Emmanuel Itier: How does it feel to be one of the biggest paid actresses in Hollywood?

Nicole Kidman: I think, as a woman, it’s lovely to be paid well for what you do. When you are not paid that…obviously, for Margot, you don’t get paid anything to do a film like this. Primarily, I’m there for the long haul. I will do theatre, I will do small films, and occasionally I’ll do a big film. I suppose my heart is about the artistic path. That’s what satiates me, ultimately. It’s wonderful to have financial rewards and, at the same time, I am in a place where I can just now work, as a woman, in the things that I want to do. That is hard-earned and I’m very pleased to be in a place where I can say I have my home, my marriage, and I’m able to now follow an artistic path and still take care of myself. You have a lot of fear about being able to take care of yourself for the rest of your life. I can take care of myself and my family, and I can do films when I want to do them now. That’s a very blessed place to be in.

EI: You have spent the past couple of months down under filming the epic film Australia with your director pal, Baz Luhrmann. How is it going?

NK: It is going wonderfully. I love it. I’m very happy to be in Australia, actually. I’ve been there since April, making this film, and it’s the film I dreamed of making when I was a little girl. I hope it lives up to my expectations because I wanted to make a film that is deeply romantic. It’s got sort of a magical quality to it, but it still is a sweeping drama, sprinkled with some comedy. If we can pull that off, I’ll be very, very pleased. It’s also nice to be able to stand by a director who you’ve worked with before and say, “I’m right here next to you again. Let’s go. Let’s try. Let’s try to do something unusual and special.” Who knows? Next year, we’ll be sitting here and you’ll be saying, “It didn’t work,” or, “Well done.” [Laughs] We are certainly working hard towards putting something magical on screen.

EI: Have you ever looked back to some of the great actresses of the past, for purposes of comparison or inspiration?

NK: I don’t know if it’s just actresses. I think there are people in all walks of life that you go to. I think what is lacking a lot of times now is the respect of our elders. I know that sounds pretty old-fashioned, but I think there is so much wisdom to be gained from that. I am working with some older actors on the set [of Australia] right now. I’m working with Jack Thompson right now, who is an older Australian actor and just a wonderful man. He has a very, very big spirit. All of these people have devoted their lives. I think when you see people that have given their lives to their art, I have such admiration for that, and at the same time, the people that were able to then find a balance with that as well–to find a partner–someone that you are willing to walk through life with and share some of those things with, because so much of it is about the sharing. I know that it sounds a little esoteric right now, but I love my work and, at the same time, I don’t want to do it without having somebody else in my life to share that with.

EI: You’ve worked with some of the best directors. So is there any director that you haven’t gotten to work with that you would like to?

NK: I seek out directors whom I’m curious about and who I think are strong voices. I’m not frightened of difficult directors. I’m drawn to that, in a way, and I love working internationally. They send me scripts. I don’t do much pursuing. I sort of tend to get sent things and I get to respond, which is a lovely place to be in as an actor. I suppose I would really love to work with [Martin] Scorsese. I would love him to construct a film around a woman. [Laughs] I ask him all the time. I beg him, because I would be interested in seeing that movie. I would like to work with [Steven] Spielberg, actually. I’ve always said I wanted to work with Steven. I’ve known him as a friend for a long time, so I would like to do that. Internationally, if Wong Kar [Kar Wai Wong] would shoot something a little closer to home, then I would like to work with him as well. There are a number of directors–Joe Wright…I’m very curious about a number of different directors. I could name a huge list, but whether our paths will cross, I don’t know.

EI: Is it true that you are no longer willing to go on location in foreign places for months and months anymore to make films like The Lady From Shanghai?

NK: That’s true. I’m not willing to go and live in another country like that for a year right now. I’m just recently married, so that’s my priority. I’m not going to be going off and doing The Lady of Shanghai, because it’s just not right for my life right now.

EI: Your performance in Margot at the Wedding is creating a lot of Oscar buzz. Do you pay attention to the buzz? Do you think having won the Oscar is a curse that follows your subsequent movies at the box office?

