Nicole & Lee, Reunite for Interview Magazine
Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at 10:10AM 
You've heard the news by now that Nicole Kidman will make an appearance on TV's mega-smash "Empire" at some point to be determined. Apparently her guest gig was meant to have happened already but her London run in Photograph 51 prevented it (hmmm. which role was it originally we wonder - have you been watching Season 2?)
Interview magazine, smart devils that they are, hooked her back up with Lee Daniels for their latest issue (with photos by Fabien Baron) and it's clear that the two were tight as bandits on the set of The Paperboy (2012) and feel each other as kindred spirits.
LEE DANIELS: Nic! Hi, honey. I just spoke to Chris yesterday. He told me that you were having the time of your life in London.
NICOLE KIDMAN: I am. I'm having a really good time here.
DANIELS: I was disappointed to hear that because, of course, I want you on my set. [both laugh]
The interview is full of "naughty" memories like why Nicole was dancing in the rain with Zac Efron in his undies in that infamous film, and her fearless dive-in commitment and 'use everything' approach to acting.
DANIELS: Does your personal life ever bleed into the work? In other words, if something is fucked up in your personal life—family, husband, kids, parents, friends, what you're going through—does any of that ever bleed into your work?
KIDMAN: Yeah, but we're taught to bring everything—the state of being, the environment—and use it. If it's raining, or the other actor doesn't know his lines, everything has to be used. So your own emotional state comes into play, and I certainly remember that happening a lot on, say, The Hours, when I was going through an enormous amount of turmoil. And even though it was appropriate at times for the character [Virginia Woolf], at other times it wasn't. But I would just bleed it in; it would manifest in different ways. For me, the idea of having a plan, that you've got to hit this particular place, shuts down other possibilities. And that's probably why I work well with you because you're also like that. You see something, you jump on it. Jane Campion is the same. You are very similar in the sense that everything is so detailed, and everything you see, or sense intuitively, you focus on and pull out.
There's also asides to talking theater with The Lovely Laura Linney (!), and how her voracious reading habits as a child (Tolstoy at 12, hee) led her to acting.
It's a must read so go there...
Reader Comments (8)
"All I know is that he stopped you from doing Empire and I'm furious. [both laugh] I have to get you on the show."
The upside of Lee Daniels: Nothing is sacred.
The downside of Lee Daniels: Nothing is sacred.
Delightful interview.
I love Nicole and Empire but I feel as if she would be so out of place on that show. I can't Imagine her in a scene with Terrence/Lucious AT ALL.
In the Marisa Tomei role?
Lee Daniels is a fucking fool, and I love it. Nicole is looking quite fierce in these pictures, like something out of Tennessee Williams. Weren't there rumors of her doing Sweet Bird of Youth on Broadway a few years back?
Aw, I LOVE that they love working together! Like, I wouldn't have ever matched them up but that's so cute.
And yeah, I'm assuming it was the Marisa Tomei role, but who knows.
Lee could easily conceive another role for her. I like Marisa Tomei in the part she has. No one besides Nicole in this interview will ever compare Lee Daniels to Jane Campion.
Nicole could easily pass for the mother of the white girlfriend.
Have you listened to Lee Daniels on the Vogue podcast? Andre Leon Tally is sadly a terrible host, but his guests so far (Anna Wintour and now Daniels) have been extraordinarily eloquent and informative. In it Daniels said he responded to Taraji P Henson like he did with Nicole on THE PAPERBOY. He loves her. Imagine the costumes they could put her in?!?
Nicole could easily pass for the mother of the white girlfriend.
How dare you age her? And there is no white girlfriend, she's their daughter-in-law.