Nicole Kidman’s candid admission about sex scenes in movies
Nicole Kidman has become a Hollywood giant after years of blockbuster hits.
However, the 53-year-old has gotten real about the moment she realised she’d need clauses in her contract when it came to sex and nudity in films.
While the Hollywood heavyweight has never shied away from roles with sex and/or nudity, she admits she was not always comfortable with baring it all for the screen.
In reference to the 1999 film Eyes Wide Shut, that she starred with her then husband Tom Cruise, Kidman said: “I’ve had situations as an actress where, oh my gosh, it was not what I thought it would be. I was probably at the forefront of this, when I went to work with (director) Stanley Kubrick.
“He (Kubrick) was like, ‘I’m going to want full frontal nudity,’ and I was like, ‘Ahh, I don’t know,’” Kidman said.
“So we came up with a great agreement, which was contractual. He would show me the scenes with the nudity before they made it into the film. Then I could feel completely safe.
“I didn’t say no to any of it. I’d wanted to make sure that it wasn’t going to be me standing there nude and everyone laughing at me.
“I was protected, so I got to explore a complicated marriage and the way in which Tom’s character is having those jealous images.
“I would never think of not wanting the storytelling to be told properly. Having them say, ‘Once you’re OK with it, great, that’s it’ – what a fantastic place to be in as a woman.”
Kidman is set to appear in the HBO series The Undoing, where she will star as character Grace Fraser - a woman who is comfortable with her sexuality.
The star argues that sex is still taboo.
“Sexuality is over here in a box, and we don’t deal with it. I’m happy to deal with it, but there needs to be a place where you can go. I’m not going to be exploited,” she said.
“Then I’ll go down the road with you. I love the relationship between a director and an actor.
“When it’s pure, it’s exquisite. And the other actors, when you’re all there doing the work, it’s exquisite.”
The Undoing is based on the 2014 book You Should Have Known, written by Jean Hanff Korelitz.
The story follows successful therapist Grace whose life is thrown into chaos when her husband Mike Fraser (Grant) disappears after a woman is violently murdered.