5 Kidmanic Confessions
Wednesday, April 18, 2012 at 7:18PM Confession #1: Whenever I see images or promotions from Hemingway & Gelhorn (2012) or think of Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen together, my mind immediately fools me into believing that they already co-starred in Closer (2004).
Yes, yes, yes that was Julia Roberts but I'm just telling you that my Nicole-addled brain attempts to force the recasting every time.
It tastes like yours only sweeter."
How hot would that have been?
More photos /confessions after the jump...
Confession #2: The first time I saw Nicole Kidman at the movie theater was in Days of Thunder (1990) wherein she played a brain surgeon who shoved her brain patient Tom Cruise against the wall (head first) in order to sex him up. I laughed like a banshee. What a terrible brain surgeon! (When did you first see her?)
Confession #3: I hated Nicole Kidman until 1995. I blame Tom Cruise. I am a better person now.
Confession #4: That opening shot of Nicole in Eyes Wide Shut drives me absolutely wild. Actressexual foreplay. It's my favorite scene in the movie but that's easy because I don't like the rest of the movie.
Confession #5: I keep typing Wrestling Ernest Hemingway when I mean Hemingway & Gelhorn... TWO VERY DIFFERENT THINGS, Nathaniel. Like Julia & Nicki. Don't throw Sandra B into the mix too, good god.
(I blame the constant nineties nostalgia)
Reader Comments (49)
My favourite Kidman moment occurs right at the end of Eyes Wide Shut - the disassociated 'hey' she offers the young daughter trying to gain her attention. Hilarious and a little bit creepy.
Nathaniel I love you! Please finish the Best Actress page! Thank you! Much appreciated!
Days of Thunder is when I became aware of Kidman's existence. I hated her too—but, only, because I had a thing for Tom Cruise.
I have seen three Kidman movies theatrically and they all sucked for me. Although, Dogville provided the best theater going experience of the three. The other two films are Batman Forever and Cold Mountain.
I will never accept the inexcusable excuses others carry around to hate her.
First time I saw her was in "BMX Bandits" (!).
I also kind of hated her after "Thunder". Despite loving her in "To Die For", I must say I ignored her again until 2001. Not a "Eyes Wide Shut" fan either.
PS I remember "Wrestling Ernest Hemingway" being kind of cute. Am I crazy?
Somehow, I didn't come across Nicole Kidman until Moulin Rouge!, but I'm not complaining. Who could ask for a better intro?
I saw Eyes Wide Shut years after my first viewing and loved it so much more. It aged well, I think.
Anyway, Kidman--well, I'm a sucker for Practical Magic.
Julia is superb in Closer. I love Nicole but I wouldn't change anything about Closer. I love that movie and Clive&Julia pairing was perfect (also in Duplicity).
That said, I can´t wait to see Hemingway & Gelhorn.
She looks gorgeous, seems genuinely happy, and has an Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG award with her name on it. Go, Nicole!
Mike M - Not if Julianne Moore has anything to say about it.
Yeah, i think i knew of Kidman. She was Tom Cruise's wife and she was in Batman Forever and Practical Magic. But when i became a fan? Most definetely, Moulin Rouge. Like Joe K said, who could ask for a better intro? She made her ENTRANCE in that movie.
Sidenote: Those days of her being known as Mrs. Tom Cruise seem so far and away (ha!). I can barely imagine them together anymore. He tossed her aside, she got her Oscar and A-List status. Good for her. Maybe the same will happen with Katie Holmes.
Yeaaaaaaah, probably not.
Noooo, please no Kidman in Closer! Julia Roberts was fantastic in that role, and that sentence -- "like you but sweeter" -- and the whole scene were so perfect, so vulnerable, her eyes full of shame, intimidation and guilt, better than Kidman could have ever been.
NICOLE: going in the water as VIRGINIA WOLF (even if she stole Julianne's Oscar)
Catherine Zeta Jones stole Julianne Moore's Oscar.
I still can't believe how underrated Birth is. Nicole is absolutely fantastic in it. The scene where she's at the opera still sends chills down my spine. I feel she should've been in contention that year for that performance.
The other four performances that form my top 5 of her are: Rabbit Hole, The Others, The Hours & Moulin Rouge.
Look forward to this. She looks amazing!
I was cool on Kidman until The Others. Then she made sense to me and I could appreciate her work. Owen I liked right away from first seeing him in Gosford Park and Croupier.
They just look like such a perfect pairing. Aren't some of the other photos for this article inspired by other movies? There's one of them in a hotel hallway that looks like the scene from the Cary Grant/ Grace Kelly movie, To Catch a Thief. They would be good in so many things together. So I'm hoping for a good script and reception for this one.
Isabelle Huppert was better than Moore and Kidman in 2002, so it's a moot point.
And Mike, it's written into the rules of every awards body that presents on television that Julianne Moore cannot, under any circumstances, win. Such honors are reserved for the likes of Renée Zellweger, Jennifer Hudson, Mira Sorvino, Valerie Bertinelli, and Camryn Manheim.
cinephile, lets not pretend that Kidman isn't twice the actress that Roberts is. C'mon. She is pretty flawless in Closer though, so I'd probably feel bad if Kidman were in it instead because it wouldn't have given Roberts the chance to actually show that she has the ability to be subtle and precise in her acting for once. She's rarely given that opportunity. Her line delivery of "I'm disgusting" still gives me goosebumps.
