to America and alter the trajectory of her career. A thriller, Dead Calm required her to outfox, outsail, and outfight a psychotic interloper—we see her together, untogether, in the altogether, and her performance never falls apart.

The 1989 film, a smash in Australia and a player in the States too, came to the attention of the screenwriter Robert Towne, who was then at work with Tom Cruise on Days of Thunder. Towne, who is no monkey, showed Dead Calm to Cruise. Kidman had already been brought to America for a publicity junket for Dead Calm, been signed by ICM agent Sam Cohn, and flown back across the Pacific to Tokyo, where she was doing more promotional chores, when she got a call saying Tom Cruise wanted to meet her. When I asked what her first reaction to the summons was, she laughed, saying, “I thought, Wow! This is America! Tom Cruise wants to meet me. He made Top Gun and Cocktail —the films I grew up watching.” And the fairy tale began. Before she had time to straighten her hair, it seemed, she was in Daytona Beach, Florida, starring opposite Cruise in Days of Thunder.

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Enter Cupid. Drumrolls. Music. Fireworks! Kidman was smitten: “He basically swept me off my feet. I fell madly, passionately in love. And as happens when you fall in love, my whole plan in terms of what I wanted for my life—I was like, ‘Forget it. This is it.’ I was consumed by it, willingly. And I was desperate to have a baby with him. I didn’t care if we were married. That’s what I wish I’d done.” But that’s not what happened. Instead, a few months later, Cruise’s divorce from the actress Mimi Rogers came through, and America’s most American leading man proposed to Australia’s latest hot export.

It’s hard to imagine a more dramatic personal and sociological change than the one Kidman experienced the moment she hooked up with Cruise. She went from being an actress who had begun to taste success—and who had always insisted on living on her own, even during her various romances—to a woman inside the engine of the Hollywood machine. As for the first piece of celluloid that came out of their alliance, let’s just say that time has not been kind to Days of Thunder. Still, it’s fascinating to see how Hollywood, led by producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and British director Tony Scott, packaged her raw sexuality, putting a commercial gloss on it.

After Days of Thunder, she began working on Billy Bathgate for director Robert Benton, who recently teamed up with the actress again. I spent time with them this September on the Paramount lot, where they were re-recording fragments of dialogue for The Human Stain. It was quite an eye-opener to watch her work with Benton and the sound technicians. Kidman is a pro, but not a hack. She’ll want to keep doing a line or scene until it feels true, but she also seems to have unusually direct access to all sorts of inner emotions, which she is often able to summon in a matter of seconds and articulate with authenticity.

There’s a bit of a father-daughter dynamic between Benton and Kidman. When we went to lunch they both cracked up about the old days when Kidman, who married Cruise in the middle of Billy Bathgate, would go missing in action. Benton recalled, “One day when I couldn’t find her, somebody said, ‘Oh! Nicole is skydiving,’ and I almost had a heart attack. I thought, God! Like I don’t have enough problems.” Benton sat his star down and gave her a good talking-to. She solemnly listened and, as Benton laughingly told me, was jumping out of planes again soon after with her new husband. The thrill both apparently get from a sense of danger seems to have been an aphrodisiac for Nicole and Tom, who would also amuse themselves with adrenaline-pumping fun such as spins on Cruise’s Harley.

It’s clear that the couple’s chemistry worked big-time. When Nicole speaks of her years with Cruise she describes a devotion without clauses and without doubt. “I was willing to give up everything,” she explains. “I now see that as part of me. I’m willing to do that—I do it when I do a movie too. I’m willing to go, ‘Yeah, bring it on, consume me, intoxicate me.’ I want to feel alive—I want to reel, basically. I was reeling with Tom and I loved it and I would have walked to the end of the earth. That meant giving up a lot of things that were very important to me.” Kidman doesn’t pretend that she was impervious to the glare that came with being Mrs. Cruise. “You’re being watched and scrutinized, and that slowly affects you. But it’s also deeply romantic, because it feels like there’s only the two of you and you’re in it together, as if you’re in a cocoon, and you become very dependent on each other.”

Apart from her role opposite Cruise in Ron Howard’s immigrant drama, Far and Away, which was a nonstarter when it came out in 1992, Kidman’s career wasn’t on the front burner during the first few years of the marriage. Instead of klieg lights, her days were filled with squeals and gurgles, for it was in 1993 that the couple adopted a girl, Isabella. (In 1995 they would add to the family by adopting their son, Connor.) But ultimately the bubblelike existence had to end. This wasn’t the Dark Ages. The suffragettes had come and gone, Virginia Woolf had written A Room of One’s Own decades before, and Kidman, very much a woman of her time and of her upbringing, could not stifle her need to express herself. She started to pursue a number of parts. There was, for instance, 1995’s Batman Forever, directed by Joel Schumacher, in which she played the love interest, Dr. Chase Meridian.

Schumacher’s stories of life on the Batman Forever set with Kidman are telling. By that time she had become a certified member of Hollywood royalty, but it seems that that had killed off neither her sense of spontaneity nor her sense of democracy. There was, for instance, the day she got a craving for some kind of iced mocha concoction from Starbucks. As Schumacher recalls, she didn’t just order one for herself. “There were hundreds of people working on Batman, and, sure enough, an hour later, some kind of truck arrived with all these frozen drinks, and everyone had an iced mocha thingy.” But while Kidman helped to put the sass into Batman Forever, offering a glimpse of her flair for camp, the performance didn’t do much to thaw the ice-princess image that she had by now developed in the media.

In point of fact, Kidman had never been cold or rude to the press, but somehow her perfect behavior as Mrs. Cruise—the couple was famous for their highly controlled public appearances—and the sorts of roles Americans had seen her in, along with the presumption that she was being cast only to curry favor with her husband, all combined to make it seem as if she were high-and-mighty, exquisite, but made of marble. She, too, may have bought into some of that: “I felt I didn’t deserve to be there in my own right, and so throughout I wasn’t there as Nicole—I was there as Tom’s wife.”

What finally changed this was To Die For, which was also released in 1995. It was not a part that was handed to her on a silver platter. Even though she had a decent track record by then and was married to such a box-office biggie, she was not considered A-list and had to work to convince the director, Gus Van Sant, that she had what it took to play Suzanne Stone-Maretto, a woman who is so obsessed with becoming a TV star that she is willing to do anything to make that happen, including seducing a weirdo high-school student (Joaquin Phoenix) and persuading him to do away with her lunkish husband (Matt Dillon). Kidman has never been the type to let pride get in the way of work she desires. Even today she’ll do the requisite campaigning if she is after a role and she isn’t being pursued for it; she has an instinctive grasp of the ebb and flow of fame, of the fact that you have to get up on your board if you want to ride its waves.

Van Sant, whose deadpan way with a story is almost Warholian, recalls, “She got my number somewhere. I don’t know if it was hard to find it or not, but she just called me and said hi. She phoned right when Meg Ryan dropped out of the movie, which involved her knowing inside information. Our second choice was Patricia Arquette, and we even had a third choice, Jennifer Jason Leigh. Nicole was somewhere on the list. I had met her a couple of times. When she called she told me that she knew she wasn’t on the top of my list, and I tried to kind of say, ‘Well, I don’t know about that . . . ’ But she just cut me off and said, ‘Look, you don’t have to pretend that I am.’ I said, ‘O.K.,’ and then she said, ‘But listen, I’m destined to play this part.’ That worked really well with me because I believe in destiny.”

It did seem as if she had been born to play this knife-sharp black comedy, written to perfection by Buck Henry. She found humor in her character’s desperation and yet also made that desperation feel painfully real. She was so wickedly funny that at the time I remember being surprised—as were many others—that there was edge and bite underneath all that Hollywood polish. This was the beginning of her transformation from perfect escort to flesh-and-blood actor. When Portrait of a Lady, directed by Jane Campion and featuring Kidman as the headstrong heiress, Isabel Archer, was released a year later, the project’s ambition underscored the fact that Kidman might just become a big deal in her own right—even if the film itself wasn’t a breakthrough for anyone.