NK: I think you just want to do good work. I’m interested in working with complex, really, really good directors. Sometimes that results in great films. Sometimes that results in films that were reaching high and didn’t get there. It’s just part of a body of work. Obviously, this film was something that I felt really good about. I’d seen The Squid and the Whale and then I read the script, and so I had seen what [director] Noah [Baumbach] was capable of. He had obviously worked with Wes Anderson as a writer. I just thought that he was an original voice in American cinema. I was very honored to be asked to be a part of this group.

EI: Noah said you literally made the decision to do the movie overnight. However, when you read stuff about your movie decisions, the stories say things like, “Nicole’s management team decided…”

NK: What are you reading?” [Laughs]

EI: I usually read industry papers. Anyway, it sounds like you are in complete charge of your career and that you are the one making the choices.

NK: Yeah, I hope I do. I mean, I have two agents that I’ve worked with my whole career. I’ve got the same publicist I’ve had. I never change anybody in my life, really. I pride myself on being very loyal. My decisions are made a number of different ways–most of them are very spontaneously. I think just over a lifetime, you have to be responsible for your own decisions. I would never be passing the buck there.

EI: You and Zane Pais have a very strong relationship in Margot At The Wedding. How was your relationship with him in front of and behind the camera?

NK: He was at that wonderful age where he was stepping from a boy into a man. He’s trying to go find his way in the world. It’s very beautiful when you see somebody with such grace. He has such grace. He was very easy to be around–very available and open. His mother is an actress so he has an understanding of the work, just from having grown up with it. I like being around…obviously, my children are 13 and 15, and so I enjoy being around that age. He was just very willing to focus and, at the same time, had a good sense of humor about it all. I don’t know whether he wants to be an actor for the rest of his life, but he certainly has a wonderful presence.

EI: Do you think your own kids are going to go into the business at all?

NK: My kids are about to be 13 and 15, so my daughter will say she’s 20 to get anything. [Laughs]

EI: With the character of Margot, her sister characterizes her as someone who changes her life a lot. Do you think Margot is emotionally unstable or chemically unbalanced? Is that something you thought of her as a character about?

NK: To be more blunt, I think she’s having a breakdown and I think she’s in crisis. There are ways in which she is coping with that, and the way in which she is reacting and behaving is very much an indicator of all the inner turmoil. I think what is wonderful about Noah’s writing is that he’s wickedly funny, so he’s dealing with the disturbing parts of a family lie. He’s able to bring humor. I’ve always been attracted to things like that. I did a film, To Die For, which was dealing with some pretty dark subject matter, but it was done with such humor–and the way in which Buck Henry was able to manage balance that way…I think Noah has some similar attributes that Buck Henry has, and I think they are both great writers.

EI: She’s having a breakdown?

NK: She’s sort of in the process of it. I don’t think that she is that coherent or aware. I think when you are in a crisis like that, you are not that lucid or clear about what’s been going on.

EI: Was there a rehearsal process where anything changed with the character or the script?

NK: Pretty much the way Noah constructed the script is what we shot. I think when you work with a writer/director, you work with someone who is very thought out. He’s very thoughtful, Noah, so everything is constructed layer upon layer. By the time you get to actually shoot it, the script has been worked on to such a degree that it wasn’t like, “Oh, let’s change lines and rewrite scenes.” There was a scene that we added while we were shooting, that he wrote and added. It’s the scene in bed, where Jennifer [Jason Leigh] and I are both talking to each other and we are lying in bed with each other. I’m so glad he put that scene in there.

EI: Do we ever see a resolution for the character?

NK: I think that is a very simplistic way of looking at filmmaking. So much of story-telling now, people expect that there is a beginning, middle, and end. I think when you play with that structure and don’t necessarily deliver in the way that people want…life doesn’t give you an ending. There are moments, and particularly with this. Obviously, we are born and die. Everything that happens in between there isn’t a beginning, middle, and end that we are able to follow in a linear way. I think this film obviously doesn’t deal with an ending. It deals with possibly a beginning.

EI: Obviously, you are nothing like Margot. What was the key to finding this character?

