Happy Nicole Kidman Day !
Saturday, June 20, 2015 at 8:32PM Proposal: Since Australia (grew up there, family and friends) and the US (born in Honolulu, lives in Nashville) share the one and only Nicole Kidman with citizenship and residence, a national holiday won't do. We propose an International Nicole Kidman Day, each June 20th to mark the birthday of one of the big screen's bravest and best and most beautiful.
Herewith a few lists to mark the day...
SIGNATURE WORK
The roles with which she'll arguably always be most associated
- Moulin Rouge! (2001) -which speaks to her bonafide movie-star charisma
- The Hours (2002) -which boldly underlined her cool (divisive) persona and intelligence
- To Die For (1995) -her breakthrough and which initially and ungenerously clung to her rapid rise as a star on another star's arm
BRAVEST PERFORMANCE
- The Paperboy (2012) - the psychic sex, the skanky past her prime makeup, the death wish
- Birth (2004) - "you're a little liar, aren't you?"
- Dogville (2003) -Here are some chalk lines, hyper stylized dialogue, and precious tchotchkes. Action!
SEXIEST PERFORMANCE
- Moulin Rouge! (2001)
- Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
- Batman Forever (1995)
- To Die For (1995)
- The Paperboy (2012)
FUNNIEST PERFORMANCE
- To Die For (1995)
- Moulin Rouge! (2001)
- Herself... on talk shows
MOST AWARDS LOVE
- The Hours (2002) - Oscar & Globe & BAFTA & Silver Bear wins, SAG nom
- Moulin Rouge! (2001) - Globe & MTV win, Oscar, SAG & AACTA noms
- To Die For (1995) - Globe & BFCA win, BAFTA nom
- Rabbit Hole (2010) - Oscar, Globe & SAG noms
- The Paperboy (2012) - Globe & SAG & AACTA noms
IT'S ALL IN A NAME
- "Grace" 3 characters: The Others (1995), Dogville (2003), Grace of Monaco (2014)
- "Isabel" 2 characters: Bewitched (2005) and Portrait of a Lady (1996)
- "Julia" 2 characters: Wills & Burke (1985) and The Peacemaker (1997)
BIGGEST GLOBAL HITS
*Movies that were far far more successful overseas than in the US
- The Golden Compass (2005) $372*
- Batman Forever (1995) $336
- Paddington (2015) $259*
- Just Go With It (2011) $214
- Australia (2008) $211*
- The Others (2001) $209
- Moulin Rouge! (2001) $179*
- Cold Mountain (2003) $173
- Eyes Wide Shut (1999) $162*
- Days of Thunder (1990) $157
MOST COMMON ONSCREEN PROFESSIONS
- Actress - 4 roles: Grace of Monaco, Nine, Bewitched, Moulin Rouge!)
- Writer - 4 roles: Margot at the Wedding, The Hours, Hemingway & Gelhorn, Genius)
- Reluctant Sexworker (or thereabouts) - 3 roles: Moulin Rouge!'s whore, Birthday Girl's mail order bride, Far and Away's temporary burlesque dancer)
- Psychiatrist - 2 roles: The Invasion, Batman Forever
- Boss Lady Who Moonlights in Kidnapping - 2 roles: The Golden Compass, Paddington
MOST FREQUENT CO-STARS
- Tom Cruise (Marriage + 3 films: Far and Away, Days of Thunder, Eyes Wide Shut)
- Colin Firth (3 films: Before I Go To Sleep, The Railway Man, and the forthcoming Genius)
[tied with] David Wenham (3 films: Australia, Moulin Rouge! and the forthcoming Lion) - Jude Law (2 films: Cold Mountain, and the forthcoming Genius)
[tied with] Ben Mendelsohn (2 films: Australia, Trespass), Daniel Craig (2 films: The Invasion, The Golden Compass), and Dianne Wiest (2 films: Practical Magic and Rabbit Hole)
WHAT WE'D LIKE TO GIVE HER FOR HER BIRTHDAY
- More of whatever makes her happy
- One more classic as beloved as Moulin Rouge! or as Oscar-honored as The Hours or as widely argued over / prestigey as Eyes Wide Shut or as audience-friendly as The Others (we're not picky/greedy... any of those will do)
- A project to do with her bestie Naomi Watts. It's been since Flirting (1991) c'mon...
- A project to do with Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge!) or Stephen Dillane (The Hours) because MY GOD THE CHEMISTRY in both of those cases. Why hasn't she worked with either again?
Naturally, in the comments you'll want to share your five favorite things about this goddess and what you'd give her for her birthday
Reader Comments (45)
Happy Nicole Kidman day!!!
To paraphrase Suzanne Stone, you aren't really anybody at TFE if you're not Nicole Kidman.