It was inevitable that performing in these kinds of films would affect Kidman’s sense of herself. She says, “I realized I could be fulfilled creatively and that I had given that up. I think this happens to women who re-enter the workforce. They go, ‘Hold on, there’s a world out there, and I wouldn’t mind being a part of it.’ I tried to deny it because it would have been so much easier for me to be satiated by being a wife. I wish it could have been part of my trajectory, but it wasn’t.”

Kidman imagined, like millions of women, that she’d be able to fulfill herself through her work and also be a dedicated wife and mother. Her goal was to do a worthwhile project every year or so and still have enough time and energy to give her family its due. For a while the plan worked, or at least it looked that way from the outside. The actress appeared in The Peacemaker in 1997 and in Practical Magic in 1998 (two films that ended up stiffing) while continuing to show up at her husband’s side, always looking like a million bucks, for every important occasion.

And then came an opportunity that seemed heaven-sent: the late Stanley Kubrick’s decision to cast Kidman and Cruise in his take on sexual obsession and jealousy, Eyes Wide Shut. The couple had a chance not only to work with one of the movies’ true greats on a film that promised to be electrifying, but also to work together. And so, in late 1996, they picked up their household, moved to London, and dedicated themselves to implementing Kubrick’s vision. It was not just a nine-to-five collaboration. Kidman and Cruise’s bond with Kubrick proved to be such that their lives became intertwined with his, and the film somehow bled into their relationship.

The two actors, especially Nicole, are known for living and breathing their parts when working; this time their roles were a bored husband and wife who get caught in a web of sexual pretending that then turns dangerously real and winds up threatening their marriage. Sounds like a recipe for an emotional Molotov cocktail that would test many a couple’s relationship. On top of that, the shoot, originally scheduled for 4 months, kept getting extended, and in the end Tom and Nicole would park themselves in London for 18 months. As Kidman remembers it, “Tom had such a very strong connection with Stanley, and so did I. That resonated through our lives and marriage—it had such a profound effect.” Even when the actors and their director weren’t actually shooting, they’d spend hours together every day. Nicole says, “Stanley saw Tom and I in the most extreme situations because of the way in which he works. He breaks you down. He challenged all of my concrete, solid bases that I’d set around myself, and basically disturbed them, and made me far more introspective.” Nicole does not get literal about how this experience shook things up, but she couldn’t be more clear that it did; the couple was also deeply affected by Kubrick’s sudden death during postproduction. But she has an artist’s acceptance of the entire experience as ultimately valuable, no matter how painful.

When we were talking I was honest with her about my reactions to the movie, which finally came out in the summer of 1999. I told her that, despite the film’s visual punch, the pre-release fuss and hype seemed way overblown considering the final product, which to my mind is not the revolutionary work that was promised but rather a bourgeois attempt at titillation, an effort at illuminating truths about sexuality and relationships which have been treated with much more insight by other writers and directors. Nicole responded in a way that is characteristic of her. She was not defensive, but heard me with real interest and openness. She then stood by both her director and her leading man: “I still think Tom was mesmerizing in it, but that’s partly because I know what he went through. To me, the themes are so important and so complex—and who knows what Stanley would have done [with it] if he had had more time, if he’d lived.”

In the fall of 1998, Kidman was making new headlines with her performance onstage in London in The Blue Room, which required her to be nude for 10 seconds. One night backstage Kidman found a big bouquet of red roses in her dressing room with a note from the Australian director Baz Luhrmann that read something like: “She sings, she dances, she dies, how can you refuse?” Luhrmann was referring to Satine, the doomed heroine of the movie he was planning to shoot next, Moulin Rouge. He was following his gut instinct that Kidman would shine in the part of a divinely romantic showgirl who drives folks wild, sacrifices for her art, and dies tragically of tuberculosis on her beloved stage. But Kidman was still perceived by audiences as distant and cold; there was resistance to her from some of the powers behind the project. Nevertheless, Luhrmann and his casting director were passionate about their choice. They fought until the deal was done, and a role that was loaded with risk for both star and director turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to Kidman’s career. Not only did it show what a multifaceted talent she is, but the part, which had her running off not with the rich producer but instead with the struggling writer, undercut her public image as a cool careerist and plainly rendered her human and warm. Whether she is flying through the air on a trapeze, singing an over-the-top love song with her leading man, Ewan McGregor, or breathing her last breath, her performance is big, bold, vulnerable when called for, and just right in terms of tone.

Like Van Sant, Luhrmann calls Kidman an ally. Recalling the Moulin Rouge shoot, which took place over nine months in Sydney, he says, “She never showed anything but absolute belief in the film, which I’ve got to say is one of the defining qualities of Nicole. She is absolutely at her best in the worst possible situations.” Little did anyone know how much she would be put to the test on this front. It was during postproduction on Moulin Rouge, sometime in February 2001, Luhrmann remembers, that he got a call from Kidman: “She said, ‘I’ve broken up with Tom’ or ‘Tom’s breaking up with me.’ She told me there were helicopters flying over the house, and she was genuinely devastated and shocked.”

The public’s reaction to the breakup has been a lesson in how the movies and real life can converge. The timing of the marital implosion led into a period when Kidman was also in the public eye because of Moulin Rouge. The fact that in this film she died as a heroine passionately committed to her art, a victim of her time and her circumstances, carried over to the perception of her as a victim in real life—a perception to which there seems to be more than an element of truth. My conversations with Kidman about this tumultuous, painful time, which also included a miscarriage, showed her to be a woman genuinely struggling to understand why her marriage failed.

I doubt that legalities are the only explanation for why this couple has been so respectful to each other in public. These are two people who understand good behavior and who are committed to their children’s well-being. Even though it looked at first as if they were going to land in an ugly legal battle, the couple settled out of court. Both parties have made it clear that they will not go into the nitty-gritty about what went wrong. But since their split played out publicly in such a bizarre way—with Cruise releasing cryptic tidbits to the press like “She knows why,” and Kidman seeming to be in a state of shock—one can’t help but still be curious. I asked Kidman point-blank, “Do you know why you broke up?” She said, “I’m starting to understand now. At the time I didn’t.” So I asked again, “It came as complete news?” She said yes.

Sometimes I got the feeling she’d do anything to reverse events. But I also had the sense she knew there couldn’t have been any other outcome, in part, it seems, because of her own artistic needs. It’s not clear how these conflicted with the marriage, but what’s unusual about her, given her status as a Hollywood institution, is that she’s willing to bare the confusion, the contradictions, the regret. She told me, “I didn’t have to have a huge career. I would have liked to be able to make a To Die For occasionally and things that could stimulate me. And this makes me sad, but I still would probably choose a marriage and an intact family over my career.” When I pointed out to Kidman that the beauty of living in the 21st century for women is that, one hopes, they don’t have to choose between work and family, she replied, “But I think I had to choose. I think [the marriage] would have come down to it. I suppose it wasn’t meant to be. What I see now is a nine-year-old little girl who [the divorce] affected and I see a seven-year-old boy, and see my duty as a mother. It means for the rest of my life I have to do things to protect and help them and make it up to them. That sounds so old-fashioned and strange. I don’t know why that’s in me, but it is.”

While it’s not unusual to worry about the kids in a divorce, Kidman is clearly wearing a kind of hair shirt; after all, she was raised as a Catholic. This leads to the role of religion in her marriage—specifically Scientology, which, as everyone knows, is Tom’s thing. When I asked Kidman about her ties to the organization, she said, “Tom is a Scientologist. I’m not. I was introduced to it by him, and I explored it. But I’m not a Scientologist. I told Tom I respect his religion. I said to him, It is what you believe in, and it’s helped you.’”