The pictures of Kidman and Owen above are aweeeeeesome btw. The one with her looking in the mirror? Fierce.
Mike M: curse those words! curse them! ;)
Lost my Kidginity in Peacemaker. I knew her name but never was aware of her face, confusing between Nicole and Meg.
Then it came Eyes wide shut and Moulin Rouge/ The Others
Mike M & Jones -- pity that those words are true. What can ever break the curse?
calvin -- agreed. i didn't mean to disparage Julia's "Closer" because I think it's her second best performance all told. Really interesting and she seemed to really be trying and not at all coasting on charisma as she is prone to do.
3rtful -- er no. Kim Basinger and Nicole Kidman are the only women who actually stole Julianne Moore Oscars ;)
First Kidman Experience: Dead Calm at a sleepover party in 7th grade - ten or so 13 year old girls, jumpy & screaming every time Billy Zane kept. coming. back. I loved her hair, and her accent. Too bad she doesn't really have either of them anymore?
I kind of go hot and cold with Nicole. Sometimes it's nothing but affect, others it's total transcendence. Stunning face...wish she'd stop touching it.
LOVE HER!!! That is all.
Nat...now I'm curious. What do you think is Julia's best performance then?
As for Nicole, I don't even know...I'm only 19. Maybe Moulin Rouge? The Others? I don't know, but my lord, she is a fantastic actress. One of my favorites for sure. And she's one of those that I have actually seen a lot of her work (sometimes I can't chime in on these things because I haven't seen enough) because she's recent/still working and does such good projects that I'm almost always interested.
Moulin Rouge is probably my favorite performance simply because that's my favorite movie ever. But she's AMAZING in Rabbit Hole and The Hours, as well as The Others.
I'm Aussie, so we've known of Nicole Kidman for a long time. I probably first saw her in BMX Bandits, but fell in love with her as an actress in the TV miniseries "Bangkok Hilton" (around 1987/1988). She was incredible in that. Have followed her ever since. Her performance as Virginia Woolf is my fave; I thought she was wrongly cast in "Moulin Rouge". Great in "Dogville". Incredible in "Birth". Very cool in the disappointing "Eyes Wide Shut". I now want to see her get all tough and muscly in some sort of action film!
1 - Dogville
2 - Birth
3 - Rabbit Hole
4 - Moulin Rouge
5 - The Others
6 - To Die For
7 - Eyes Wide Shut
8 - Portrait of a Lady
9 - Australia
10 - The Hours
Far and Away was when I first fell in love with Nicole, I also had a poster of her from Batman Forever over my bed. My parents should have known I was gay then lol.
"It tastes like yours only sweeter"
I just had eggs, Nathaniel. And you know how the white looks before it becomes white!! Ew.
And, Patrick - Yes! I was trying to remember the first time I payed attention to Nicole and you reminded me that it was in Batman Forever! The way she was trying to seduce Batman..hot.
Now, my confession: After watching the most recent Modern Family episode, whenever I hear Sandy I will assume it's Sandra B.
Nicole is so beautiful...
http://www.hotmodelsactress.com/actress/actresses_hot8.html
My best friend in high school was in love with Tom Cruise and dragged me to all those mediocre movies he did in his prime, so I saw Days of Thunder, Far and Away ... was there another one they did together? But I didn't notice Nicole Kidman as a great actress until To Die For, that was a masterpiece. And then she wore that chartreuse Galliano to the Oscars a year or two later! That was one of the best Oscar gowns of modern times.
Suzanne -- That one was marvelous!
@Nathaniel - totally agree: Basinger stole Moore's Oscar. One of the biggest Oscar flubs, I think.
I probably first saw Nicole in Far and Away, but it was To Die For that really made me a fan. Actually, I haven't been much of a fun since then. Like others have said, she runs kind of hot and cold with me. Liked her in Eyes Wide Shut, but as much as I think I liked her in Moulin Rouge! and The Hours, they're not especially memorable performances to me.
FWIW, I'm also glad it was Roberts in Closer instead of Kidman. I thought Roberts did a great job and was such an interesting choice for that role.
@chatan - Re: The Peacemaker, I also at first thought it was Meg Ryan, not Nicole Kidman, in that one. (Must've been the residual memories of a brunette Meg in Courage Under Fire.)
Kidman was good in Dead Calm, great in To Die For ("no one ever does"), extraordinary in Moulin Rouge and The Others, and otherwordly in Birth. Hope she gets back to her (curly, strawberry-blond) roots soon.
P.S. W has the best photospreads. (I'd kill for an entire collage as a bedspread.)
Moore was never an actress who would win for their right role. If she does receive a firth nomination in supporting she may have a fighting chance after this awards season for her mimicry of Palin—everyone hates Palin and will fall in love with Julianne for it.