Now take the rest of the day off and watch your favorite Kidman, everyone.
I'm for a film project with her and Naomi Watts. Maybe a road comedy for these two set in Australia.
David Wenham was also in Moulin Rouge!
Mike -- corrected! so he's in second place.
My birthday wish for Nicole is an overwhelming resurgence.
Nicole's funniest performance is the first half of Far and Away, hands down, no competition!
Nicole and Meryl are just a couple of days apart.
What about her best?
Do you ever think she was BAD in anything or just miscast i have amajor soft spot for her pupreme bitchery in Malice,she treats that waitress with such utter disdain "Some Privacy" she fills with so much venom and aloofness..
Cal -- that was too hard and too expected ;)
Was ist Just Go With It?
Best " bitches" on screen
1- Margot at the wedding
2- To die for
3- Eyes wide shut
Best grieving moments on screen
1- Rabbit Hole ( car scene)
2- Birth ( the beach scene)
3- Portrait of a Lady (final scene)
The best monologues
1- Eyes wide shut (oh...that monologue)
2- Margot at the wedding ( library scene)
3- The hours (train station)
Best romantic moments on screen
1- Moulin Rouge
2- The paperboy (dancing in the rain with Zac...deeply romantic)
3- Cold Mountain ( until the war starts then...)
So many cinematic gifts she has given us across the board!! Happy birthday Nicole!
I will always hold a bed sheet to my body like Dr. Chase Meridian and pretend to have one ounce of the sex appeal that she exuded in Batman Forever.
Happy Birthday Nicole! One of my favorite actresses ever. I hope for more great performances from this goddess.
Happy Birthday!
I so agree Far and Away is her best comedic performance...the scene where she is peeking at Tom's penis under a strategically placed bowl is priceless...love love love Far & Away...hope she loves it too.
Maybe I'm just saying this because her Hours co-star and fellow goddess Julianne Moore just did it, but I would love to see Nicole in a David Cronenberg movie. As an added bonus, I would cast her alongside bestie and Cronenberg alumnus Naomi Watts.
I've always thought it so unfair that she has this "cold" reputation. It's probably because of the icy beauty, the damn botox thing and her shyness... but she's so brave and raw in all her work and also so honest and out-spoken in her interviews. Not cold at all.
I wish she'll continue to challenge herself and work with interesting auteurs. And it'd be fun if she maybe got a fun comedic supporting role (not her style at all, but one can dream) that endears the audience a bit more to her.
Small correction Nathaniel: Nicole inexplicably WASN'T nominated at SAG for Moulin Rouge (unless you're counting the cast nomination?).
How can I choose such five for my favorite actress of all time. Cheers to the woman who takes every chance to challenge and surprise us. Fail or success, we are never going to witness a more kind or brave actress as Nicole. Here's my list.
5. Her committment to Suzanne Stone-Maretto's delusion in "To Die For." Always willing to go the extra length.
4. Her bad date with Jimmy Fallon. That was the single best talk show appearance ever. I know she's known as a committed dramatic actress, but give this girl a meaty comedy again. She's got this great, off-kilter timing and commitment to the craft that is unparalleled. Even as a supporting player, I feel she would do good to branch out in that vein.
3. The psychic sex scene in "The Paperboy." That performance is the best example of elevating what's on the page into something entirely new and unexpected. Orgasming to the sight of John Cusack is never what I thought would represent true acting, but I should learn to never put boundaries on Nicole.
2. "Come What May." What a knockout!
1. The empathy I feel for each of her characters. Whether its the doomed relationship driving Charlotte Bless or even the desire to find some sort of happiness in The Stepford Wives, Nicole Kidman never judges. She radiates this intense empathy in every performance, big and small, and connects with the audience in such a powerful way.
The Jimmy Fallon did a good job of getting her back in the the public's favour (and PADDINGTON was a popular and well-liked movie) so the time is right for her to have a mainstream yet critically acclaimed movie moment. It's not something she's likely interested in and none of her upcoming movies look like they could be that (not in America, at least), but oh well.
For her birthday I'd get her a DVD set of some fine auteurs she hasn't worked with yet.
Happy birthday Nicole Kidman!
Guiltiest pleasure : The Stepford Wives, which has everything from Kidman and Midler fooling around to Glenn Close!
With the exception of a handful of very good performances... she is one of the blandest actresses of today.
She's actually pretty good in Malice and The Stepford Wives and flat-out great in Birth, Moulin Rouge, The Others, and To Die For.
I'm still sad she's not the Danish girl in The Danish Girl and wish that she and Naomi Watts could make The Rivals happen ('cause her as Sarah Bernhardt *or* Eleanora Duse would be fabulous).
Joyeux anniversaire, Satine!