One of the most fascinating aspects of the entire story is how intrigued people are by the couple, even those who aren’t normally into tabloid-type gossip. The marriage remains a kind of blank slate upon which we can all project our own ideas; people have floated so many theories, from unfaithfulness to the fallout from pre-nuptial agreements to who knows what. The speculation was endless—and still is. This sense of mystery goes way back: the marriage had always been surrounded by whispers about the couple’s sexuality and questions about just what kind of transactions were taking place between them.

When I decided to face these issues directly with Nicole, she laughed at the awkwardness with which I brought them up, and then asked, “Do you want to know if I had a real marriage?” Even though I thought it was my duty as a good reporter to poke around in there, I was embarrassed by having to be so nosy. So I circled the issue of the relationship and brought up the fact that Cruise seems to call the lawyers whenever the g-word is thrown at him (and I don’t mean garter). This time, she grabbed the bull by the horns and said, in a serious tone, “Look, the marriage was real. The marriage existed because it was two people in love. It’s that simple. They’ve said I’m gay, they’ve said everyone’s gay. I personally don’t believe in doing huge lawsuits about that stuff. Tom does. That’s what he wants to do, that’s what he’s going to do. You do not tell Tom what to do. That’s it. Simple. And he’s a force to be reckoned with. I have a different approach. I don’t file lawsuits because I really don’t care. Honestly, people have said everything under the sun. I just want to do my work, raise my kids, and hopefully find somebody who I can share my life with again, or, you know, have a number of different people at different times who come into my life. I don’t know what my future is. But I really don’t care what anybody else is saying.”

On the same day that Kidman and I had this conversation in Los Angeles, I happened to visit the producer Lynda Obst. Philip Roth’s masterpiece American Pastoral is on her plate as her next film project. Kidman’s name came up as a possible lead. Obst and I then fell easily into the inevitable who-did-what-to-whom Tom-and-Nicole conversation. Has anyone in America not had this conversation? After a minute we laughed at ourselves and Obst pulled out a copy of American Pastoral and read a passage that says it all. The subject is “other people”: You never fail to get them wrong. . . . You get them wrong before you meet them, while you’re anticipating meeting them; you get them wrong while you’re with them; and then you go home to tell somebody else about the meeting and you get them all wrong again. . . . The fact rem ains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It’s getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again. That’s how we know we’re alive: we’re wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride.

Kidman’s willingness to stay on life’s ride, even when it feels like a roller coaster, is proven. She doesn’t deny that doing so was hard at first after the marriage fell apart. She even told me a story about being so upset that she was lying on the ground in the fetal position, weeping, while her parents, who had arrived to help her get through the whole circus, were trying to make her snap to. “That’s enough now—get up!” her mother said. She did. There were other issues to deal with, such as how the divorce was going to affect her career. Kidman remembers, “At the time, it felt like the work was going to be taken away from me. I had more things that I wanted to give, do, participate in creatively, and to have had that denied prematurely would have been awful.” She saw to it that none of this happened, and she had people who were true-blue behind her. One of them is Baz Luhrmann, who spent much of the first year of the breakup’s aftermath with Kidman promoting Moulin Rouge. Luhrmann had told Kidman that, under the circumstances, he’d understand if she bowed out of the promotional duties that can make a movie live or die. Instead, she stood by him and their work as though their lives depended on it. Luhrmann recalls, “I saw her realize the motto of the film, which is ‘The show must go on.’ She absolutely embodied its spirit.”

Between Moulin Rouge, The Others, and even the rather kooky thriller Birthday Girl, released last February (Kidman plays a Russian con artist with a throat-scraping, Moscow-ready accent), she made people take her seriously. As Anthony Minghella says, “Each film is so different and distinctive. They make you feel like there’s an enormously rich instrument there.” When Kidman received a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for Moulin Rouge as well as a Golden Globe nomination for The Others, one could feel how happy people were for her. She was finally getting recognition for who she was, not who she was with. It really didn’t seem to matter to her that she didn’t win a prestigious statue on Oscar night. Stepping out on to that red carpet with her sister as her date, she was a class act in a pink Chanel gown.

When The Hours comes out this month it is bound to cause a sensation. It’s hard to imagine a finer cast of actors interpreting this remarkable book, which covers three eras—the beginning of the last century, the 1950s, and the 1990s. How appropriate that it is Kidman’s job to play Virginia Woolf at the time she was writing Mrs. Dalloway and looking for reasons to live as she struggled with thoughts of suicide. The meaning of the role is not lost on the actress. She says, “I truly believe characters come into your life at certain periods of your life for a reason, and Virginia came into my life to help me.” Her performance is nothing short of astounding. Much will be made of the aristocratic prosthetic nose she wears, which makes it difficult to recognize her. But even more amazing is the way she seems to transform herself in every possible way, from the lids of her eyes to her soulful mouth to her bony elbows to the crack in her voice, which is fragile and strong at the same time. Her portrayal of Woolf, accent and all, is so convincing it’s hard not to conflate the two women’s lives. When I told Kidman this she smiled and made reference to a scene in the movie in which Woolf is sitting on a bench at the Richmond, England, train station, having escaped what she saw as the suffocations of her country household. Her husband, Leonard, comes running up, afraid that she has tried to do herself in again. Virginia finally lets it all out. “The scene at the train station was the reason I wanted to do the film,” Kidman told me. “It is about a woman saying, ‘This isn’t what I want to be. I have the right to make choices for my life that are going to fulfill me.’ I loved Virginia. I just love when she says, I’m living a life that I have no wish to live. I’m living in a town that I have no wish to live in.’”

These were the exact lines I had written down in the dark when I first saw The Hours. They seemed to get at the essence of what Kidman’s life has been about these last few years, a period in which she has become not just a bigger star, not just an actress who deserves to be taken seriously, but a truly daring artist. Anne Roth, the costume designer who worked with Kidman on The Hours and who with Conor O’Sullivan perfected the soon-to-be-famous nose, said it perfectly: “It is like she is in a new skin. She is on her own satellite. She is all alone out there and it’s something you want to watch. It’s as if she’s an amazing piece of art.”

Who knows if this would have happened if she hadn’t gone through all her marital difficulties? When someone turns a potential calamity into something great we cheer. In Kidman’s case, she has moved people not only because she has done that, but also because of who she’s been. She’s shown her feelings. She’s asked for help. She hasn’t come up with a bunch of phony escorts to make her life look good. She doesn’t seem to mind that we can see that her life may be as messy and flawed as the rest of ours. She’s even been ruefully witty, as when she remarked to David Letterman, “Now I can wear heels” (a reference to the height gap between her and her ex).

On my last night of talking to her for this article, I went over to her house in Pacific Palisades for a glass of wine. It’s the same house that she lived in with Cruise, which embarrasses Kidman. She says that her friends keep saying, “Sell it! Sell it!” but that she prefers things to be done gently, not in a rushed way. She’s proud, however, that she finally bit the bullet and got a place in Manhattan in the West Village. When I went by the house in L.A., it happened to be September 11, the anniversary. The kids had made a fire, and Kidman was sitting with them in the den watching the news on TV, a rerun of the day’s memorials and events. When it was time for them to go to bed she said, “See, everything went O.K. today. Nothing bad happened,” and turned off the TV. Relief for all of us. She came back downstairs after tucking Isabella and Connor in. We went into the living room and I noticed art, such as paintings by Ben Shahn and Milton Avery, on the walls, and photography books on the table. There was a clear sense of shared lives and interests—it felt like a home, not a set. I thought about another line from The Hours: “I don’t think two people could have been happier than we have been.” For a while.

Ingrid Sischy

Hollywood daily.

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Nicole Kidman opens up about her kids with Tom Cruise: 'It's my job to love them'

Nicole Kidman talks about the children she shares with Tom Cruise

Nicole Kidman is a proud mother of four, however the star rarely speaks publicly about her oldest kids, the two now-adult children she adopted with ex-husband Tom Cruise during their decade-long marriage .