NK: I think Noah has a really, really strong understanding of what he had written. Also, I got to work with Ann Roth again, who I worked with on The Hours, and she did Cold Mountain with me. She is a costume designer and one of the greats in the world. She really works well with me. She is able to find pieces of clothing, helps me with the walk and all of the things you need to change. Somehow, she gave me the pair of wooly socks and that cardigan, and I was able to slop around in those when we were rehearsing. That somehow just triggered the feeling for the whole movie, for me. Just being able to walk around in socks, with no shoes, in the house gave a very casual feel. Also, the glasses that she gave me. Then, obviously, I worked with a dialect coach, because Margot is such a New Yorker. Even though I’ve lived in New York on and off, it’s still something that probably intimidates me a little bit, particularly with a writer, who is an intellectual, which can be intimidating. To play her, I had to just sort of jump off and say, “Okay, I can do this.” Ann Roth and Noah both gave me a lot of confidence. So did Scott Rudin, the producer.

EI: Did Ann find the hat for you?

NK: Yes, she did. I grabbed it [Laughs] and I said, “Perfect!” I tend to work with the same people again. I’m doing Australia with Baz Luhrmann, who I did Moulin Rouge! with, and I’m back with a lot of the same crew I worked with when I started working when I was a kid. Most of these people, whom I’m working with now in Australia, have known me since I was 16 years old. Yeah, I realize that I’ve been around a while.

EI: Did you take anything from your relationship with your siblings to play Margot with her sister?

NK: Not really. [Laughs] I think that was the thing that attracted me. I don’t want to do the things that I know. I’m interested in the psychology that I don’t know. I’m interested in learning and the maze of the human mind. I’m interested in different people’s natures, the way in which we play that out, and that fascinates me. It continues to fascinate me. Human beings fascinate me. My own references are probably less interesting to me. My relationship with my sister is–I’ve talked about it–we are very, very joined, I would say. We are twin-like in our relationship, and she’s a huge part of my life. There is an enormous amount of support there. I really wouldn’t have gotten through parts of my life without her. I would say that she would say the same thing about me. The combativeness of this sibling relationship is what interested me. I think it’s fascinating when you have this expectation, because you are family, that you should be getting along. I think there are a lot of people in this room and in the world that would say, “I don’t get along with my family. I should and I’m trying, but for whatever reason, just because we have the same blood running through us, doesn’t mean that we necessarily have the right chemistry together.” And that is fascinating to me. I love being part of storytelling that sort of explores human psychology.

EI: You mentioned the sibling relationship here. Can you talk about establishing that with Jennifer [Jason Leigh]?

NK: I actually started acting at 14 and I didn’t have stage parents or anything like that. That was me just saying, “I want to do this.” I was reading The Seagull in my bed and my mom was like, “Who is this child?” Jennifer and I, when we’ve worked–and we’ve both done a lot of work–we are both very passionate about what we do. We take it really seriously and we honor it now. I do. I used to sort of diss it a little bit. Now I go, “No, I’m an actor and that’s okay. I don’t have to apologize for that.” [Laughs] I think you step into the rehearsal process together, you know you have two weeks, and we immediately started. You start by just being tactile. You start by opening up secrets to each other. It’s so lovely to work with someone that just gets it, that works on that deep level, is willing to work on that level, isn’t freaked out by it, and has such an enormous knowledge of her craft. She’s willing to share that, and it’s rare you get given two female characters in a movie that require that kind of commitment. It was just lovely to be able to just watch her–to stand back and just go, “You are just so talented. I’m so glad that your husband has written you such a great role.” It was lovely to see Noah supporting her in that way. I think they are going to make some wonderful films together in the future as well. Hopefully you have another union like [John] Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands.

EI: How was working on the upcoming epic The Golden Compass?

NK: It was different from “Margot.” [Laughs] Much bigger. As I say to all actors right now–they used to say that mime class was so not important. You would go when you were in drama class and think, “I’m never going to be using this.” Now, with green screen and special effects, the mime class and then accent classes are the most important classes in drama school, I’ll tell you that.

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