Five favorite things about Nicole (off the top of my head):
1. Her commitment to challenging work.
2. Her range.
3. Her awkwardness/sense of humor.
4. Her voice in a lower register (see The Hours and Hemingway & Gellhorn).
5. "Personally speaking, I can't wait to watch life tear you apart." - I love that scene from Stoker.
Happy birthday Nicole!
My favorite actress of all time. Hands down. No competition.
Five favorite things (and by "things" I assume you mean performances):
1. Birth
2. The Portrait of a Lady
3. Rabbit Hole
4. The Hours!
5. Moulin Rouge!
For her birthday I would give her another juicy, complex role a-la-Birth, because she deserves it and because she can pull it off (and it will be a sexy role because she'll kill it and because people damn well better believe that middle-aged actresses can be sexier and more spontaneous than the youngsters).
Her work in Rabbit Hole is just out of this world. Just wow.
Can we have an Hours reunion someday, or maybe just the ladies? Because now all three leads have their Oscars (or three), Danes is Emmy royalty, Janney has only continued her string of underappreciated brilliant turns, Margo Martindale is pretty much a household name, Toni Collette has built her resume and I'd happily pair with any of the above, and Miranda Richardson would be nice to see in the spotlight again.
Favorite things - her interviews, her turn in the conclusion of Dogville, her knowingness & search for reconnections in Rabbit Hole, and every moment of her performances in To Die For and Stoker.
I hate to break it to you, but Nicole Kidman is never re-emerging as a film star. She is Queen of the Flops and pushing 50. She is boring and audiences hate her. TV is now her only hope.
What I most appreciate about Nicole is how many films she works on. She is always kicking out interesting flicks for us.
My favorites are Cold Mountain, Paperboy, and Rabbit Hole. Also good as Dr. Chase Meridian ;)
Lauren Bacall also co-starred with her twice, in "Dogville" and "Birth"!
Am I the only one excited about the secret in their eyes? I cannot wait for that movie to come out America's immortal Sweetheart + America's bravest actress in the same movie. My mind keeps exploding over and over.
Most Underrated:
1. Bewitched (probably because the movie is so bad)
2. Stoker (probably because the character was underwritten)
3. Rabbit Hole (probably because not enough people have seen it)
4. Batman Forever (because it's a Schumacher Batman movie)
Love you, Nicole! Here's looking forward to Queen of the Desert! May your string of auteur projects continue (and may we get another year with performances as great as The Others & Moulin Rouge)!
Love this! She'll always be my favorite actress and I have faith that one day she'll be given the respect that she deserves by more than just The Film Experience readers!
@ denny, Rabbit Hole is nowhere near as underrated as Birth, Margot at the Wedding or Dogville. It earned her an Oscar nomination (one of three) so it easily sits up there as one of her more recognized works.
@ Rizz, Secret in Their Eyes is helmed by a really good writer/director, I actually have high expectations for this one. In fact, I think it will be both her highest grosser (Julia Roberts) and most critically acclaimed piece of 2015.
To. Die. For. #ThatsAll
Blythe -- history is full of movie stars who were considered "box office poison" but then had huge comebacks: JOAN CRAWFORD, BETTE DAVIS, KATHARINE HEPBURN, MERYL STREEP, etcetera...
I had no use for her until To Die For, which turned me around. Other favorite performances are The Others, Moulin Rouge!, The Paperboy and (God help me) Dogville.
[I guess most people, like me, have repressed the memory of Kidman co-starring in a Sandler-Aniston vehicle. See my question above.]
@Paul Outlaw
Do you know Kidman's acting coach (guru), Susan Batson?
Agree also it is unlikely Nicole would ever return as film star. Audiences fell in love with Davis, Hepburn and Streep, but apart from a few ardent fans here, Nicole has always been a tough sell. Cold and picks bad material.
@ 3rtful
I met her many years ago when she was teaching acting workshops in Berlin. She is a force, and many of my friends swear by her to this day.
Kidman, Moore, Swinton, Binoche and Huppert are on another level and whether their projects succeed or fail, they have a hunger to work with international auteurs and American filmmakers alike, and no one else in their age bracket hold that level of interest, it seems.
My top 3 Kidman performances: Birth, Margot at the Wedding, To Die For. Three characters that are damaged beyond repair so they somewhat exist within the same universe, and yet everything feels different in her portrayal of each. Few do damaged better than Nicole.
I'm very excited about her reunions with John Cameron Mitchell and Jane Campion next year. And I wish I could see her return to the stage this year. Hoping it makes the jump to Broadway eventually...
I hate to be such a 9-year-old, but I really do love her in "Batman Forever". I love that overhead shot when we first meet her under the police lights, and her hair is blowing as she is fixated on Batman.