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NICOLE KIDMAN - KERING WoMo

INTERVIEWER
Academy Award winning, Golden Globes, SAG, Emmy, the 70th Cannes Film Festival award, you've got a couple in the trophy case at this point Nicole. NICOLE I’ve been coming to this festival for 32 years, isn't that crazy? I'm still here. I remember when we first came here, I came here with Far and Away and then the next year, I came with To Die For. Two very different films and subsequently have brought many films to this festival on many different occasions. To be asked back to receive this award and to talk about women and the voices of women in cinema is such an honor, I'm glad to be here with you. INTERVIEWER You mentioned coming here with a lot of films in 2017 that were four different films, and it was also hard to keep track.

NICOLE

And Sofia Coppola won for director that year, but I was also here with Yorgos, who won for screenplay for Sacred Deer., we had a good year, then I was on the Spielberg jury which was amazing. Ang Lee was also on that jury, it was such a great experience doing that.

INTERVIEWER

In addition to being here with the films, though, that was the moment where you kind of made this declaration and it was something that it seemed you were already doing a bit, but you made this decision to say to the world that you were going to be making a movie with a female director every 18 months. Now in those eight years, you've ended up working with female directors 27 times. When you said it out loud to begin with, did you imagine if that was possible when you said it, that it would be that number?

NICOLE

I was going to make it possible. I was at a point where we'd had a discussion that there was such a disparity in terms of the choices. You would go: cool could a woman direct this and there just wasn't the number of names that you could consider. People were like: well, would be a first time, we don't want to risk it with this. I have to start to just say, this is how I'm doing it, and this is what I'm doing, and we'll take the risk and we're going to mentor and support and help and then really protect because part of it is protecting and surrounding the women with almost like a force field of protection and support so that they can do their best work and then at the same time giving them the opportunity to not feel like this is the only chance because a lot of it is: you get one shot which as we know creatively is almost impossible I mean you need to work rigorously and with your art. Sometimes it will be received with enormous applause and sometimes it will be received not so well, but that doesn't mean that you failed. It just means you're in process and we need to support the long process of building the female voices, particularly the directors and the writers, and then also all of the crew members who say, I want to be a DP, I am seeing it in my lifetime change. The only way to do it is to actually do the work and show up and go I'm here. I'll be in your film. I know we have $4 million to make it, but we will make it. I did that with Karin Kusama when we did Destroyer and we were in the gutters in LA trying to hustle and we had very limited time, but we did it, and it just continues to flow.

INTERVIEWER

I just backstage witnessed a beautiful moment between you and our women in our emerging housemate, Mariana Bernard. Stand up. The reason I want to mention that is because you said you were going to make it happen, kind of no matter how it had to be done.

NICOLE

One of the women. Then we also have an enormous number of men who are going: I'm right there with you, supporting you, I'm one of them. But definitely in action, in motion.

INTERVIEWER

You're quite literally in motion. What does it mean to be able to have those moments where you can actually see the impact that has been made when you've worked with someone for the first time and because of that film, they're getting their next film? I imagine it must feel pretty wonderful.

NICOLE

Emotional. Also to see the emotion in the people that are getting the opportunities. That’s what it's about. And for me at this stage of my life, to have that purpose and to have that commitment is something that pulls me through as well. Because as much as I'm an actor and I'm looking for great roles but I'm also looking to experiment. I don't want to be contained and I don't want to be safe. Constantly looking to push the boundaries is what I'm looking for, and I know that's what the young filmmakers are saying, come and experiment with me. Because a lot of, creatively now, we do have to be free to experiment. We get judged very harshly and it's being willing to take the hits and the judgment and still keep moving forward.

INTERVIEWER

Especially for women, both in front of and behind the camera, it is kind of maybe the one factor that perpetuates the cycle too. Sometimes, as you were saying, not getting that second opportunity, that second chance. NICOLE Or you reach a certain age and you made a great film when you were in your 20s that got lauded and then suddenly, you're in your 40s and you haven't followed it up or you've made some choices that didn't succeed and you're like: but I'm not over, please, still keep believing in me, investing in me. That's important too resisting ageism. There are the emerging talents who are very young who are forming, then there's the ones that are still going: I've got a wealth of knowledge now and experience, yet I somehow have been cast out or I'm not the cool person or I'm not the one. It's always going: no, no, you can have a second, third chapter. I think that's an important message too. There’s the whole gamut but you're supportive of it. I think there's an enormous amount of people who are probably in this room, which is why you've shown up for this, because it's like: we want this to keep moving, and it's exciting. I just heard that in the festival now there's a film with Masha. I hear that's a magnificent film, and there's seven films in competition that are directed by women. How wonderful that I've already heard now of this unknown director who's now obviously going to be received, has been received here, and we now know her name, and we're now going, oh! What's next? I can't wait to see this film and that's exciting, that's why we have these film festivals.