But now she's breaking her silence. In a new interview, the 51-year-old not only opened up about Isabella Cruise, 25, and Connor Cruise, 23, she also revealed how she sees her own role in their lives today.

"I’m very private about all that," the cover star on the latest issue of Australia's Who magazine explained. "I have to protect all those relationships."

But don't mistake her hesitancy to discuss them for any distance on her part. She's still as committed to their needs as ever.

"I know 150 percent that I would give up my life for my children because it’s what my purpose is," she said plainly.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp5Ek3lhDPR

Isabella and Connor, like their father, belong to the Church of Scientology , and while Kidman has no such affiliation with the controversial organization , she has a live-and-let-live attitude about it all.

"They are able to make their own decisions," she told Who. "They have made choices to be Scientologists and as a mother, it’s my job to love them. And I am an example of that tolerance, and that’s what I believe – that no matter what your child does, the child has love and the child has to know there is available love and I’m open here."

She stressed that it's wrong to ever "sever" that unwavering bond.

"So that's our job as a parent, to always offer unconditional love," she added.

Kidman has that for Isabella and Connor, and for the two younger children she raises with husband Keith Urban , Sunday Rose, 10, and Faith, 7. And, if she'd had the chance, she would have offered to other kids, too.

Last year, in an interview with BBC News , the "Big Little Lies" star confessed that she wished she had "probably two or three more" ."

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Nicole Kidman’s 28 Best Film and TV Performances, Ranked

Ryan lattanzio, deputy editor, film.

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Nicole Kidman is the rare actress in the 21st century who, like the stars of Hollywood’s golden years, doesn’t disappear into roles so much as elevate films by her mere presence.

She’s certainly swung big at mainstream blockbusters (think: the “Aquaman” films) that might feel out of her step with her character-driven work elsewhere (like most of the films on the list that follows). But that’s because the Australian icon is unafraid of any role, whether stripping down her post-Oscar, A-lister veneer to film Lars von Trier’s Brechtian “Dogville” in Sweden, slipping into a bathtub with the 10-year-old possible reincarnation of her dead husband in Jonathan Glazer’s “Birth,” or, yes, donning a fake nose to play a suicidal Virginia Woolf for her Oscar-winning turn in “The Hours.”

On April 27 in Los Angeles, Nicole Kidman will receive the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award , joining the ranks of Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, Julie Andrews, Diane Keaton, Morgan Freeman, Shirley MacLaine, Alfred Hitchcock, and Mike Nichols. She’s the first Australian to take the prestigious honor, and certainly one of the youngest recipients. But Kidman has beyond proven herself in recent years with a steady stream of projects on screens big and small. And don’t forget her beloved AMC ads , which have now made her into a theater-championing icon.

Surely, the five-time Oscar nominee (most recently as Lucille Ball in “Being the Ricardos”) has one of the most tireless work ethics of any screen star. She most recently wowed on Amazon Prime Video with her performance as a wealthy American expatriate in Hong Kong looking for her missing son in “Expats.” She’s soon back on screens in A24’s “Babygirl” as a corporate CEO embroiled in an affair with a much younger charge. And she has at least four more movies in post-production right now, often shepherding them through her production company Blossom Films. Kidman figured out the only way to get women’s roles right onscreen was to make them for herself, and set a standard for up-and-comers after her.

Below, in honor of Kidman’s upcoming AFI tribute, IndieWire picks 28 (28! and that hardly scratches the surface!) of her best film and TV roles and ranks them.

Samantha Bergeson, Christian Blauvelt, Wilson Chapman, Kate Erbland, Jim Hemphill, Mark Peikert, Sarah Shachat, Erin Strecker, and Ben Travers contributed to this story.

28. ‘The Stepford Wives’ (2004)

Frank Oz’s black comedy remake of the classic thriller is a mess, but the performances are so fun you can almost forgive its confused tone (not to mention the twist on the original’s twist is a great way to keep things fresh). A TV exec recovering from a nervous breakdown, Kidman and her family head to the suburbs for a fresh start (and maybe a more colorful wardrobe, her husband hopes), where Kidman is quickly alarmed by the eerily cheerful wives of Stepford. And though Kidman gravitates towards more serious projects, she finds the comedy in Joanna’s severe black bob and among the Lily Pulitzer prints in Connecticut, delivering zingers perfectly balanced on the knife’s edge of sincerity and spoof. The movie was a critical misfire (and a troubled production), so we have been deprived of more Kidman comedy performances. What a shame. —MP

27. ‘Being the Ricardos’ (2021)

No, Nicole Kidman is not a famously funny person — though she has excelled in comedic roles — so yes, her casting as Lucille Ball in Aaron Sorkin’s talky drama raised eyebrows and elicited that classic Lucy, ‘Ughhh!’ But then, Ball herself never claimed to be funny. ‘What I am is brave,’ she said, and Kidman runs with that theory, lowering her voice to a pack-a-day growl and giving audiences the behind-the-scenes Ball: a tough-as-nails powerhouse who had to practice every punchline in a mirror but understood the precise nature of physical comedy. What Ball did was an acquired skill, and Kidman artfully reveals the force of will that made it happen, in the process revealing (and reveling) in what it takes to create a legacy. —MP

26. ‘Batman Forever’ (1995)

While the ‘Batman’ franchise’s leading ladies have a tendency to swing wildly between meek good girls and wild women gone very bad, Kidman’s first foray into the superhero milieu offered her something different than the series’ history might suggest. In Joel Schumacher’s 1995 ‘Batman Forever,’ Kidman spread her wings as a newly created character — no superhero backstory here — who offers both sex appeal and psychoanalyst smarts.

No, Dr. Chase Meridian might not seem like the traditional Kidman role. Frankly, it seems easier to imagine her playing Catwoman and going the split-persona route of Halle Berry or Michelle Pfeiffer. But Kidman herself has long been clear about what was thrilling about playing the good doctor. It’s that she’s a damsel in distress, really, someone with plenty of brains and not a whole lot of sense, the kind of part she hadn’t previously taken on. In 1995, this was new for her, and her interest in playing something unexpected shines through in the role, complete with a fresh curiosity that sparks up a seemingly predictable part. —KE

25. ‘Destroyer’ (2018)

The hard-nosed LA detective with battle scars and emotional wounds to spare? We know that part, we know that movie, but we don’t know it quite like Kidman in Karyn Kusama’s fascinating 2018 neo-noir. Much has been made about the stripped-down quality of Kidman’s physical look in the film. As Detective Erin Bell, she’s all shapeless clothes, her trademark red tresses turned gray and short, but it’s the spareness of her emotional landscape that really stands out.

It’s the kind of role that we’re used to seeing men portray, and so Kidman’s spin on the ‘strong female character’ already scans as something different, but as she slips further into Erin’s darkness, as Kusama slowly reveals more and more about how she landed there, the actress touches something far beyond ‘unexpected casting.’ It’s gritty and hard-nosed and scary and decidedly different, and even as Erin doesn’t root for herself, we can’t help but root for Kidman. —KE

24. ‘The Northman’ (2022)

THE NORTHMAN, Nicole Kidman, 2022. ph: Aidan Monaghan / © Focus Features / Courtesy Everett Collection

There are long stretches where it seems like the biggest mystery of ‘The Northman’ is why Nicole Kidman is in it. She has a regal mein as Queen Gunrun, no doubt, but Robert Eggers’ Vikingified riff on Hamlet is much more concerned with the violence and vengeance that Alexander Skarsgard’s Amleth wants to wreak on his feckless uncle Fjolnir (Claes Bang). But then the film gives her a monologue. It would be highly dishonorable to spoil what she says, or to whom, but it’s a scene so meaty, you can tell it sustained her for the rest of the movie’s run. It’s almost worth the entirety of ‘The Northman’ on its own, too. When Kidman gets to flex her intelligence, her sharpness, then her dialogue cuts deeper than any sword to the gut. — SS

23. ‘Far and Away’ (1992)

The kind of sweeping romantic epic they just don’t make these days, this is a film in which the delicate rules behind literal land-grabbing and the impact of the Great Potato Famine play major parts in understanding the story. It’s also the kind Kidman should have made dozens of.