I had seen Nicole in Batman Forever, The Peacemaker and Practical Magic before actually falling in love with her. Moulin Rouge! made me a die-hard fan and it was after that movie that I realized I had seen her before. I wasn't even aware of her relationship with Tom Cruise until their divorce.
@JESSE - Agreed (unfortunately)
My first experience of Kidman was watching Dead Calm on VHS with my mom. (Actually the two of us watching the commercial and saying "I don't know who she is but she looks like Sigourney Weaver", then watching the movie and realizing how wrong we were on that.)
Then the opening shots of the film left me breathless and I was hooked the rest of the time - I never even thought about how young she was and how young her character would have been in reality when she married Sam Neill.
Then Days of Thunder - loved her but hated it. THen Far and Away - argh - and I never thought of her as any thing but "Mr Tom Cruise" until Moulin Rouge & The Others. (even though I'd also seen Batman Returns in the theater, I missed To Die For. Big mistake.)
Lately I've cooled slightly - or rather I've cooled slightly on her personality. She was terrific in Birth and Dogville, underrated in Margot at the Wedding. and, to me personally, overrated in Rabbit Hole. (I know she got your gold medal that year Nat.) But I'm really looking forward to her in The Paperboy.
Speaking of which - does the character she's playing in the photospread look like a very uptown version of her character in The Paperboy, or is it just me?
The inside pics of the W magazine are pretty fabulous but it's too bad the cover is so Photoshop-heavy. I met her on the set of Hemingway & Gellhorn and she didn't need any photoshopping at all, she was stunning.
@Erik
You met her?? That's awesome! Did you get to talk to her or anything?
I always thought Nicole was pretty but initially that was it. A bunch of older kids got to go off campus from my summer music camp and go see a movie. It was Far and Away. I wasn't too bummed that I didn't get to go because I was never a fan of Cruise. I was 14 at the time. When she got divorced and Moulin Rouge came out I actively started liking her for things other than her beauty. I got more into movies and I don't really remember but I think it was Birth that really sealed my devotion after picking it to rent from my library. After that I wanted to watch everything I hadn't seen of hers and rewatch a few films that I liked but didn't pay close attention to.
I am the type of fan that if I find someone I fall in love with on screen I have to immediately watch all their movies as soon as possible. Here's some Clive confessions as well. It slowly started with Derailed, and I kind of forgot about him until The International. Loved him in that so much that I can forgive Duplicity and Closer (intolerable except for Clive). And then I've seen practically everything else. Forget the Bond comparisons the man can act. Croupier, Greenfingers, Inside Man, The Boys Are Back. Just love him. Thrilled to pieces when the announcement came that he'd be doing the HBO movie with Nicole.
JANICE --
WHOA. you are right. good callThe first time she called my attention was in Eyes Wide Shut - that monologue was just incredible! I didn't like the movie that much but her presence on screen was impressive. Then, Moulin Rouge and The Others sealed my love for her. Dogville and Birth were the necessary movies to really consider her one the best actresses of our generation. Of course...The Invasion and Trespass are awful movies but...Rabbit Hole, Margot at the wedding and To Die For are there to more than justify some poor choices!
@Casey
I worked with her on Hemingway and Gellhorn and we talked briefly between takes. She was super nice and really gorgeous, That day, at least.
Funnily enough, I have it in my head that Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman worked together in "The International," but that was Naomi Watts!
Actress confusion...
I first saw her in Practical Magic. I didn't really like her until The Others. I'm definitely not her biggest fan.
I first saw her in Batman Forever and I hate her too because I thought she stole Tom from Mimi Rogers and I like Mimi..lol. But I am definitely a fan right now; her filmography is outstanding although I wish she has better taste in picking the mainstream project; she has like the bst taste in artsy project but the worst in mainstream project. How could that be? I am so confused.
Actually, I was a young fan-boy (13 years old) looking forward to The Golden Compass and through the year of anticipation I watched almost all of the movies with her. And she led me to TheFilmExperience, as I looked for fellow Kidman-followers. I was disappointing in the film, but spellbound by the actress.
Oh Nicole. The perfect woman. Only she could make Clive Owen look like an afterthought.
Love Nicole Kidman, but Julia Roberts was an inspired choice for Closer, n she delivered a brief, but haunting performance. It was her character that had me thinking about for days after I saw the movie even if it was Natalie Portman who opened n closed the film. Julia n Clive- best in show in that film. If only Julia challenges herself more- I think she would've nailed Young Adult. It would be a totally different take on the role, but I think the audience would have had more empathy for the character with Julia in it. Though I have no complaints about Charlize Theron in it- she was magnificent in it n I thought she was stronger than all of the nominated performances with the exception of Viola Davis and Michelle Williams.
I love Nicole in 'Eyes wide shut', 'Dogville', and 'Birth'. Also in 'Portrait of a lady' or 'Days of thunder'. However, I hate her in 'Cold Mountain' and specially in 'The Hours'. She has sometimes a point of artificiality that doesn't convince me. And I don't see her in 'Closer'. I'm sure she would had ruined what I think it's a cult movie. And Julia is so natural and so painfully true in that scene with Clive Owen... I really wonder why doesn't she plays more roles like that. In this sense, I admit that Nicole is better (or at least she was) in her choices.