INTERVIEWER

Well that was sort of what you were mentioning earlier with Sophia winning the director prize for Beguiled. It’s important when you're one featured at this festival but also we do know awards beget more projects as well when you think about the Oscars, the Emmys. How has that also positioned you to be able to make the projects you want to make and and do the things that you want to do?

NICOLE

I mean, I think it's more just whether you're connecting with a world. There's so many different ways now to reach people, say with the film Baby Girl, that film reached its audience strangely enough, through TikTok. That was the main way in which people heard about that film, bought tickets and went and saw that film. That's extraordinary to have that avenue for that film to be discovered. I mean, A24 was behind it, but as you know, the Venice Film Festival gave us the most extraordinary support and launched us. I thought we were going to be in, I did not know what was going to happen when we got there. They were amazing in their support, and still five months before we were going to release it in America and it got this groundswell of support. through the people on social media and on TikTok and suddenly the thing was finding its own way and that literally made people go to the cinema. You just never know how things are going to be discovered now and I'm always open to new horizons and the way in which we can put our tentacles out and reach people who normally wouldn't hear about things. To have, say, Sound of Falling now heard on the world stage: that's fantastic because somehow that's seeping out, awards or no awards, doesn't matter. It's actually where things are being heard about. There's the way in which news travels now and it travels fast and people are open and willing and then they're like, I want to see that. That's very exciting.

INTERVIEWER

And as a producer, it feels like you are finding and sourcing and figuring out all sorts of new voices, Blossom Films, you are especially dominating in the television arena as well. Nine Perfect Strangers is coming, in just a couple of days. NICOLE Yes, that comes out. We shot that in the Austrian Alps, that's a whole array of fantastic actors. a great German actor, we have Lena Rowland, we have a whole array of Henry Golding, of actors, Mark Strong, who are giving fantastic performances, and I get to sort of be pivotal, but they get to shine. I love doing that, I love seeing that happen.

INTERVIEWER

I've heard you describe her as a bit of a shark. Tell me a little bit about that.

NICOLE

Only because the cast said that I stayed in character. And that I would shark them all the time. And shark means I would come in and not speak and circle them before I did the scene. It was my way of sort of intimidating them.

INTERVIEWER

What is it about her that inspires you? Because as you said, you're kind of always looking for ways to reinvent and different things to try and do.

NICOLE

It's not so much reinventing. It's more about placing myself into places I haven't been or that are uncomfortable or that feel new or different. With Masha, she's extremely powerful, she doesn't ever apologize for that power, she's a shapeshifter but she's powerful. A lot of the characters that I play, there's power to them, but there's also a fragility. Masha doesn't have the fragility. She has the strength and the power and it's unnerving how strong and ambitious she is, then say something like, baby girl, that's a woman in a crisis. Then I've done a lot of women that sort of circle the stories of grief or loss, but I love black comedy. I'm open to anything and I like not being where people go: I actually can't define what you do. That is fun for me and exciting. I'm always looking for directors, I had a meeting with a director yesterday: when I got in and he was: I have something that is incredibly disturbing, are you frightened of that? I said: absolutely not, I'm thrilled about it. That's the sort of stuff I'm just always going, what? Then I also love that very low budget filmmaking that is purely experimental so that you don't have the enormous risk attached to it. It requires just going, don't worry about me, don't worry about a trailer, don't worry about, I'll sit on an apple box. I'll sit in, I'll wait in the car, we'll hub out of here, let's just get the camera and shoot. I came from that, I was born into that in Australia and I love going back to that too.

INTERVIEWER Well, actually, I was looking at the comments, section 4.9, perfect strangers, and one of your fans did comment: Mother Nicole and her wig came to slay again. You are consistently working and like you said, consistently changing and exploring all these different women, obviously also all these different hairstyles and clothes. Well, actually, I am curious how you find yourself getting into said characters. Is there something that is a touchstone for you when you're discovering a new person?

NICOLE

I grew up with, when you’re forming your character, you're forming it, not saying: I present myself now as my being, as my physical self. And it's not me doing it, it's the hair and makeup, it's the costumes, it's the director, it's the psyche of the character, and we're character actors. That's what we do. If you're employed to be a movie star, maybe that's a different thing, and they say: no, we just want you. I've never been employed for that, I've never been chosen for that, I've always been chosen to create a character. That's what I love doing, it's why, as an Australian actor, you learn, when you're at drama school, every accent possible, because you know it's going to be very rare that you use your accent. You learn how to walk differently. You learn how to breathe differently. It's letting the greats who are behind the scenes do their work too because they're the artists and they come in and contribute and it's a collaboration.