In the 1992 Ron Howard epic, Kidman is spoiled little rich girl Shannon Christie (early ‘Titanic’ vibes), who opts to leave her wealthy Irish family (and handsome, if boring suitor; again, early ‘Titanic’ vibes) to travel to land rush era America to make her own way. She’s joined by a scrappy local farmer (Tom Cruise) who also wants his own life, land, and, hell — his own Shannon, too.

Howard drags his stars through all sorts of waypoints of pioneer life — the lush but cursed homeland, the dirty and mean big city, amber waves of grain vistas, the whole lot of it. Kidman finds a way to bring nuance to what is essentially a Grown-Up American Girl Doll role. Shannon finds herself through rough circumstances and hard luck, and Kidman’s early shine does a whole hell of a lot to sell this particular brand of American dream. —KE

22. ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ (1996)

PORTRAIT OF A LADY, Nicole Kidman, 1996. © Gramercy Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection

Nicole Kidman steps into the worlds of Henry James and Jane Campion for the New Zealand director’s surreal and fever-dreaming interpretation of the 1880 novel. Kidman makes Isabel Archer, an American society woman who comes into great fortune only to debase herself in a series of bad conquests, an idealist with heroine qualities rather than a victim of circumstance. Heretofore in 1996 not always an actress who radiated hungry sexuality, Kidman brings both vulnerability and a fierce intelligence to the Jamesian lead. (Why doesn’t she just dump John Malkovich’s flaneur Gilbert Osmond? Kidman keeps you guessing.)

‘The Portrait of a Lady’ is an early showcase for Kidman’s penchant for searching, feminist women defying tradition, even if the movie is little remembered in either the actress’ or Campion’s filmographies. —RL

21. ‘Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus’ (2006)

FUR: AN IMAGINARY PORTRAIT OF DIANE ARBUS, Nicole Kidman as Diane Arbus, Ty Burrell as Allan Arbus, 2006. ©Picturehouse/courtesy Everett Collection

Nicole Kidman took a few hairpin career turns in the mid-aughts, from the middling remake of ‘Bewitched’ to god-awful horror retread ‘The Invasion,’ plus career-topping performances in movies like ‘Margot at the Wedding’ and even ‘The Stepford Wives’ (another remake). After winning the Oscar for Best Actress for ‘The Hours’ and not bringing in quite as many awards as one would hope for Anthony Minghella’s ‘Cold Mountain,’ Kidman went for broke in indies.

Steven Shainberg’s ‘Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus’ is one such example, a bizarre and creepy surreal, well, imagining of the life of photographer Arbus. As Arbus was known as a chronicler of outsiders, the film finds Kidman digging deep into the midcentury icon’s craft, and befriending the social castaways of 1950s New York City. That includes a chronically hirsute neighbor played by Robert Downey Jr. The movie’s languid pacing and disturbing imagery were true to her subject, and Kidman was game to take another woman on the sidelines, looking beneath the surface of typical biography for something deeper and stranger. —RL

20. ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’ (2017)

THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER, Nicole Kidman, 2017. ©A24/courtesy Everett Collection

In a film as consumed with masculine delusion as ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer,’ it’s easy to see Kidman fall by the wayside as just the wife of Colin Farrell’s cursed cardiac surgeon, who is forced by the mysterious Martin (a terrifying Barry Keoghan) to choose one of his family members as a sacrifice. But Kidman is a shrewd performer, and she makes Anna a lot more interesting. She plays the part as warm and protective on the surface, but drops the polite veneer to reveal a deeply selfish streak as the film continues and the situation grows dire. It’s a chilly, remote performance, fitting for playing a woman willing to see one of her children die if it means she can live.

Opposite Farrell, she finds an absorbing anti-chemistry of sorts, displayed best in an excruciating sex scene that ranks among the most awkward in cinematic history. In the TV star stage of her career, Kidman has excelled at playing frazzled women in domestic distress; ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’ twists that familiar type into far more complicated, unsympathetic directions. — WC

19. ‘Practical Magic’ (1998)

Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock as two twisted sisters at their respective ‘90s primes? It’s not the stuff of magic, but rather just divine casting. Kidman plays somewhat against type as a drug-addled, bad boy lover who reluctantly returns to her hometown after accidentally killing her abusive boyfriend with the help of her sister (Bullock). Oh, and both of them are witches who dabble in black magic, poison, exorcisms, and love spells. Kidman and Bullock dancing to ‘put the lime in the coconut and shake it all up’ while getting blasted on margaritas just might be one of the most iconic film scenes ever, and leaves this not quite rom-com among Kidman’s best roles. It’s Kidman at her most fun, loose, and sexy — and with some of her best hair ever. No small feat given the pantheon of Kidman hair looks. — SB

18. ‘Top of the Lake: China Girl’ (2017)

There is a glaring absence at the center of Jane Campion’s ‘Top of the Lake: China Girl,’ and it only grows as each of the six episodes plays out. Call it connection, recognition, or identity, what’s missing for each of the main characters in ‘China Girl’ edges further away as the story twists and turns — like a knife pressed against a fraying cord. For Robin (Elisabeth Moss), Pyke (Ewen Leslie), and Julia (Nicole Kidman), they’re clinging to the love between a parent and a child. All that matters is the title of ‘mom’ or ‘dad,’ which — for the latter two adopted parents and Moss’ birth mother — is a rank as cherished as it is fragile.

Knowing the power it bestows, Mary (Alice Englert) refuses to refer to Julia as her mother. Pyke and Julia’s impending divorce puts added strain on their already rebellious, risk-inclined daughter, and her increasingly dangerous acts of defiance send Kidman’s character tumbling, untethered, into an emptier and emptier void. Watching Julia’s inability to parent her child is both frustrating and convincing because her opposition is equal parts vehement and empty. Julia talks a good game. As an academic, she can counter the absurd provocations made by Mary’s cartoonishly evil older boyfriend, but language and reason have no impact on him. She’s not engaged in a war of words, where she’s comfortable, but a nasty, lawless cage match for the soul of her daughter, and she doesn’t realize it until it’s much, much too late.

By the final episode of ‘China Girl,’ it physically hurts to watch Julia’s persistent passivity. To Julia, if Mary refuses to recognize her own mother — what she’s done for her, how much she cares for her —then Julia may as well not exist. (A key scene in the finale finds a way to literalize these ideas in a truly heartbreaking confrontation.) Kidman, though, very much does exist, and she leaves an indelible mark on the series despite her character’s shrinking stature, threading the needle between disappearing entirely and stealing the spotlight. As the cast’s resident movie star, she could easily ham it up to convey her character’s struggle more dramatically — screaming instead of speaking, gesticulating rather than persisting — but such showboating wouldn’t serve Julia’s journey. She is a mother adrift, not a woman waiting for her big moment. That Kidman can inhabit such a minimal space, embodying one more powerless parent in an ensemble filled with them, is a testament to her professionalism as much as her talent. She turns absence into abundance, once again earning any recognition that comes her way. — BT

17. ‘The Beguiled’ (2017)

THE BEGUILED, from left: Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, 2017. ph: Ben Rothstein/ © Focus Features /Courtesy Everett Collection

‘The Beguiled’ is a war story, but not necessarily about the American Civil War. It’s a war for the attention and attraction of a wounded Union soldier (Colin Farrell) who finds himself, wounded, at a mostly abandoned girls school in Virginia, and it puts Nicole Kidman in her general era. As the headmistress Miss Farnsworth, everything she does — from a look, a little French phrase, the way she adjusts her posture — is all about conveying power and control to the other women and girls; the fact that all this is legible to the audience underneath a veneer of politeness is a better testament to how well she understands this Southern matron than even the slight twang of her accent. She goes much, much further than politeness as the movie unfolds, of course, but Kidman’s performance is so complete from the jump that she makes Miss Farnsworth’s choices both surprising and inevitable. — SS

16. ‘Rabbit Hole’ (2010)

RABBIT HOLE, Nicole Kidman, 2010. ph: Jojo Whilden/©Lionsgate/Courtesy Everett Collection

John Cameron Mitchell’s adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play ‘Rabbit Hole’ lacks the wrenching immediacy of David Lindsay-Abaire’s original stage production, a character study of a grieving couple whose marriage frays following the death of their young son. Expanding the chamber drama to incorporate more characters and the world outside the couple’s house, the film saps the powder keg emotional intensity present on the page, resulting in a tearjerker that doesn’t quite ever provoke your tears.

