Nicole Kidman Says She’s Acting in So Many Projects Because ‘I Can Create Jobs for People’ and Help Newcomers in Hollywood
by Marc Malkin · VarietyIs Nicole Kidman the hardest working person in Hollywood at the moment?
In the last year or so, Nicole Kidman has starred in “A Family Affair” and “Babygirl.” On the TV side, she starred in “Expats” and “The Perfect Couple” and returns to Taylor Sheridan’s “Lioness” for its second season, launching on Paramount+ on Oct. 27.
At the same time, she’ll be seen in Season 2 of the Hulu series “Nine Perfect Strangers,” the animated movie “Spellbound and the thriller “Holland, Michigan.” She also plays the title role in “Scarpetta,” Amazon’s upcoming series adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s mystery books, opposite Jamie Lee Curtis and Ariana DeBose. She’s hoping to get a third season of “Big Little Lies” off the ground as well as a sequel to “Practical Magic.”
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Even so, Kidman says she does actually find time to sleep. “I slept nine hours last night,” she tells Variety at the “Lioness” Season 2 premiere in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening.
She admits that she does think about taking a breaking from work. “I do, but in this weird way there are so many opportunities in terms of being able to be of service to the people who are coming up, and using what I have and can do for people like [‘Babygirl’ writer and director] Helena [Reijn]. It’s very hard for me to go, ‘Okay, I’m just going to take care of myself,’ because I’m so much about taking care of other people,” says Kidman, who returns to “Lioness” as Kaitlyn Meade. “I’m thinking, ‘I can create more work for people. I can create jobs for people.’ And also, I love it. I have the passion. I’ve just got to take care of my body. I wish I had superpowers because I would love to be everywhere.”
She adds, “This is what I dreamed of since I was a little girl. I love what I do so I’m going just give it my all, and then I don’t go out. I go home to be with my family. We do things together. I’m not going out to nightclubs.”
“Scarpetta” will mark Kidman and Curtis’ first time working together. Kidman says of her co-star, “Talk about someone who’s hit her stride and is owning where she is at a time in her life and so deserved.”
Earlier, Kidman’s “Lioness” co-stars gushed about working with her.
“She is so kind,” Jill Wagner, who plays Bobby, said. “I had a friend visiting me on set whose mother had almost died of cancer and Nicole said, ‘Hey, let me film a little video for mama Sandy.’ She did that out of the kindness of her heart. I didn’t ask her to do that. These are the little things that I’m sure people don’t know about her. But she’s one-of-a-kind.”
Zoe Saldaña, who stars in the show as Joe, recalls her first day on set with Kidman. “I’m like, ‘Act cool. Don’t trop. Don’t forget your lines. Don’t fan out.’ But then I forget it all and we’re comparing notes on our children and we’re asking advice for things like restaurants.”
See more photos from the “Lioness” premiere below.