INTERVIEWER

Tell me a little bit about collaborating with a woman at the helm, because there are so many women that you've worked with, as we've just said, 27 times, but when it's someone like Suzanne Beer, who you've developed this amazing relationship with, and you're now going to go do Practical Magic 2 with her and Sandra.

NICOLE

Sandy's worked with her too before so the two of us were like: this is the perfect triangle because we all know each other so well. To be able to work together on something that is fun and witchy is fun, that’s something very different to say Baby Girl, it's a complete flip, honestly.

INTERVIEWER How have you found, creating these really full-bodied characters, being able to have different conversations? When you are having a conversation with Suzanne or Helena, as you were saying, about what you're going to portray in these various films?

NICOLE

It all comes from the character, the sensations. I mean, for Helena and I, it was very much about becoming one. She had written and was directing it, so it was her story coming from deep within her, it was more like I had to absorb parts of her and then bring parts of me and it was the merging of that which was a very unusual thing because Helena herself is a great actress so you have her ability and then mine and we were able to morph into one which was a very new experience for me plus we were dealing with sex, we were moving into a territory that was dangerous, which I like. I liked the danger of it and I loved the discourse that it provided amongst people afterwards. I got to see that film many times in the cinema and every reaction was different every time.

INTERVIEWER When you talk about writing and creating, I’ve heard you say that you’re starting to evolve in that part of your artistry as well, that there are some stories burgeoning within you that you may want to put onto paper and turn into a screenplay.

NICOLE

I already do. I write stuff down a lot. I have ideas that I just either share with the director and go: why don't you go and create something in this vein? That just comes through decades and decades of life and observing and working with some of the greatest minds. I'm very interested in philosophy and poetry. That is very helpful for creating a story, but I also just don't quite have the time. I do it secret, like a 3 a.m. writing session. I wake up and I'll write something, be it a dream, be it something that's circulating in my head and my life and my heart at that time. I think 3 a.m. - 2 a.m. is a very ripe time for things to happen because you're in that slightly removed state from reality, but your dreams and your psyche are very present.

INTERVIEWER Do you think we’ll see Nicole Kidman credited as a screenwriter or director anytime soon?

NICOLE

No, but I always say no, and then I turn around and change my mind. Right now, I find it incredibly fulfilling to support filmmakers in a producerial capacity. I find it beautiful being an actor and being able to say, ‘I’m in your hands, shape me, do with me what you will,’ and being open to that. I really enjoy the intimacy of the work, with the other actors, the writer, and the director. The intimacy is probably the thing that keeps me coming back, because it’s salvation for me.

INTERVIEWER And it's beautiful to see that producerial work also continuing to have tentacles that reach other women too, you're making Margot's Got Money Troubles with Elle Fanning and now she's a producer too.

NICOLE

Yes, and she’s coming to this festival with a fantastic film. So get ready. And she’s producing that, yes, and Michelle Pfeiffer. So they are starring in it, Elle and Michelle. And it’s beautiful to watch them work, and they’re creating magic together. So that’s for next year. But yes, seeing that come to fruition. We just did a show in Australia called Last Anniversary, set in Australia with Australian actors, so that was very much an Australian story. And it was great to be able to get the financing and get that made for them.

INTERVIEWER So basically, I think what we can say is that in 2017, when you made that declaration, women directors only directed, I believe it was, 4 percent of the top thousand best films. Now we’re at 13.6.

NICOLE Still seems incredibly low.

INTERVIEWER Still quite low. So as we kind of think ahead to the next eight years, how do we continue to make that change greater?

NICOLE

Working, supporting financially, finding the mentors, and we're talking about the financial mentors too because a lot of it is people going: I'm willing to invest money in this to support this unknown director right now and take a risk. In the same way that we used to have those incredible patrons of the arts for music many, 100 years ago, you would you'd had Handle or Litz or be supported by patrons who just supported them not so that they could make money off them but just because they wanted to see them grow. I think the more patrons of the arts we have, the stronger the industry will become, the stronger the voices will become and the stronger we become as a world and a community. INTERVIEWER Thank you for being one of the great patrons of the arts so as James Curtis says: when Nicole Kidman works, other people work. Thank you for getting people to work. NICOLE Happy to do it, thank you for having me here in Cannes.