When the film works, it works because of Kidman’s committed performance as Becca, the mother of the lost child struggling through her grief. Even in the pantheon of Kidman’s roles, Becca stands out as a particularly manic character, prone to acidic outbursts and frantic changes in emotional register. The film’s premise invites a certain level of melodrama, and it is to Kidman’s credit that it never goes too far in that direction. Even when Becca is at her most unlikable, you feel the despair she carries weighing down on her like an anchor. — WC

15. ‘Expats’ (2023)

EXPATS, Nicole Kidman, Mainland', (Season 1, ep. 104, aired Feb. 9, 2024). photo: Glen Wilson / ©Amazon / Courtesy Everett Collection

When a project lands a star of Kidman’s stature, it’s typically a good idea to take advantage, and that’s exactly what Lulu Wang does in her extraordinary original series, ‘Expats.’ From the jump, Kidman serves as a turning point for a story of grief, identity, and indecision. Using her well-deserved star turn to lay out her character’s essential framework, Kidman plays an American mother living abroad in Hong Kong who loses a child. Struggling to move forward without knowing if she should — is her son dead or alive? lost or abducted? — Margaret is a woman torn in two. Should she keep searching or mourn and move on? Should she forgive those involved or hold them, and everyone else, accountable? Should she down on her instincts or give in to the advice of her loved ones? Ultimately, these questions boil down to one: Should she stay or go?

Kidman gets a number of scenes filled with big, overwhelming emotions. Her ability to channel pain through fury is staggering, as is her emotional clarity in moments where conflict stirs varied reactions. (Her waiting room quarrel with Margaret’s husband Clarke, played by Brian Tee, is incredible.) But ‘Expats’ really takes off in quieter, everyday interactions. It’s the way she leaves an apartment, buys groceries, and goes about her life that gets under your skin; that makes you feel empathy not just for Margaret’s situation, but for Margaret herself (who isn’t always the most likeable person). Kidman understands this at an innate level, and her measured, acute depiction of an impossible-to-imagine situation grounds her character and makes the show around her all the more affecting. Kidman has movie star magnitude and charisma, to be sure, but seeing those qualities stripped away creates a thrilling new performance here. — BT

14. ‘Dead Calm’ (1989)

DEAD CALM, Nicole Kidman, 1989, ©Warner Bros./courtesy Everett

Kidman was 19 when the camera started rolling on Phillip Noyce’s high seas thriller about a couple dealing with grief over the death of their child by embarking on a long Pacific Ocean voyage alone on their yacht. Even then she was playing a member of the ultra rich! Her Rae is someone whose tragedy has made her numb to life, and she certainly doesn’t need another trauma — but the sheer terror of this voyage arguably jolts her back into feeling alive again. Her husband (Sam Neill) rescues the lone survivor, played by Billy Zane, of a derelict pleasure craft drifting on the ocean.

Zane’s character is psychotic, of course, and he quickly tries to get rid of the husband so he can be all alone with Rae. ‘What about those people?’ Rae asks the castaway about his crewmates’ fate. ‘Thayre wasn’t any food poisoning, was thayre?!’ Oh no, they definitely did not die because of spoiled provisions, Rae. Even with her then shrimp-on-the-barbie Aussie accent and playing a part that’s meant to assay merely various degrees of ‘being menaced,’ Kidman more than holds her own with a Zane playing derangement dialed up to 11. George Miller was a producer on ‘Dead Calm’ and it’s easy to see some proto-Furiosa in the way that Rae fights back. —CB

13. ‘Stoker’ (2013)

‘I can’t wait to watch life tear you apart,’ widowed mother Evelyn (Kidman) tells daughter India (Mia Wasikowska). That’s not in the cards, but you understand why India might be a little more willing to run wild with her newly discovered uncle (Matthew Goode) in the wake of her father’s death. Kidman is a mega-watt star, but she proves adept at waltzing away with an entire movie with a supporting role here, delivering an icy mother-from-hell for the ages, combining viciousness with off-kilter flirtation that adds a note of bleak comedy to director Park-chan Wook’s English-language debut. Inspired by ‘Shadow of a Doubt,’ ‘Stoker’ front-loads even more psychosexual intrigue to its story. —MP

12. ‘The Hours’ (2002)

THE HOURS, Nicole Kidman, 2002, (c) Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection

Anyone with a working knowledge of what types of roles win people Academy Awards would not be shocked that Kidman’s sole Oscar win for Best Actress comes from playing a historical figure. But that line of thinking discounts the work she put into making her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry’s domestic drama about three generations of women’s relationship to the novel ‘Mrs. Dalloway’ so singular.

Here was the final proving ground that the Australian actress was a utility to any director trying to execute a vision that may seem like too big of a swing on paper. Her immersion into Woolf’s world, demonstrating a creative force that pushed through tragic circumstances, is worthy of more consideration than ‘by a nose.’ — MJ

11. ‘Big Little Lies’ (2017)

A new subgenre of rich, complicated, occasionally boozing ladies with a mysterious past made its way to prestige TV with ‘Big Little Lies,’ based on the Liane Moriarty bestseller about a group of moms and the secrets they keep. Kidman is excellent as the buttoned up Celeste Wright who begins to spiral (another Kidman specialty) as she contemplate leaving her abusive husband (Alexander Skarsgard).

As written by David E. Kelley and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée in the superior first season, the TV role allowed Kidman the freedom to explore a character beyond the scope of a two-hour movie. It’s a well she’s now returned to several times over the years, but none surpass this purposefully chilly creation, for which she won an Emmy in 2017. — ES

10. ‘Malice’ (1993)

MALICE, Nicole Kidman, 1993, (c) Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection

The less you know about Harold Becker’s wonderfully fucked-up 1993 neo-noir ‘Malice,’ the better. Still, it’s fair to note that what makes Kidman — starring here alongside Alec Baldwin and Bill Pullman in an early Aaron Sorkin script chock-a-block with Sorkin-isms — so good is what always makes her good. To wit, that’s her ability to embody seemingly disparate emotions and motivations in one wicked performance.

