By Nathaniel R
Nicole at the ACM Awards this weekAs mentioned in our piece on the finale of Big Little Lies the internet is finally accepting that Nicole Kidman is a genius. Why they haven't noticed that she's been a regularly gripping actor since Dead Calm (1989) with her ascent into intermittent genius happening as early as 1995 (twenty-two years ago!) with her sly breakthrough as fame-obsessed Suzanne Stone in Gus Van Sant's To Die For (Golden Globe win, Best Actress in a Comedy) we will never understand.
But it is what it is. Actresses not named Meryl Streep have to go through this from time to time with people doubting their talent. One imagines if Michelle Pfeiffer is brilliant in any of her comeback roles this year we will get a raft of "who knew this 80s sex symbol, Catwoman herself, was also a great actor?!" articles and we will have to roll our eyes with a "anyone who was paying any attention at all!" answer and a weary shrug.
But it's fun to do quick rankings, so herewith...
Nicole Kidman's 20 Best Performances
The order would vary if the list were composed on a different day though the top eight would remain the top eight, give or take the exact numbers...
- Moulin Rouge! (Oscar & SAG nomination, Golden Globe win)
- The Paperboy (Globe & SAG nomination)
- Birth (Globe nomination)
- Rabbit Hole (Oscar, Globe & SAG nominations)
- Big Little Lies (TV)
🔺 masterpiece star turns, really
- To Die For (Globe win, BAFTA nomination)
- The Others (Globe & BAFTA nominations)
- The Hours (Oscar, Globe & BAFTA wins, SAG nomination)
🔺 she earned those awards!
- Dogville
- Lion (Oscar, Globe, BAFTA, nominations)
- Photograph 51 (Stage)
🔺 terrific work
- Margot at the Wedding
- Flirting
- Eyes Wide Shut
- Dead Calm
- The Golden Compass
🔺 underappreciated choices but maybe not her "best"
- Paddington
- Birthday Girl
- Nine
- Australia
🔺 imperfect but she has her moments in these
Performances I'd need to revisit before feeling comfortable in ranking them (memory is so foggy on these four 90s films ---wait, have I even seen them all the way through?)
- Billy Bathgate (Globe nomination)
- Batman Forever
- Portrait of a Lady
- Practical Magic
Coming soon to (hopefully) disrupt the list above
- How to Talk to Girls at Parties
- Top of the Lake (season 2)
- The Beguiled
- The Killing of a Sacred Deer
A NOTE ON FILM CRITICS AND NICOLE: Despite many acclaimed roles she has never won any of the holy trinity of critics prizes (NYFCC, LAFCA, or NSFC) nor has she ever won a solo prize from one of the A list film festivals, though she shared Best Actress at Berlinale with her co-stars in The Hours.
Like any actor who works nonstop (she has over 70 credits already) there are missteps. I think these are the biggest disappointments given that the roles themselves are actually interesting:
- Stoker
- Cold Mountain (Globe nomination)
- Fur
- Genius
Performances I haven't seen
- Any of her Australian TV or film work before Dead Calm (1989)
- The Blue Room (stage)
- My Life (1993)
- Malice (1993)
- The Peacemaker (1997)
- The Interpreter (2005)
- Trespass (2011)
- Just Go With It (2011)
- Hemingway & Gelhorn (2012, Globe, Emmy & SAG nomination)
- Before I Go to Sleep (2014)
- Grace of Monaco (2014, SAG nomination)
- Secret in Their Eyes (2015)
- Queen of the Desert (2015)
HOW WOULD YOU RANK NICOLE KIDMAN'S PERFORMANCES?