While other early examples — like ‘Far and Away’ and ‘Days of Thunder’ — rely on audiences liking Kidman’s characters and feeling warm to them, in Becker’s film, Kidman puts that idea on its head. Yes, we like Kidman’s charming newlywed Tracy, and damn, do we feel for her when she endures a medical emergency that seems to threaten her idyllic life with sweet husband Andy (Pullman). But… that’s not all there is to it, and the joy and pleasure of the film and Kidman’s work within it is watching all of that collapse in truly unexpected ways. — KE

9. ‘Margot at the Wedding’ (2007)

MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, 2007. ©Paramount Classics/courtesy Everett Collection

Noah Baumbach’s 2007 dramedy is one of his most caustic, and Kidman is at her most fearless in the title role — her character, a neurotic, prickly, judgmental fiction author, seems intentionally calculated to offend. Kidman’s genius lies in her ability to avoid sanding off any of the character’s rough edges while still letting the humanity push through to the surface; as Kidman herself noted at the time of the film’s release, ‘…the spikiness and the guardedness and the anger is actually a manifestation of her need to protect herself. She’s not in a safe place, really, because her sister doesn’t know how to take care of her, and she doesn’t know how to take care of her sister… They feel like they should be very, very close, but they actually do not bring out the best in each other.’ All of this and more comes across in Kidman’s extraordinarily subtle performance, one of her most nastily amusing and profoundly moving. — JH

8. ‘Days of Thunder’ (1990)

DAYS OF THUNDER, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, 1990

Kidman’s international breakout remains a high point of her early career, a high-octane banger that combines visceral thrills and only-in-the-movies touches (who in their right mind wears a white blazer to a NASCAR race?) and remains an incredible ode to her sex appeal. To put it mildly, Tony Scott’s ‘Days of Thunder’ rules (and is also the only film to bear the wonderous twinned screenwriting credits of ‘Robert Towne and Tom Cruise’), but much of that is due to Kidman’s uncanny ability to fuse steely reserve with wild abandon.

Kidman plays Dr. Claire Lewicki, a neurosurgeon who finds herself entangled with the rowdy high-jinks of both newbie driver Cole Trickle (Cruise) and his literally nutso rival Rowdy (Michael Rooker). In her role, Kidman is tasked with channeling both big ‘you’re all a bunch of boys!’ energy (‘and yerrrr scarrrrred!’) and a deep desire for Cole and his let’s-go-fast nature. The result? An internal battle that’s hot and wild and absolutely electric to watch. —KE

7. ‘To Die For’ (1995)

After years of turning in fine work in thrillers (‘Dead Calm,’ ‘Malice’) dramas (‘Billy Bathgate’) and epic action films (‘Days of Thunder,’ ‘Far and Away’), Nicole Kidman proved she could also be hilarious in this wickedly funny media satire about a small town reporter whose ruthless ambition leads to murder. Using a Joyce Maynard novel (which was itself based on a true event) as source material, screenwriter Buck Henry and director Gus Van Sant gave Kidman her most layered and original character to date here, and like the character she plays she took the opportunity and ran with it.

Her performance is pitch-perfect: heightened but believable, superficially sweet and amiable with a constant undercurrent of savagery, and filled with impulses both self-aware and self-destructive. Much of her story is told via her own narration in a series of close-ups directed toward the camera, and in these moments Kidman and her character have nowhere to hide — we see every thought, feeling, and decision coming across with cruel and gleeful precision. —JH

6. ‘The Paperboy’ (2012)

THE PAPERBOY, Nicole Kidman, 2012. ph: Anne Marie Fox/©Millennium Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection

For some, Lee Daniels’ sweaty late-‘60s grindhouse absurdity ‘The Paperboy’ is only so bad it’s good. But Daniels’ brazenly serious commitment to such silly pulp material — including Matthew McConaughey as a swaggering reporter back in his hometown to cover a death-row inmate (John Cusack) — warrants serious attention. At the time this film rolled around at Cannes 2012, Nicole Kidman was delightfully the most fun she had been in years as vamping vixen Charlotte Bless, determined to clear her husband’s (Cusack) name.

She pees on Zac Efron! She humps a chair during a prison meeting while eye-fucking Cusack! She’s out of control, sex oozing out of her, her blonde hair and plumped limps all but siren-calling the camera. Kidman is wrongly not acclaimed enough as a comic actress, and in ‘The Paperboy,’ she lets loose in a way she hadn’t before or hasn’t since. —RL

5. ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ (1999)

Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ is the anatomy of the marriage of Dr. Bill (Tom Cruise) and Alice Hartford (Nicole Kidman) and, in hindsight, also the anatomy of the marriage between Cruise and Kidman. They spent over 15 months shooting the sleepwalking psychosexual drama, which follows Dr. Bill’s plunge into a kinky conspiratorial underworld. Who sends him into the precipice? Kidman as Alice who, in a scorching pot-fueled monologue (‘it’s not the pot, it’s you!’), reveals all the loose ends in their marriage and exposes Bill’s worst insecurities.

While Kidman gets less screen time than Cruise, her performance is unforgettably eerie and almost somnambulent — like the way she drunkily flirts with an art dealer before turning him down. Why? He asks. ‘Becaaaaause,’ she says with a champagne drawl. ‘I’m maaaaaarried .’ — RL

4. ‘The Others’ (2001)

Kidman isn’t exactly an actor people label as a Scream Queen, but some of her richest and most arresting performances toe the line into the realm of psychological horror. Take the 2001 ghost story ‘The Others,’ a gorgeously crafted ghost story that casts her as the gothic heroine. A 1945 housewife awaiting her husband’s return from the war, Kidman’s Grace is a rigid Catholic woman whose faith and composure are tested when she and her children are subject to strange supernatural phenomena around their British island country home.

Alejandro Amenábar’s film is notable for its dripping atmosphere and gorgeous style, and Kidman complements that with a great sense of presence, between her statuesque body language and icy blue eyes. But as the supernatural incidents pile up and Grace’s composure is unsettled, Kidman ably frays and dissolves onscreen, her eyes turning buggy and her stature growing shaky. It’s an underrated challenge to depict pure horror on screen, but Kidman makes it look easy. —WC

3. ‘Dogville’ (2003)

Lars von Trier centers his Brechtian-inspired ‘Dogville’ around a blockbuster movie star, whose under-a-bell-jar image he set upon to deconstruct: Nicole Kidman. Freshly off her Best Actress Oscar win for ‘The Hours’ and also out of her messily public but oddly inscrutable divorce from Tom Cruise, Kidman flew to rural Trollhättan in Sweden to get on a soundstage with von Trier and his cast.

Grace Mulligan (Kidman) is on the run from her gangster father (James Caan) in a hardscrabble town whose residents’ largesse eventually turns to disgust and disdain, and they degrade and debase her to a breaking point. Ar least, until she decides to take it no longer.

This is one of Kidman’s boldest and most unvarnished performances, a complete 180 from her prior star turns, and an indication that Kidman would never let herself get too comfortable in her choice of roles. — RL

2. ‘Birth’ (2004)

BIRTH, Nicole Kidman, 2004, (c) New Line/courtesy Everett Collection

Jonathan Glazer’s drama starring Nicole Kidman as a woman confronted by her past perplexed audiences and critics when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2004. But there’s no denying it’s one of Kidman’s crowning achievements and certainly most out-there turns.

Anna (Kidman) is understandably quite jolted when a 10-year-old boy shows up at her Manhattan doorstep claiming to be the reincarnation of her dead husband. She’s meanwhile readying to marry someone else, the vanilla Joseph (Danny Huston), and this chain of events sends her into confusion and questioning. A masterful long take of Kidman settling into her seat at the opera after the news of her dead husband’s possible return comes crashing and swelling down around her is a testament to her ability to telegraph emotions merely from the quickening of her heartbeat and the slow cascade of panic on her face. — RL

1. ‘Moulin Rouge! (2001)

MOULIN ROUGE!, Nicole Kidman, Richard Roxburgh, 2001, TM & Copyright (c) 20th Century Fox Film Corp./courtesy Everett Collection

‘Oh poetry, yes. Yes. Yes! This is what I want: Naughty words!’ Kidman achieves a true career peak in Baz Luhrmann’s movie-length tribute to the ways in which performance plays into all aspects of life, from the bedroom to the ballroom and beyond.

As ‘the sparking diamond’ Satine, a courtesan in fin-de-siècle Paris, Kidman picks up the baton from Marilyn Monroe and delivers a rendition of ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ with top hat and riding crop that kicks off the adrenalized star part to follow over the next two hours. Despite endless remixes of late 20th-century pop hits, as much CGI as you’d find in a ‘Star Wars’ prequel, Kylie Minogue as a green fairy, and Placido Domingo as the singing moon, Kidman commands the screen, bending it all to her will — and still conveying fragility underneath. You can see her turn uncertainty into determination with a straightening of her spine and a lift of her chin after she’s just proclaimed Freddie Mercury’s ‘I’ll top the bill, I’ll earn the kill, I’ll have to find the will to carry on with the, on with the, on with THE SHOW!’ and walks past the camera to go and break poor Ewan McGregor’s heart.

This is a tribute to the interplay of artifice and authenticity in fueling sexuality as potent as any of Marlene Dietrich’s portraits of women leading men to their doom with Josef von Sternberg — and Luhrmann finds ever more screens and shadows and lighting effects to make Kidman into a Eurydice-like mirage. No popular spectacle this century has been driven by a performance as singular as hers here. —CB

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Kidman chooses not to speak publicly about her adult children's decision to be Scientologists, respecting their beliefs.

Nicole Kidman’s relationship with the two adult children she shares with Tom Cruise continues to be a source of public curiosity, especially since the actress has hinted that their relationship is tumultuous, even leaving them out of an acceptance speech a few years ago, despite mentioned the daughters she shares with her current husband, country singer Keith Urban.

However, Nicole’s oldest daughter, Isabella Cruise, recently made a rare move on social media acknowledging Nicole’s huge career milestone , shedding light on their relationship.

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Nicole’s daughter had a subtle sign of support for her accomplishment.

Kidman is set to receive the prestigious American Film Institute Life Achievement Award on Saturday, April 27, commemorating her remarkable four-decade journey in show business. Reflecting on her career, the 56-year-old actress recently took to social media to share a nostalgic moment, posting a clip from her debut film.

Nicole made her cinematic debut as a teenager in the 1983 remake of the Australian classic Bush Christmas, filmed when she was around 14 years old. She shared a clip from the moving, showing Nicole’s signature curls styled in pigtails as she smiled for the camera.

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While Bush Christmas may not have been a blockbuster, it served as a stepping stone for Kidman, ultimately leading to her breakthrough performance in the 1987 miniseries Vietnam . She acknowledged what an important moment the film was for her career.

"This 14 year old girl could have never predicted all the talented people she would get to work with and the many different characters she would get to play!" Nicole wrote in the caption.

"So excited to celebrate with so many friends and peers on Saturday with the @AmericanFilmInstitute xx," she added.

While the post received many likes and comments filled with congratulations, fans noticed that Bella, 31, was one of the first people to show support by liking the post. While Bella didn’t leave a comment, the single like provides rare insight into their dynamic, especially amid allegations they’ve been estranged. It shows that Isabella is supportive of her mom, even if she remains silent about their relationship, which isn’t uncharacteristic, given she lives her life largely out of the spotlight.

Nicole Has Revealed Why She Won’t Talk About Her Oldest Kids

Bella, as well as her brother Connor Cruise, are both active Scientologists and chose to live with Cruise after their divorce. In 2022, Bella gave a rare updated in a promotional video for the church, revealing she’s been named an auditor .

“I've chosen not to speak publicly about Scientology. I have two children who are Scientologists—Connor and Isabella—and I utterly respect their beliefs,” Nicole has said of her children’s involvement in the controversial religion, declining to provide further comment. It’s been speculated Cruise’s involvement in Scientology motivated his divorce from Kidman as well as his later marriage to Katie Holmes.

"I'm very private about all that. I have to protect all those relationships. I know 150 per cent that I would give up my life for my children because it's what my purpose is," Nicole later told Australia’s WHO magazine in 2018. "They are adults. They are able to make their own decisions. They have made choices to be Scientologists and as a mother, it's my job to love them."

Nicole Kidman And Tom Cruise’s Daughter Isabella Makes Rare Mention About Mom

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Nicole Kidman on Kids with Tom Cruise: 'They Are Generous, Kind and Hardworking'

The movie star talks about son Connor, 19, and Isabella, 21 – along with her daughters with Keith Urban

Michele Corriston is the Director of Platforms Strategy of PEOPLE. She has worked at PEOPLE since 2014.

She’s an Oscar-winning actress, but Nicole Kidman ‘s most cherished role is being a mom.

The star, 46, opens up in the June issue of Australia’s The Weekly magazine, discussing her oldest kids with ex-husband Tom Cruise : Isabella , 21, and Connor , 19.

“They are generous, kind and hardworking,” says Kidman, whose latest film Grace of Monaco premiered at Cannes. “And these are traits that I love to see in my children.”

Kidman also admits she’d leave the limelight to focus on her husband, country crooner Keith Urban , and their daughters, Sunday Rose, almost 5, and Faith Margaret, 2½.

“If it were the choice between my family and Keith, and my career, I wouldn’t even bat an eyelid,” Kidman says. “The most important things to me are the love of our relationship and my children.”

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Un abito dorato (di Balenciaga) in onore della statuetta più ambita per ogni attore (e che lei ha alzato al cielo nel 2003 per l'acclamato film The Hours ), che abbracciava alla perfezione la sua figura permettendole di brillare e non passare di certo inosservata. Nicole Kidman, una visione a 56 ann i, per la serata, è stata coccolata da amici e addetti ai lavori da main lead. Tanti i colleghi accorsi al Dolby Thatre per celebrare il premio alla carriera giunto alla 49esima edizione e quest'anno attribuito alla star di Eyes Wide Shut . Da Reese Whiterspoon, sua co-star in Big Little Lies , ma anche Michelle Pfeiffer, Morgan Freeman, Joey King, Naomi Watts e Meryl Streep che le ha consegnato il premio a forma di stella.

49th afi lifetime achievement award gala tribute celebrating nicole kidman arrivals

Ospite d’onore alla serata, la famiglia Kidman al completo. In prima fila sul red carpet, la sorella Antonia, la nipote Sybella Hawley e poi il marito Keith Urban , impeccabile in smoking e le loro figlie al loro primo tappeto rosso . Bellissime ed eleganti nella loro semplicità, Sunday Rose, 15 anni e Faith Margaret, 13 , hanno lasciato tutti a bocca aperta. Occhi azzurro cielo, pelle di porcellana, silhouette da etoile, entrambe sono la copia carbone di mamma Nic. Per l'occasione Sunday ha scelto un abito rosso senza spalline mentre la sorella più giovane ha optato per un vestito color corallo: sorridenti e orgogliose di mamma, le sorelle Urban sono state le protagoniste di un ritratto #familyfirst da incorniciare.

Assenti invece, i figli maggiori di Kidman, Isabella, 31 anni e Connor, 29 , adottati durante il suo matrimonio con Tom Cruise durato dal 1990 al 2001 con cui non avrebbe più rapporti da tempo a causa di Scientology ma che per sua stessa ammissione amerà "sempre e comunque".

afi life achievement award honoring nicole kidman red carpet

Durante il discorso di ringraziamento, Nicole ha reso omaggio ai suoi figli, parte integrante della sua "grandissima fortuna nella vita" ricordando come l'amore sia il motore della sua esistenza. Uno speech emozionate che Sunday e Faith hanno potuto ascoltare in diretta (non trattenendo la commozione).

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The star, 46, opens up in the June issue of Australia's The Weekly magazine, discussing her oldest kids with ex-husband Tom Cruise: Isabella, 21, and Connor, 19. "They are generous, kind and ...
Nicole Kidman, who 'makes movies better,' gets AFI Life Achievement Award
Actor Mike Myers wears a cloak and mask in reference to the 1999 film "Eyes Wide Shut" during the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Nicole Kidman, Saturday, April 27, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman's debut in USA. She was 22. Film: Days of Thunder (1990)Music: The Midnight - Days of Thunder-----...
Le figlie di Nicole Kidman e Keith Urban per la prima volta sul red
Assenti invece, i figli maggiori di Kidman, Isabella, 31 anni e Connor, 29, adottati durante il suo matrimonio con Tom Cruise durato dal 1990 al 2001 con cui non avrebbe più rapporti da tempo a ...